12 replies to this topic

[chuee]

I wondered if its possible to re-house the internals of the nippon seiki easily enough into some round clocks;  I'd do away with the printed circuit and make my own connections.

 

Has anyone done that? If so I'd appreciate any tips.

 

My main reason is so I can position the clocks individually , and to my liking. 

 

CHeers.

[Spherix]

It certainly is possible, but the 'easily' part will depend on your skills.

[chuee]

It certainly is possible, but the 'easily' part will depend on your skills.

Ah yes, thanks  Spherix you've put me on the right track, you're entirely correct;  I should have anticipated that. 

My skills are wonderful. The ones I don't have are within reach. 

My consistency varies with the state of my lunch. 

 

But,  now that I'm prompted, let me look ahead....

I can't envisage making by machining operations,  the housings for the clocks,  nor press them.

I could weld up some cannisters and grind them smooth.... but the question of forming an edge for the bevel  and glass would be tricky to do after forming them in the round though. Forming them in the flat, beforehand, would make nice bending impossible.

All in all, I anticipate that the only sure way would be to weld a lip for the bevel! That's some fine welding. I have a TIG, a nice challenge, yes, but better would b brazing. But that would be a round flat to form first as a component, not easy to form  without heat and a presses and dies.

 

My plans for investment in necessary machinery are £1.00 - £2.24 so no to all that, above.

Mainly because of space in m workshop, not only because I'm poor like most people who work in adding value to things out of the ground. (yeah I know, I should of gone into the a loss-making  industry with LOADS of  printed money, like the 'tech"' stuff (electronic print/voice actually) - GOOgle-BBC  inc. and helped folk to communicate with strangers by silencing them unless its for the cause of porn or street violence against ordinary folk who want to mind their own business, or local business anyway). But I stuck to old-fashioned foolishness and a car without a brain linked to HQ in the Cloud. And I'm too poor to afford cheap tools and parts.

 

Conclusion: An old bean can might be the way to go. Yes, I could say 'I like the look' to prospective buyers and casual pick ups - (my friends know that already).

- Seriously I'll consider that. I could cover them too, in green leather.

 

To re-phrase my question, and  make it useful, though: Has anyone done this, and, did you find a useful donor casing?

 

- The wiring should present no real problems whatsoever, so far as I can see.

Edited by chuee, 06 June 2022 - 08:57 PM.

[Spherix]

Perhaps you can elaborate more on the looks you're after then. If it's simply round clocks, but separated; why don't you cut the exisiting housing up?

I've been putting Mini internals in Porsche housings in my project, left the housings alone but did some 3D printing here and there to ensure things were nice and centered and at the correct depth etc.

[chuee]

Perhaps you can elaborate more on the looks you're after then. If it's simply round clocks, but separated; why don't you cut the exisiting housing up?

I've been putting Mini internals in Porsche housings in my project, left the housings alone but did some 3D printing here and there to ensure things were nice and centered and at the correct depth etc.

 

That's a good point Spherix, thanks -  yes I could cut them up and use them like that.

 

 

I looked closely at the plastic surrounding of the left and middle clocks and they would be hard to separate, I seem to remember.

However, As it is,  my Nippon speedo under-reads since fitting a metro to replace the 1000cc engine, I think I need to find a 1000 tpm clock  in it's place anyway.

The tacho separates easily enough, within its plastic housing from the existing the-clock  cluster.

I could eave out the centre clock probably, and use small gauges, but not sure, might be neater to mount the existing; I'll leave that option open for now. 

 

 

 

 I would say then that I need to mount  Tacho, a different speedo already in a metal casing,  and add about three smaller guages - temp, fuel, volts, as well as indicator and beam lamps.

Minimally, therefore, I need to mount the tacho and could ditch the rest. I might wish also to retain the centre clock, and could do so, in existing housing. I could use the existing plastic binnacle for that, bu then believe ideally a new metal binnacle would mount better. I don't like the plastic tabs with self tap screws, they are easily broken or deformed.

 I'll start by cutting  them up and taking a closer look, alongside a new speedo. I need to be prepared thoug hto re-house them I suspect.  E.G. When i arrange it all, a new speedo might  not align neatly with the existing TAcho and cnetre clock., without re-housing them in identical-size containers+bezels, I have to anticipate that.

 

I see that, ideally a mini/Smiths centre clock housing the lot would be ideal, but I don't believe I can get one at 1000 tpm or alter an existing one to that spec.  

 

Q. Are you saying I could easily enough place the tacho internals into something like a Porshe housing, and should Iook into that specifically?

 

Cheers, John

Edited by chuee, 07 June 2022 - 02:43 PM.

[Spider]

The Instruments themselves you maybe able to re-house but where you may run in to issues is with the Instrument Illumination.

Perhaps look at some 60's & 70's MG Midget and Sprite Gauges and swap over the Clock Faces from the Nippon types or look for other complete ready to fit single gauges. I feel you'd be going through a LOT of agony for what could be a lesser result. There's a HUGE range of great looking gauges out there.

[chuee]

The Instruments themselves you maybe able to re-house but where you may run in to issues is with the Instrument Illumination.

Perhaps look at some 60's & 70's MG Midget and Sprite Gauges and swap over the Clock Faces from the Nippon types or look for other complete ready to fit single gauges. I feel you'd be going through a LOT of agony for what could be a lesser result. There's a HUGE range of great looking gauges out there.

Ah good point about illumination....    I've ordered a dolomite 1000 tpm clock..I'll check it out for accuracy, then proceed  from there. 

Yes the dials may come in useful, and I'll be using some single guages for the fuel etc.

