Here is a picture of the one Tiki did. I also used a flat tip screw driver, mine looked a little smaller. Then slowly work you way around bending the rim up.

It wasn't bad once it got the jig clamped on the table in the right spot then it was just a matter of crimp and rotate. I crimped in two rotations, 1st crimp about 1/2 way down and 2nd rotation to full crimp and it was factory flat. I found the key was don't lift the lip all the way up to 90deg. lift the lip just enough to get the gauge body out, with the downward angle left on the lip it is easier to crimp back down otherwise its a pain in the butt to get the crimp started. The S.S, strip between the lip and clamp helped distribute the clamp force to a larger area for a smooth finish. I don't think the decals were available at the time I did this, I found RD decals but none for the DT's

Scott follow the link I posted to see how I opened the gauges.

I had a trashed set of gauges to practice on, also when you lift the lip with a screwdriver don't try to lift all the way in one shot go around a few times lifting a little at a time you get a feel for it this is probably the most tedious part of the resto.

Tiki, you and I were posting at the same time it looks like. Cool write up. I was apprehensive to start prying on stuff as my luck would have broken something.

I.be been pondering the re-crimping issue, and had a thought.

If you were to make a mold of an in-opened gauge, then use that to create a casting out of some sort of pourable metal (www.devcon.com/UserFiles/File/MetalFilled_User_Guide.pdf) which could be split, then used as a clamping fixture in, say, a vice, to re-crimp the ring to factory specs?

A similar fixture could be made by a competent mold maker out of hardwood, which would be less likely to scar the metal being crimped.

Frankly, if there were a source (maybe the original gauge vendor has some NOS stock?) for new rings, that would be even cooler. The idea is to simply re-create the original manufacturing setup. It likely was not overly complex back in the 70's.

Before I tore the bike down, everything electrical worked fine. I cleaned the electrical terminals and used a dielectric grease to prevent corrosion. The wires were in good shape. No signs of damage. I used a turtle wax rubber restore on the rubber.






Removed the 41 year old tape, over the years dirt/sand/uv rays made it not very pretty. Re-wrapped it.









Surprised this survived 41 years. Was a little faded I darkened the numbering.










Here was the harness before








After clean up

I have one just like it I am redoing just ot it down to the frame yesterday

Cool! I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures.


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More inspiration.
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I polished the oil pump cover. I noticed a sizeable dent and chip. I am guessing a rock caused this. I inspected the inside and it has a small crack. Lucky for me, next month I am going back home, Enduronut should be able to weld repair the damage.

I just cleaned up around the damaged area. I will polish this area after repair.




The rest cleaned up nicely.