Ammeter or Voltmeter?

[Bull McCabe]

The earth on my 1971 2500 ammeter had come loose, which caused my ammeter to get hot. This has resulted in the white figures on the dial to become slightly discoloured.
The ammeter is an AC, -45 to 45 amps, which I am fairly sure is either original or same as original (judging by an old thread about Vixen dashboards).
I also found an old thread where Mr Tiger had a similar issue and it had been suggested to him that a volt meter would be better suited to a car with an alternator.
Can anyone suggest where I could get an AC gauge (45 amp with quadrant covering the lower section of dial face) or suggest a voltmeter which is a close match in style. I even thought it might be possible to use a different brand and just fit the AC quadrant over the replacement.
If anyone has fitted a voltmeter, would you be good enough to post a picture.

Many thanks in advance,
Gary.

Ammeter is same as below



Edited to ad, I saw an AC gauge on Ebay, but it was a 30 amp version.

Edited by Bull McCabe on Tuesday 10th July 21:49

[Dollyman1850]

Fit a volt meter. still useful to show when a battery is not charging and loosing volts. An Ameter by its nature takes all of the main battery current via big meaty terminals and is not a very appropriate gauge to gave behind your dash!!

Smiths classic cobra range are OK and similar to original.

N.

[anonymous-user]

Speedy Cables converted mine last year to a volt meter. They have to be persuaded to do it as they initially say they can’t but they were reminded they did another for me 2 years ago. They/you put s label on the back saying ‘this is a volt meter’. Face stays the same and all works fine.
They aren’t speedy though!

[Bull McCabe]

Thanks for replying.

I think I will fit a Smiths voltmeter. I checked all the connections and replaced the terminals and went for a drive today and the ammeter was still heating up.
I would like to keep the car as original as possible, but equally I am happy to make sensible adjustments to make the car more usable.
The gauge set up goes AC - Smiths - AC - Smiths, with the AC having needle at the bottom and numbers at the top and the Smiths being the exact opposite. If I replace the oil pressure gauge at the same time, I think a full set of the same gauges would look fine. I can keep the AC gauges so I can replace them at any time. This also gives me time to peruse Ebay for an ammeter as per the original.

Thanks again Dollyman and Pushfit.

[Dollyman1850]

you can sell your AC gauges for a small fortune to the TVR purists who must have the originally cheaper gauge at all costs

N.

[Bull McCabe]

Dollyman1850 said:

you can sell your AC gauges for a small fortune to the TVR purists who must have the originally cheaper gauge at all costs

N.

Ha ha, yes, I know what you mean. Although I found a couple of old Ebay listings of ammeters like mine and they had both sold for less than a fiver. The Vixen aficionado's must have missed them! I think the same gauges were fitted to Bedfords and Commer vans.

My main aim is to use and enjoy the car, so a few minor tweaks here and there don't concern me too much. I don't intend fitting 20 inch wheels, a huge tea tray spoiler and a matt black bonnet but I am happy that I replaced the sweaty vinyl seats with leather so I can enjoy a 4 hour drive in July and not arrive looking Cool Hand Luke after an intense summers day in the tin shed.

I must admit that after a drive out today in light rain, I thought that intermittent wipers would be handy. I think Adrian@ does such a thing for the M.

Oh dear, I have just realised that I have publicly admitted that I take it out in the rain too...

[anonymous-user]

The rare one is the AC oil pressure gsuge which was a 70 psi one as most of them for sale are 100psi.
Bear in mind the smiths temp and fuel gauges won’t work with AC senders.....can of worms alert

[Dollyman1850]

V6 Pushfit said:

The rare one is the AC oil pressure gsuge which was a 70 psi one as most of them for sale are 100psi.
Bear in mind the smiths temp and fuel gauges won’t work with AC senders.....can of worms alert

Its very simple You use a commonly available smiths gauge with a smiths sender unit.
Better again use a mechanical gauge for oil pressure.. much more accurate

N.

[anonymous-user]

Dollyman1850 said:

Its very simple You use a commonly available smiths gauge with a smiths sender unit.
Better again use a mechanical gauge for oil pressure.. much more accurate

N.

Not forgetting of course the AC is mechanical....

[Dollyman1850]

V6 Pushfit said:

Not forgetting of course the AC is mechanical....

Not with a sender unit it isn't
N.

[anonymous-user]

They didn’t do one with a sender just a pipe with a washer everyone forgets to put back leading to oil appearing down the dash and it’s then a nightmare putting it in.
Apparently.
Anyway I don’t know why we’re discussing this as nine times out of ten the dash won’t come forward and when it does it breaks so gauges are best left as-is whatever they are until a rebuild....