Yellow guage touch up paint

[Scott Marzahl]

While I have my '67 guages out, I thought I might try to touch up the yellow and orange paint for the tach and water temp. I see vendors advertising orange paint for needles and guage faces but no yellow paint. Anyone ever done this succesfully at home? It's probably easier to just buy a new NOS tach face and call it good but I haven't seen one for the water temp.

Thanks guys, Scott Marzahl

[G B.]

It's possible, but not easy

Scott -

I airbrush the yellow and orange zones using flat paint available in hobby stores. It comes in small bottles for model railroad builders. They have airbrush set-ups and thinner too.

You can buy flexible "fine line" tape at automotive paint stores. Use this under light pressure to outline the color zones one at a time. Then use regular masking tape attached to small sheets of paper to extend the coverage over the rest of the gauge. Touch as little of the gauge face with tape as possible. You can cut small narrow strips out of the fine line tape (using a razor blade) to apply over the hash marks in the color zones. You want to keep them from being sprayed.

Spray only a thin coat of color. You don't want a heavy paint build-up to show after you remove the tape. Thin paint is translucent, so you can't hide any dark spots or stains in the color zones.

If the masking tape leaves adhesive residue, you can use q-tips to remove it. Wet the q-tips with brake cleaner and let them mostly dry before touching the black face of the gauge. Don't wipe over the lettering or hash marks; they will smear if you do.

If all this sounds time consuming and risky, then you have understood the instructions correctly. I would buy another face if one was available. I only repaint '63 and '64 tachs. I haven't found a source for those aluminum faces.

If you're determined to repaint, consider hiring a gauge restoration pro who is good at airbrushing. I recommend Red Line Gauge in Tennessee. I know that John is honest and his prices are quite reasonable. You would be better off farming out this work if you only have one car to do.