 

The main problem is to get an accurate speedo and  match that to a tacho that looks  right alongside.  Mind you a tacho is not so important, I barely look at it, when I have my ears with me at all times.      I think my son likes to look at it though, and that's nice.

 

I have fair hope for this speedo that's on its way, after checking out the calibration sites, and if good, I'm on my way, very much looking forward to making a decent dash in metal; if not, it'll show me something about the tpm. I found it at a good price, so that's OK.

 

Many thanks for your kind consideration, reading my thoughts, and pointing out things to me, helping me to think it through. 

John

[Spider]

 

The Instruments themselves you maybe able to re-house but where you may run in to issues is with the Instrument Illumination.

Perhaps look at some 60's & 70's MG Midget and Sprite Gauges and swap over the Clock Faces from the Nippon types or look for other complete ready to fit single gauges. I feel you'd be going through a LOT of agony for what could be a lesser result. There's a HUGE range of great looking gauges out there.

Ah good point about illumination....    I've ordered a dolomite 1000 tpm clock..I'll check it out for accuracy, then proceed  from there. 

Yes the dials may come in useful, and I'll be using some single guages for the fuel etc.

 

The main problem is to get an accurate speedo and  match that to a tacho that looks  right alongside.  Mind you a tacho is not so important, I barely look at it, when I have my ears with me at all times.      I think my son likes to look at it though, and that's nice.

 

I have fair hope for this speedo that's on its way, after checking out the calibration sites, and if good, I'm on my way, very much looking forward to making a decent dash in metal; if not, it'll show me something about the tpm. I found it at a good price, so that's OK.

 

Many thanks for your kind consideration, reading my thoughts, and pointing out things to me, helping me to think it through. 

John

 

 

John, now I have a bit of a better handle on where you're coming from and your areas of concern with the conversion, can I suggest here looking at the Smiths range ?

They have a few styles of off the shelf 'single' gauges. Where these (and there's a few others to be fair) might come in to their own is in regards to the speedo, they have Electronic types available, which may at first put you off, but seriously, they are easy to install and set up. You can calibrate it to what ever you want as often as is needed, so say you change final drive ratios or tyre sizes, no problem, just a simple calculation, a few presses of the button and you're bang on with speedo calibration and accuracy.

Building a dash around such gauges I think brings a satisfying result as all gauges match in appearance and will look period for the car.

 

Thanks for the thanks !

[sonscar]

Break out your wallet and there are many exotic and easily fitted clocks from several Kit Car suppliers,all configurable to custom calibration.Rabbit hole springs to mind,Steve,,

[Spherix]

 

 

Q. Are you saying I could easily enough place the tacho internals into something like a Porshe housing, and should Iook into that specifically?

 

 

Easy is again in the eyes of the beholder The housings are large enough to house the Mini bits, but you'll need to adjust the face plate mounting and print/design to match the mechanical bits. For instrument illumination I ran LED strips around the inside wall of the gauges, using the original trip counter stalk of the Porsche to operate a dimmer mounted in the speedo housing. While fairly straightforward, it's taken dozens and dozens of hours, and not to forget, porsche parts cost a multitude of a Mini. Only reason I've done this is because I had the crazy idea to put the entire dashboard in the Mini, otherwise I'd fully agree with Spider and look at existing gauges or the Smiths range.

 

Note on your gauges reading off, don't forget you may need to alter the gearing in your gearbox to match as well. http://www.guess-wor.../Tech/ratio.htm should help you figure this out.

[Compdoc]

I spent many, "happy", hours hacking the mini speedo and rev counter out of a triple gauge set and hacking the same out of a MX5 dash and hot glueing one into the other. I managed to get adapters to get the other MX5 gauges to work with the Mini engine and for all the MX5 warning lights to work.

It may take you hours and hours, but if you don't want to spend a fortune and you have got some time on your hands, I'd give it a go.

 

P.S. I did paint the red mini needles white to match the others. (All I've got to do now is to get the MX5 dash and centre console into the mini).

[chuee]

Well  after all your kind advice, here is whre I am at:

 

I shall consider new electronic Smiths  speedo, a neat solution. BUt £570 for speedo (with gauges) and tacho.

- I'd also keep my oil pressure guage, and I like a voltmeter. Meanwhile,

 

1. A donor mechanical 1000 TPM speedo  is on its way - will it be accurate enough?*

- Unlikely to need to alter the gearbox  pinion  with current 5/17 speedo drive ratio and 12 inch wheels+tyres.

- - Note,  change differences in tyre profile between 145/70 and 165/60, makes negligible  difference - both out about 2-3 mph max over-reading in 4th gear.

-  A more significant difference with 165/55 tyres , with a up to 8 mph over-reading (5mph over-reading at 50mph)

- - These are all quite bearable in my opinion.

* Calculations from guessworks.com spreadsheet.

 

2. I'm looking at Reliant Robin all-in one fuel/temp gauges (inexpensive), as well as separates;

- Any redundant 100mm instrument would supply my donor container anyway for the tacho mechanism.

- Illumination to the tacho may be a problem, but maybe not when re-housing in a smiths donor  

SO I'll give that all a go.

 

I think most of the work will be in making the dash panels. Mods to clocks I can do over winter.

 

If I cant get the mechanical clock to work accurately, I'll go for a nice electronic clock, to go alongside my existing  guages. 

And I will consider a compatible electronic tacho, at about £80, if the illumination proves impossible.

 

Thanks FOlk.

 

 

COmdoc you've done a good job.

Edited by chuee, 08 June 2022 - 07:57 PM.

[gazza82]

can I suggest here looking at the Smiths range ?

Watch out for the dodgy cheap sets on fleabay ... they may look like Smiths but are pretty cheap and nasty when in your hands ..