TC Gauges

[LFD059]

Hey guys, I'm a new member to the forum and I am currently in the throes of restoring my 1947 TC2177 and I have some questions about my dash and gauges. First off - does anyone know of a reputable company to repair the original jaeger gauges? If not, any decent reproduction vendors out there besides Moss? Also I'm thinking of combining the oil and water gauges, following a TD example, any reason why I shouldn't do this? Finally, has anyone made their own wood dash before and if so, any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Steve Simmons]

Are you in the US or UK? In the US, I know of three rebuilders... Nisonger in NY, West Valley Instruments in CA, and Moma in NM. I only have experience with West Valley but have also heard good things about Nisonger.

There are no good reproductions. The Moss units are not Chronometric although they do work just fine. I had a pair in my TC that I switched for originals. If you want working repros I'd make a deal on them but my preference is for originals.

No reason why you can't use a combination gauge other than originality. If you want to win concourse shows then don't do it, otherwise you won't get too much flak about it.

[Duncan M]

The original TC speedo and tach are chronometric. They have a very unique way of jumping on their way up or down. The needle jumps, that is, in little increments. They need oiling and cleaning like a clock, every ten years or so. They are very reliable if cared for. An excellent history of chronometric Jaeger gauges here http://www.hells-confetti.com/Technical ... hanism.pdf

[Gene Gillam]

I have a home-made wooden dash in one of my cars, in the other I plan on buying one from Craig Seabrook - they're beautiful!

[stephen stierman]

I prefer not having a combination oil pressure/temperature gauge, just prefer the originals as they look right, besides TC's do not have a reputation for cooling issues. I made my own dash out of a nicely grained piece of walnut although the originals were book matched veneer. Seebrook's dashes are indeed very nice.

[LFD059]

Are you in the US or UK? In the US, I know of three rebuilders... Nisonger in NY, West Valley Instruments in CA, and Moma in NM. I only have experience with West Valley but have also heard good things about Nisonger.

There are no good reproductions. The Moss units are not Chronometric although they do work just fine. I had a pair in my TC that I switched for originals. If you want working repros I'd make a deal on them but my preference is for originals.

No reason why you can't use a combination gauge other than originality. If you want to win concourse shows then don't do it, otherwise you won't get too much flak about it.

Steve,

I'm in the US, east coast guy in upstate NY and likely will reach out to Nisonger first for a quote. I want to drive and enjoy the ride and looking to keep it original as best I can, but also have a budget to live with. A combination oil/water gauge may be an option at $500 new, but depends on how much they want to repair the Jager oil gauge as to which way I'll go.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Rich

[Gene Gillam]

Rich,

I think I have an extra combo gauge - probably need rebuilding - but available for far less than $500. As far as originality goes, probably less than 98% of people looking at the car actually look at the gauges and of the 2% that look at them, probably less than 0.01% would recognize that the dual gauge wasn't original. If you broke that 0.01% down, half would probably want to know if it was an easy modification .

Gene

[LFD059]

I went the repair route with Nisonger's keeping all original. Only draw back seems to be time frame of 12-16 weeks as the faces needed to be redone, where they send out to an artist for such? All in price was $1445 (us) for MPH, Tach, Amp, H20 and oil.

[Duncan M]

That is good info, LFD059. Was there any discussion of the Clock? Just curious, as that topic comes up now and then.

[LFD059]

Stated they would fix/repair the clock, all work guaranteed for 1 year.

[frenchblatter]

$1445! I thought I'd paid too much when I paid £720 for all four gauges to be overhauled with new faces, That's $1093. They were done by a chap in the UK who has a 7 page thread of complaints about him on "The MG experience". The £720 also included return postage (UK to France). They were ready in time and he even sent a new glass for the oil gauge which got broken in transit.

I'm happy now.

ed to add that he did the clock on mine as well.

You can see the completed dash (in original red vinyl) on http://www.frenchblat.com, MG TC, September

or this is it:

[LFD059]

Nice work at a great price. Sometimes you never know until it'd done what the outcome will be and at what cost...

LFD059 / Rich

[pleask]

As for a wooden dash, what I did was I got the blank plywood from a supplier (not worth making for what it cost) and laminated on a vaneer (I used burl maple) of your choice with a few coats of finish. It is very easy, and I got really good results. The base really should be a plywood as a solid real wood dash will tend to warp, crack and twist and so forth. There are several ways to glue on the vaneer, if you want any help I'd be happy to offer what I can. Probably best to do it off line.pleask@shaw.ca
Pat

[Norman Tuck]

I had my clock rebuilt by Jaguar Clocks (jaguarclock.com). $75. It has been keeping accurate time for about three years.
Norman

[frenchblatter]

Norman, I needed all the gauges doing, the car had been in a damp garage for 48 years and the faces were rusty. The chap I used has had new faces laser cut from original patterns. So he overhauled the mechanisms of all the gauges including the clock and fitted new faces to the speedo, tach, oil and amp gauges.

I have no idea yet if they work.....