Replacement instruments, function or form?

[Wings & Motos]

Hello all,

I am going to pull apart the panel on my 1946 7AC. The panel is black wrinkle with a miss matched assortment of gauges. I have a Cub tach, a Cessna altimeter, and the rest of the gauges are sort of foggy and worn out looking. It would be nice to have a better compass in it. My partner would like a vertical card compass, I think it would be nice too. I am not a purist, but also do not want to modernize too much. I would like to keep the panel close to original, but want reliable functioning gauges.
Without breaking the bank, what are my options for 1. making all the gauges match and look good together 2. not departing very far from what a champ should have 3. not spending more than $150 to $200 per gauge.
I am going to strip the panel this week and either paint it wrinkle again, or use a low gloss black on it. What was the original panel? By some of the pictures I have seen, it seems they were low gloss black, but most restored Champs are wrinkle.

David

[james gevay]

David, after looking at your panel I don't think it looks bad, I've seen lots worse. I know you see things that I don't and you want to make some changes and improvements.

Working from right to left, the airspeed is stock and looks fine, as is the compass. As long as your compass doesn't leak why do you want to replace it? That compass is as reliable as a rock. I'm guessing that you probable will run a portable GPS, then why do you "need" a verticle compass anyways?

The oil pressure gauge is stock and works just fine. The turn and bank is okay, if that's what you want. The newer temp gauge works, but doesn't look really stock. The old temp gauges sometimes can be found on E-bay, but are EXPENSIVE and are expensive to repair too.

The altimeter is too modern looking for my tastes, but you could find another older looking one on E-bay or Barnstormers.com.
The Cub tach could be replaced by a normal AC tach without the Cub logo, make sure it turns the correct way, CCW.

Look at this previous thread which has some pictures of panels for ideas. Mine is the yellow one and all my gauges are pretty much stock. I had to replace my old temp gauge with a newer one and it has F and C marked on the face, which I don't like. My 0-160 mph airspeed will be replaced with an original Aeronca 0-140 mph that I found on E-bay.

http://www.joea.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4474

My altimeter is from the early 40's, it has two needles and the Kolsman window is at 6 o'clock, I've only seen a couple others like it.

You could do some cleanup of the gauges by masking the glass and painting the bezels around the edges.
My panel was painted a wrinkle black finish. Don't paint your panel or the top of the boot cowl by the fuel gauge any shiny color, you'll get reflections in the windshield that will be distracting in flight.

[joea]

David,

You can send your old instruments out to be overhauled and many places can return them with the original style "Aeronca" decals on the dials. Price is I believe within the budget you mention.

Might check around. Many recommend Keystone Instruments but I could not get them to reply to an email, so might call.

Joe A

[Mikek]

Hello all,

I am going to strip the panel this week and either paint it wrinkle again, or use a low gloss black on it. What was the original panel? By some of the pictures I have seen, it seems they were low gloss black, but most restored Champs are wrinkle.

David

Here is a NAA link:
http://www.aeroncapilots.com/Technotes.htm

Brown