RE: GTV6 Speedos

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

> Like John Katos said, the tach and speedo needles on the GTV6's
> tend to warp , with ( in my case anyway ) the end of the needle dragging
> on the face. After bending the rubber speedo needle back turned out
> to be a very tempory fix, I ended up using a sharp knife to trim the under-
> side at the extreme end. I'd love to hear a better remedy though.
           >  Mark Manley

I must've looked at dozens of used GTV-6 Speedos and Tachs, every one
suffered from droopy tips to some extent. Even though I haven't found a
magic Viagra pill for these pointers, I have found a fix that seems to be
fairly permanent. One nice thing about GTV-6's, anyway, is that the
instruments are dead easy to remove and they come apart readily after
removing the four screws which affix them to the dash. You don't need to
remove the needle from its shaft, but you do need to be careful. Take a
soldering iron (or a wood-burning pencil will do) and get it nice and hot.
Now grab the entire pointer in a pair of needle-nose pliers in such a way
that one of the pliers' jaws is beneath the needle (and between the needle
and the gauge face) and the other jaw is on top. Now coming from the side,
carefully bring the soldering iron body as close to the exposed side of the
plastic needle as you can get it without touching either the gauge face or
the needle itself. Its probably best to get someone with real steady hands
to help here. After a few minutes the jaws of the needle-nosed pliers should
get really warm, in fact, they should get warm enough to SOFTEN (not MELT)
the plastic of the pointer. Gentle pressure on the pliers should then allow
the needle to straighten out. Now, this next step in important. Remove the
heat, and hold the pliers on the needle until the jaws are cool to the touch
and then remove them. The plastic in the pointer should now relax into its
new position, which is straight. If you are careful, the needle shouldn't
have any marks on it from the pliers. If there are serration marks there,
you got the plastic too hot or you squeezed too hard.

This works because it was heat that caused the plastic pointer to droop in
the first place. Re-heating it and letting it cool while being held in a
straightened position will allow the plastic molecules to realign themselves
in a new position and remember that position. This is the reason why just
straightening the needle does no good. The plastic "remembers" its bent
position and wants to return to it.

Remedy to keep it from happening again - Don't let the interior temperature
of the car get above about 160 degrees F. This means that if you must leave
it alone in the hot summer sun, leave all the windows cracked or carry a sun
cover to put over it or at least a windshield visor.

George Graves

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