Picked up the AMG Repro 300km/hr cluster today.

[WGB]

Did the 2 hour round trip drive up to Applied Instruments today to pick up my cluster.

Here is a picture of the cluster sitting on my study floor. The photo doesn't accurately portray the correct colour of the orange but he has managed to blend the colour of the 60 Km/hr area perfectly with the colour of the faded 30 year old needles.



Here is a photo of it in more close-up which gives a more correct colour to the needle and the 60 km/hr area.



The difficulties he faced were

1) Correct orange colour of 60 km/hr area

2) Matching the slight sheen that the instruments have in the black colour. The instrument face is not matt black but has a slight sheen which is hard to replicate perfectly as the printing ink comes as gloss, matt or semi-sheen. Final effect matches pretty well.

3) Imperfections in the white lettering - the face is actually painted white first and then the black is silk-screened on with the lettering actually being gaps in the black - there is a small dot between the 3 and the first 0 of 300 pictured here.



I spotted it as soon as I picked up the panel (in a bright light) but it may not be very visible in-situ.

David said that he reprinted the face 3 times to try to fix various imperfections and decided that if he tried to fix it he may cause more of a problem.

I have never tried to pass this off as an original - always as a reproduction - so "spot the deliberate mistake" may become part of it's character. If it irritates me too much it is an easy job to remove it and put a dab of something black on the dot without changing the speedo calibration.

I guess because Oscar has put in an order and 500eguy has also made contact he only charged me AUD$220 instead of the original $300 quote for manufacture and calibration.

He has kept the artwork if anyone else wants to contact him on any of the Phone no/E-mail/URL posted in the original Topic and says the calibration is very simple and that it calibrates quite well with a 10% spring pressure reduction. Just make sure that David knows that not all speedos will necessarily be coming out of 6.9's.

I'm a very happy chappy and think I have got good value for money and effort.

Bill

[oscar]

Well I'm sold.  I might end up sending him three.  Thanks so much for all your effort Bill.  As I said I've been in contact with David and will send him the faceplates tomorrow.  I'm just sending faceplates so the recalibration is going to make for an interesting thread afterwards especially if I loosen the spring first so I can upload a video to youtube of a 350se doing 300km/hr  Unfortunately the spring isn't that long  

Thanks for the photos too, I think the speedo looks great

[koan]

Just searching the original thread for the "tell 'em Bill sent you" post, WGB didn't you post something like that with an email address?

I was waiting till it the job was complete before I enquired. In retrospect I suppose it would have made more sense to do it earlier to give them an idea of numbers and end price, didn't think it through, sorry about that.

Do you have an email address for them WGB or is  it phone only?

I'll contact them today, Tuesday one way or another.

koan

[s class]

Excellent Bill.  I think my red AMG needs one?

Did you send in a 6.9 speedo?  Could it be done with a 450 item?

[oscar]

Just searching the original thread for the "tell 'em Bill sent you" post, WGB didn't you post something like that with an email address?

I know why the contact was hard to find, WGB put in the rear speedo markings thread

Took me ages to find it again but to quote the post -

Here is the e-mail [email protected] and web page Applied Instrumentsfor Applied Instruments.
The Phone No is +61 8 9240 6999 and Fax +61 8 9240 6988

Contact them and talk to David (Both of them are aware of what is going on) and say that you are interested in a copy of the face that is being made for Bill Babe's 6.9.


sclass, I can answer your questions - most definitely yes, I believe he did and a big yes

To answer your last one in more detail.  "Could it be done with a 450 item?".  Definitely.  I'm, sending in three 280 faceplates rather than the complete speedo or cluster.  One will go on my 350, another will go on a 450 and another on a 6.9.  Callibration is the only issue and whilst Apllied Instruments are offering to callibrate I want to do it myself .  Check out this rear speedo markings thread link. It's just a matter of shortening a spring.  I'm going to try and do it on the bench with an accurate method.  If that fails, I'll just do trial and error out on the highway with a GPS. 

[WGB]

Thanks Oscar - you beat me to the contact details.

Did you send in a 6.9 speedo?  Could it be done with a 450 item?

The internals are what governs the gearing - the faces are all the same shape with different shift points printed on them.

Ryan - you will be able to get a 450 face printed as I did, but then you will need to put that on 6.9 internals and get that whole configuration calibrated.

If not done in that manner the odometer will be out by a factor of 2.69 divided by 3.07 or whatever diff ratio the original speedo was taken from.

Bill

[500eguy]

Bill, That looks Fantastic! i am even more sold than i was before! This will match nicely in the car now:), can't wait to install it!

[AMG69]

OK Bill, please fit it and return the car to me...

Well done mate, awesome!

cheers

Chris

[koan]

I finally got mine away yesterday, had a bit of trouble getting the needle off.

koan

[WGB]

I hope you are happy with it Koan.

Mine is working well and the little dot next to the 300k marker is not really visible from the drivers seat.

Bill

[s class]

I have been quoted $200 to do my face.  I was all set to go, now it looks like my wife may loose her job, in which case I need to be more careful with the pennies. 

[oscar]

Geezus!  That's no good sclass.  Wish I had sent the guys an extra one I only sent two. 

[WGB]

I hope your wife's job is OK S-class, you guys need a few breaks.

I don't know what the other guys are paying for their faces but if you want me to ask for you I would be quite happy to take your face up and say it was for me and see what they want to charge.

Bill

[s class]

Bill the deal I had with them was for me to post them the face only (positng the entire instrument too expensive), and they would only do the printing and return it to me.  I was told $200 for one, $100 thereafter for additional ones. 

Frankly, I was expecting a better deal than that - no calibration etc. 

Bill I didin't originally ask you to help as I thought it would be an imposition, as I know it is far away from you. 

[WGB]

He originally told me $250 for the first face (1/2 that price for subsequent ones) and $50 for calibration but that included making the mask which he has already done. Then he charged me $225 for preparation and calibration.

I think he either had a few more problems getting it right than he expected or else his estimates are a little arbitrary.

I will give him a ring on Monday and PM you with the result.

Both the ML's have his co-ordinates in the Satnav

Bill