Cerbera aftermarket gauges

[thefrog]

Hi, the Cerbera I bought recently has an oil / water temp gauge (spa digital one) fitted where the air vent normally is under the steering wheel.
The air hose and vent are now tucked under the steering and still work, but I'd like to put it back in its original place and move the gauge which I'd also like to retain.

The obvious place for me is the clock, I don't need it, however the TVR clock is 51mm in diameter, not 52 as per standard gauges. So.

-has anyone managed this before ? If so how ?
-if not, I could have the bezel behind the gauge enlarged to 52mm by a machine shop, but the aluminium panel that holds gauges, vent, start and stop buttons appears to also be too narrow.
-how does the panel come off ? Is the leather glued to it, preventing any machining ?

Many questions, hope you can help.

Thanks in advance
Greg

[thefrog]

Thanks for the responses Longbow and pmessling. So all I'd need to do is enlarge the bezel between the gauge and plate.
The gauge is electric, so relocation is easy.

Flashheart said:

I have managed to convince my missus that 4" = 8" so why are you worrying over 1mm ;-)

I appreciate that this is absolutely no help whatsoever!

Brightened my day so helpful in a way

[thefrog]

Having failed to find a suitable bezel/spacer online, I decided to have a go at widening the standard one, out came emery paper... no luck... To be fair if was 240 grade so out came the Drexel and a suitable attachment, and after several grinds and checks for size, the spacer now accepts a 52mm gauge - Yippee. I haven't tackled the aluminium plate behind the steering wheel yet.

However, what looked to be an easy and cheap job has ultimately turned expensive ! In trying the gauge for size, I got it stuck in the spacer, too much pushing on its back to free it up has resulted in a cracked LCD display (black smudge). So lesson learnt and hopefully a useful warning for anybody else attempting it.

Will call spa-design tomorrow to see if I can have the gauge without sensors, fingers crossed.

[thefrog]

That's good news did you get it direct from spa design or another supplier ?

[thefrog]

pmessling said:

From SPA. Give them a ring as they don't list just the gauge on there spares page.

Thanks, better still, they can repair mine for £35 + VAT, so it's in the post

[thefrog]

Will do, however while the gauge is off to be repaired, all I have is a hole in the pod.

As for in keeping, my TVR gauges are purple with a brushed aluminium bezel, SPA do white/black background with black or chrome bezel (any combination), so I'm sticking to black/black with mine so it matches the air vent. Not sure introducing another colour (chrome) would help since it wouldn't quite match the brushed aluminium.

I may replace the fuel gauge with a spa dual gauge too so the lower pod is all black and consistent, but not sure what else I'd need to go with fuel level.

[thefrog]

This may give you an idea, works well if your standard gauges are white.


Shamelessly pinched from another thread on PH.

[thefrog]

pmessling said:

i have just the single dual digital gauge replacing the original dual gauge and it looks nice, although having recently replaced mine its black. but did send it to speedy for the bezel to be changed to match the originals.

Is that oil pressure and water temp ? Personally, I like the idea of having the additional benefit of oil temp (and digital water temp) which what I will replacing the clock with.

Interesting to know speedy can change the bezel, would you know by any chance if they can also change the face of the gauge ? If I could have one in purple, matching mine and a brushed aluminium bezel that would make the digital gauge blend in better overall.

[thefrog]

SPA repaired my gauge in record time, it was back in three days and cost approx £50 all in (VAT, postage, etc...) for the repair.

Following advice from previous posts, I took to the black spacer and dash aluminium panel with a dremel and managed to ocate the oil temp/water temp SPA gauge where the clock used to be. Had to remove quite a bit of material from the spacer, the aluminium panel on the other hand needed only the slightest skim.

Interestingly, talking to SPA, they mentioned that their case manufacturing process sometimes results in gauges being slightly oversize...

Anyway, it's all done now, pictures below.

Before:


After

[thefrog]

purpleliability said:

That looks very useful!

Where did you plumb the temp sensors into and what did you use?

That was done by the previous owner, I didn't follow the sensor wiring back to the source so I'm afraid I don't know