Insturment cluster repair

Discuss all things 1970 & later Airheads right here.
George inMinneapolis
Posts: 107
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:31 am

Insturment cluster repair

Post by George inMinneapolis »

Time for my instrument cluster to be gone through on my '78 R80/7.
It's starting to make noise, and the needles bounce around a bit, pluse the odometer numbers are getting hard to read.

I've contacted Palo Alto Speedometer, Inc.,North Hollywood Speedometer.

I had to replace the glass on the cluster by gluing in some glass circles.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
George
Kurt in S.A.
Posts: 1605
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 12:08 pm

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by Kurt in S.A. »

I've heard more negatives about Palo Alto than N.H. There's Overseas Speedometer in Austin...good comments. For a real independent, there's Terry Vrla (not sure if he might have passed away...I hope I got that wrong). Also recently heard of Joel Levine - http://www.joellevinecompany.com/.

Kurt in S.A.
Last edited by Kurt in S.A. on Mon Jan 27, 2014 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Bamboo812
Posts: 1451
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2014 4:45 pm

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by Bamboo812 »

Terry is most definitely not dead, and a far better deal than those other guys. Give him a call, Terry 503-421-5782 or
wirespokes@hotmail.com tell him Timo in Hawaii sent ya.
Kurt in S.A.
Posts: 1605
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 12:08 pm

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by Kurt in S.A. »

I had heard the email address was terryvrla at hotmail dot com. Does the wirespokes address work, too?

Kurt in S.A.
User avatar
pkboxer
Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:50 am
Location: Cincinnati

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by pkboxer »

Terry Vrla (not sure if he might have passed away...I hope I got that wrong).
Kurt - you may be thinking of "wireworker" (name on advrider) who made wiring harnesses and has passed away recently....
'74 - R90/6
Kurt in S.A.
Posts: 1605
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 12:08 pm

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by Kurt in S.A. »

pkboxer wrote:
Terry Vrla (not sure if he might have passed away...I hope I got that wrong).
Kurt - you may be thinking of "wireworker" (name on advrider) who made wiring harnesses and has passed away recently....
Right...I guess I get "wireworker" and "wirespokes" confused. Thanks...

Kurt in S.A.
She'llbe
Posts: 724
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:48 pm

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by She'llbe »

I just ordered a double disc master cylinder from Terry, I hope he's still kickin'
From the desk of the
Mt. Nardi Yacht Club
PO BOX 95
Nimbin, NSW
Australia 2480
02-6689-1234
airway
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 8:10 am

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by airway »

I'm probably late to the party, but you might try ForeignSpeedoInc.com 619-298-5278 (San Diego) They advertise in "Airmail" .
User avatar
Ken in Oklahoma
Posts: 3182
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 5:10 pm

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by Ken in Oklahoma »

airway wrote:I'm probably late to the party, but you might try ForeignSpeedoInc.com 619-298-5278 (San Diego) They advertise in "Airmail" .
I looked at the website. It makes "sparse" look overdone. But in a way I appreciate it. The message is (probably) Hey, give us a call. Let's talk about what you need.


Probably in about a year or so I'm going to start "resuscitation" (as opposed to restoration) of my old '57 Triumph Thunderbird. It has a Smith's Chronometric speedometer (with concentric tachometer scales for each of the four gears). After all these years that speedo is very unlikely to work. Though never left outside that motorcycle has seen some otherwise undesirable environments.

Incidentally, "resuscitation" means putting the bike back into the configuration It was when I rode it. Among other things that means rolled and pleated black naugahyde for the seat, which was all the rage back in the day. Also I'm going to try hard to find something akin to the old Bates megaphones with the removable tips.

Nostalgic moment: I'm looking forward to seeing that needle move in little jumps, which is what chronometric instruments do. Remember the old movie, "Grand Prix", starring James Garner? I remember the shot, from the drivers perspective, of the instruments and watching the chronometric tach move in jumps. Just like my bike I thought at the time.

Ken
____________________________________
There's no such thing as too many airheads
User avatar
jagarra
Posts: 896
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2011 12:42 pm
Location: Reno, Nevada

Re: Insturment cluster repair

Post by jagarra »

Ken,

I believe I have a set of those, brand new, still in box, they are the upswept model, where they were set low along the bottom of the frame and swept up right before the rear pegs. They have been sitting in the trunk (boot) of my old 65 MKII Jaguar for the last 35 years.

gg
1974 R90/6 built 9/73
1987 BMW K75S
1994 BMW R1100RS
1964 T100SR Triumph
1986 Honda XL600R
Post Reply