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Smith's Guages (Lotus)

To: british-cars@hoosier
Subject: Smith's Guages (Lotus)
From: btufts@keps.kodak.com (Bob Tufts)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 92 13:04:05 EST
I'll repeat my $.02 of info that I've sent to this group before about 
guages, that may or may not be relevant here. My only experience is
with an Esprit and not a Europa, so "your milage may vary". The Series 2
Esprit use all Smith's guages (white letters on black, and from your discription
Phil, maybe THE same guages exactly). In the Esprit, the Voltage stabilizer is
mounted on the back of the Temp guage. Whenever it gets stuck, a "twap" on the
glass usually unsticks it. The Smiths are VERY damped guages and response is
slow (It may take a minute or more for the temp to read the correct value after
the Stabilizer is unstuck). I was about to put in a solid state regulator, but
the threat of doing so has put the stabilizer on its best behavior for over a
year and a half now. As previously discussed in this group, I've heard that the
average value of the voltage stabilizer is supposed to be 10 volts. Whether in
reality this is closer to 6 volts in my case would have to be determined. For
all of about $3 in parts from Radio Shack I have the parts to make a voltage 
regulator that could be adjusted by the corrrect selection of resistor values.
Since things are working right now, I don't want to invest the time to fix what
ain't broke.

BTW: I believe If any of your guages are broke you should be able to order them
from places like R.D. Enterprises (or any of the other suppliers). Also, the
Esprit uses a voltmeter (not an ammeter) in case you'd like to convert and
replace that SW ammeter.

-Bob T.


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