Gauge Cluster

I started working on my gauge cluster today. I had thought about upgrading the gauge cluster to something fancy, but I can't change everything on the bike and I didn't see any advantage to upgrading. All I really need is tach, speedo and odometer.

I spent a fair amount of time buffing out the metal that rims each gauge. I didn't take before pictures but they were quite scuffed up. I've got them very shiny now and all the scratches removed.

I purchased several OEM replacement parts for my gauge cluster:
New 'dampers' - the rubber piece between the gauge itself and the bracket.
New gauge cover.
New rubber grommets that go between the bracket and the steering stem head.
New bolts to connect bracket to steering stem head.

I also purchased several small parts that are not OEM but work:
Small washers that fit between gauge attachment studs and the acorn nuts that screw onto the ends. I got four new acorn nuts as well. I'm missing two of the rubber grommets that fit between the cover and the mounting screws also. I tried finding something at ACE Hardware but nothing worked. These are on my list to buy OEM.

The plastic gauge cover was scratched and ugly enough that I didn't want to try and refinish it. So I bought a new one for $38.00. Well worth the price.
See the old one:


It's hard to tell how bad it is from the picture.

Here's a picture of my new cover and 'dampers' as Suzuki calls them. You can see my nice shiny gauges in the back. The gauges are original.


Here's a picture of my gauge bracket in its current condition:

And close-up:
This is too expensive to justify buying new. I can get it blasted and powder coated for $25.00. Again, trying to decide the color. I might change this to match the color of my frame rather than a silver or gray.

I noticed an unsightly gap between the gauge cover and the gauge bracket and was thinking about water and vibration causing a problem here.
I couldn't find anything in the manual or fiche showing a gasket that goes there so I decided to put some weather stripping around there to act as a cushion and to just fill in the space. I used closed cell weather stripping 1/4" thick. I cut it down to just the right width and installed it on the cover, not the bracket.


The finished product:


Here's the gap filled in by the weather stripping:

It's a little hard to see in the photo but I like the effect and it should reduce vibration once I'm riding.

Here's a documentary shot of the back of my tachometer, so I remember the wiring connections:
You can see the old washer, acorn nut and rubber grommets in this photo.
And a final shot of my gauges with the new dampers on. Old damper is laying next to gauges.
You can see the new washers and acorn nuts on the right gauge. Looks much better.


The colored lenses for turn signal, neutral, etc. that mount into the bracket are in bad shape. You can't find these by themselves, so once I research how to polish plastic to make it shiny I will spend some time on the little lenses.