Smiths instruments

[Roger King]

It's amazing how things you thought were all sealed and finished sometimes catch your eye.
I have been helping Russ with his Cobra, and something cropped up which I think I must have been subliminally ignoring. The Smiths tachometer fitted to original Cobras has a red telltale high beam lamp incorporated into the face, which I had sorted - but it also (glaringly) has a scale from 0 - 100, unlike the CAI offering which only reads from 0 - 80.
Also the temp and pressure gauges should read 'MADE IN ENGLAND' around the lower face, not 'MADE IN UK'.

Dammit - more expense!

[amulheirn]

Can you share a photo for the Wiki? Or even better, put one on there for me?

I was going to ask you about Smiths fuel gauges actually. My fuel tank is 'imminent' and I don't have a gauge or sender. I recall you mentioned that a Landrover Series 2a gauge was correct in some old newsletter, but on the Wiki you mention that is probably no longer right. Do you have any details of what I should be looking for?

My alternative (given I'm not making a total replica) is to fit a Desynn aviation gauge that I'm told is from a Lancaster bomber - a vague tribute to a relative who was a mid-upper gunner in the war. Problem with that is it needs 24 volts. Still, it would go with the 'Engine Starting' button under a flap that I plan to fit!

A.

[Roger King]

Can you share a photo for the Wiki? Or even better, put one on there for me?

I was going to ask you about Smiths fuel gauges actually. My fuel tank is 'imminent' and I don't have a gauge or sender. I recall you mentioned that a Landrover Series 2a gauge was correct in some old newsletter, but on the Wiki you mention that is probably no longer right. Do you have any details of what I should be looking for?

I do, I do. Correct fuel gauge is: one for an AC Cobra. They were unique to Cobras, but can be done with a little ingenuity. If you can find a fuel gauge for an early BN1 4-cylinder Austin Healey (thin needle variety), and have a steady enough hand to carefully fill in the centre of the batons in black (to match the style of the tacho etc.), you will be as close as you can get. The part numbers etc. will be wrong but hey ho. Points to note: this instrument is externally lit, with a bulb holder clipped into the retaining bracket to shine through the blue plastic windows behind the dial. The same bulb (on the fuel gauge) also illuminates the nearby ammeter, which has no retaining bracket but is a push fit in the dash. It has no provision at all for a light apart from the blue apertures to allow light in as described.
Also - this fuel gauge is not damped and will not work with a voltage regulated supply. You will need a matched float sender, best to test with it all out of the car, and you will need to be able to extrapolate information from a 'full on left hand bends, empty on right hand bends' reporting system. And most importantly, do not attempt to improve on this. It is why we have old (or pretend old) cars. If you can't live with this degree of accuracy, buy a BMW.

[morgy]

The part number I have in my late car is FG2530/75


Below is a link to a gauge on ebay but it finishes /63 Close enough for you??


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MGB-Fuel-Gaug ... SwXeJYCLDr

[Roger King]

The part number I have in my late car is FG2530/75


Below is a link to a gauge on ebay but it finishes /63 Close enough for you??


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MGB-Fuel-Gaug ... SwXeJYCLDr

Hi Mark - that one is the later MGB etc. type and has quite different dial markings from the correct Cobra one. The batons should be separate, no curved lines linking them, and they should be white with blocked-in black centres, to match the other gauges.

[amulheirn]

Thanks both of you - so this is a Jaeger part after all? Do you have a photo of the correct one Roger? And would it have been the same part in a 289 Sports as you would have found in your leaf-sprung car?

I might go with the MGB one if I can't find something closer - at least for the time being.

Cheers,

Andy

[Roger King]

No, not Jaeger, Smiths. That is an MG instrument.

All leafspring cars, and as far as I can tell all AC289s and 427s for sale to the general public in the UK had the same instrument (according to Rinsey Mills' Original AC Ace and Cobra - and I can find nothing to make me doubt the veracity of this). I'll stick my neck out now and state that this photo (my dash) is the definitive 289 instrument set, with one proviso: oil temp and oil pressure gauges should have 'MADE IN ENGLAND' instead of 'MADE IN UK' as evident here. That error is now in hand.
The switchgear is also correct and in the right places, with the addition of a fan override ('F').



Roger

[morgy]

I hate to disagree and appologise if i have got this wrong, AC289 sports and 427's had a 50-50 amp gauges.

My fuel gauge below, Correct part numbers according to the Lucas list for the 289S and looks different to your gauge,

IMG_4582 by mark.morgan07, on Flickr

[Roger King]

It's always hard to tell what's original and what isn't with these cars, and I make no claim to know it all by any means! You are correct on the fuel gauge, but unless you are going to go the complete custom build route the Healey unit with modified batons can be done 'off the shelf'. There should indeed be no 1/4 or 3/4 markings.
I don't know the coil-spring cars in any great detail, and usually put the proviso 'leafspring' in my posts, but failed to do so in this case. COB6029 in the Haynes museum has the 30-0-30 BM4 ammeter, the same as that described in Mills' book, which was more than enough for the puny output from a C40 dynamo. I was really referring to the fuel gauge for AC289 and 427 being the same - as to ammeters, I don't know about the later cars, although I thought they used the same generator.

Just checked Mill's book again, and according to him the 427 has a later style ammeter with a facing and a vertical needle, 50-0-50, which looks very out of place. There is no clear info on the AC289, but I can see from the photos that the ammeter is of the same design of the BM4 (with pendant needle) as I showed, with the older-looking face design - but I can't read the numbers! It would be really useful to add that info to the archives for the later cars. Part of the problem is that a lot of these old ammeters popped and have been replaced with later ones.

[amulheirn]

Thanks both - I've updated the Wiki page on this - hopefully I've got it right. I included a photo of the incorrect Jaeger MGB part because it is useful to see the differences between the two. The bezel is quite different too.

http://wiki.the289register.com/doku.php ... :dashboard

Of course if either of you have more input or want to correct anything, you can do so directly on the wiki. Happy to help if needed.

Cheers,

Andy


Edit: is this the Healey part, Roger? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smiths-Fuel-G ... SwqfNXluwn

I think I'll ask for one for Christmas at that price!