AC Ace 0-100 water temp gauge wanted

[Jam]

Would anyone have a spare original 0-100 water temperature gauge? I am helping my father with his AC and we need to find the correct unit. I understand that Speedograph Richfield and Europa spares can supply new similar models but I would rather fit an original if possible. Any help very gratefully received! All the best James

[B.P.Bird]

James, sorry to be a bit obvious - do you have the original? If so Speedograph have rebuilt a number for me, over the years and they have been fine. By the bye I think the scale is 30° to 110°C and the A.C. ones are different from the more usual Smith's faces in being printed with open chaplets. The only exception to this was the extra gauge for Oil Temperature which was sometimes a standard Smiths face, but could be a matching open chaplet face. I suppose it just depended on what Doug had in stores.....

[B.P.Bird]

James, further to my post above I have received this email from Tim Isles:
   "I humbly beg to differ with your description of an original water temp gauge! I think your LM 5000 has a 30 - 110 gauge, but if you have a quick glance at Rinsey Mills' 'Original Ace and Cobra' you will see that all the Aces and Acecas are fitted with the 30 - 100 C gauge, with chaplets that match rev counter, speedo and all other minor instruments less the (Lucas) ammeter. Part number of the instrument is X20933/144 - I have one on my desk, freshly returned from SR, which comes from my Ace BEX 148.
   I'm sure you'll know that three of these open chaplet minor dials (oil pressure, oil temp and water temp) are sold by among others Europa Spares and Speedy Cables, and appear to be known as the 'Cobra Range'. (SR do a very good job of converting the face on an early Sprite/Midget fuel gauge to the correct Ace pattern as it has the same shaped face and needle.) In my opinion these modern dials are a pretty close approximation of the original, but the detailing on the dials is a little more precise and slightly thinner. They also read 'Made in UK' rather than 'Made in England' which is an immediate give away that one is not looking at an original gauge. The big drawback is that the water gauge is identical to the oil temp gauge in the it reads from 30 - 140 and only differs in that it reads 'water'. I did have SR re-calibrate and re-face one of these new dials for me so that it reads 30 - 100. SR also mange to re-print the faces in the slightly 'fluffier' style of the originals."
   Well there it is from the real authority - when I checked my water temperature gauges, including LM5000, they were all 30° - 100°C and of course, as Tim notes, the Lucas ammeter did not match the Smiths gauges.
   Here is a Speedograph Richfield reproduction.
   
   
   

[Jam]

quote:Originally posted by Jam
   
Would anyone have a spare original 0-100 water temperature gauge? I am helping my father with his AC and we need to find the correct unit. I understand that Speedograph Richfield and Europa spares can supply new similar models but I would rather fit an original if possible. Any help very gratefully received! All the best James