Restoring a moto meter or HOW TO MAKE POTMETALPOO!
Posted by Fred Murphy on August 30, 1997 at 20:01:17
| I always wanted a Model A and could easily picture that nice shiny motormeter sitting high on that shiny radiator. I decided nine months ago to seak out and purchase a nice original motometer to restore. Had some luck with a supplier who spent two months locating one.Kinda rare,I didnt know they are so hard to find.He finally located one and sent it allong. What I recieved kinda surprised me. The finish was completly gone and the lense cracked ,also the thermometer didn't register and some ugly wrench marks around the base.Oh well,I decided I'll do my best-a real challange. I disassembled the lense cover also held on with wrong screws.I ordered a repair kit and new thermometer. Now I'm ready to go right ! I soaked the meter with base still in tacked with penatrating oil and liquid wrench a good solution,for two weeks. Now is the hard part,trying to remove the thermom and stem from the potmetal frame.Tried a little force,but only broke more of the glass therm. Now that didnt work lets try some heat,sorry not a budge. The brass threaded stem is stuck real tight to the potmetal housing. At this point I should have cut the stem and drilled the stem out of the metal,but I didn't.A little more heat and pop goes the pot metal into small pcs. Now this is how you dont restore a motormeter and why an original is hard to find! I broke the remainder of the pot metal from around half the stem just to see how well the potmetal was holding to the brass stem.Anybody had a successful restoration on a Jr.motormeter ? I'm afraid there is one less original motometer just a small pile of potmetal poo! |
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