It suddenly occurred to me that a stop on the face of the dial might fix the problem. I decided to fashion a simple stop from 0.001 inch thick brass shim stock. Local hardware or craft stores should have this. It cuts easily with small scissors. I cut a piece of brass about 0.25 inches wide by about 0.75 inches long. You can see from the photos below the basic shape that I cut. I folded this metal to form an upside down "T". I used super glue on the cross of the "T" as the surface to adhere the stop to the face of the cluster. I put one on the tachometer and one on the speedometer. I positioned them down from zero about 0.25 inch. See the photos below. Once the glue dried, I painted the stops with black acrylic paint that I bought at WalMart. The dial needles were then rotated on the motor shaft a little past the stop (counter clockwise) by lifting them up and turning slightly. Once they were turned to the desired position, I put them back on the correct side of the stops. I put it all back together and tested the modified cluster. It has worked perfectly since the repair without exception. I realize this is a bit of a kludge. It does nothing for calibration. However, it is easy to do and is inexpensive. The black stops blend in well with the dial and are fairly discrete. If you want a quick easy fix for this common problem, these simple stops will work. Take a look at the photos below and let me know what you think. You need to be a little crafty for this, but it is quite doable. |
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