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Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:48 am
by csnailnrun
Can the red temp indicator be replaced and purchased? If so, who has these for sale? Thanks!

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:29 am
by DHort
I have never found them available anywhere.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:37 am
by Mark Gregush
Depends on who made it and what model it is. The Ford Model and Jr Moto-Meter no, the larger ones, maybe. Other brands, don't think so. Is the thermometer broke and fluid missing or?

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:02 pm
by Rich Eagle
Back in the 70s our local A&T dealer found this at a swap meet. I wish I knew where they came from or how to install them. At least they were available at some point in time.
FWIW
Rich
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Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:15 pm
by Wayne Sheldon
I don't know about now. But Restoration Supply outside San Diego Califunny used to carry the repro meters, and depending upon availability, repair thermometers. Been several years, but I did restore a few broken originals. Again, I don't know how much may have changed the past ten years, but it used to be that a repro model A accessory quail was prone to breaking the thermometer. While the large meter standard Boyce replacement thermometer was not available at that particular time, the large quail replacement was. The quail replacement comes mounted in a brass sub-base, and used the same thermometer otherwise. So I bought one of those. Being VERY careful, using a dremel tool cutoff disc (or about four or five of them!), I cut the brass base lengthwise in three places. Carefully peeled the glue off the thermometer, and carefully installed the thermometer into my broken original Boyce.
It was a bit of a bother, but worked quite well.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:34 pm
by TRDxB2
You might consider buying a similar reproduction model and replacing its bezels, screws, glass and data plate with yours. Almost the same as just replacing the thermo part. Then if your so inclined you an see if there is away to remove the thermo part from your original base without destroying it.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:36 pm
by Rich Eagle
Restoration Supply still lists "Motometers: senior or junior sizes, faceplates, repair kits, emblems and more!" Check them out.
This may be good to read also.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/107937.html

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:38 pm
by BobD
wayne sheldon wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:15 pm
But Restoration Supply outside San Diego Califunny used to carry the repro meters,
Just checked my 2018 Restoration Supply catalog. On page 62 there is listed a replacement thermometer with nut and gasket for the senior 3-3/8" size but not for the junior 2-3/8" size.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:07 pm
by Humblej
Ryan, what is the problem with your thermometer?

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 2:31 pm
by csnailnrun
Great feedback everyone.
My large motometer thermo tube is broken. the red (mercury?) fluid is, and has been since I bought it years ago, at the top of the tube. Now that I have the engine built and running, I'd like to have a working meter.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:36 pm
by DanTreace
Before you tear into that Motometer, you may find it easy to bring the red fluid back to the base. Some use the 'tapping' method that Boyce put in print, for mine, a simple fixture and spun the meter for several minutes on a lathe. That pushed the fluid into the chamber. Holding it in boiling water proved the Motometer was back in form. ;)


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Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 5:05 pm
by Wayne Sheldon
Is the thermometer physically broken? Usually, you can tell by looking at it. And usually, if it is broken, you will not see much red in the top half of the thermometer.
Often, over the so many years these things sat around, and laying flat? The colored mercury (or other colored fluid?) would slowly flow to the top of the thermometer glass. Motometers should always be stored upright. This issue seems to be getting worse as the years roll along. But it used to be that most Motometers could be fixed by any of several methods. One of the favored (and original recommendation by Boyce) was to beat the mercury back down on a spare (or other available) inflated tire. This method does pose a risk of breaking a good Motometer if proper care is not taken. The risk of breakage seems to be getting greater as they approach a hundred years of age. The "pot metal" Boyce used was generally a much higher grade than so many automobile parts used. So they usually look pretty good still. Yet they have degraded somewhat and become a bit more brittle.
Some people prefer to spin them on a bicycle wheel or machine lathe and have the centrifugal force work the mercury back down. Be VERY careful tying it onto whatever you plan to spin it on. If the Motometer comes loose, it can really fly far breaking itself and who knows what else gets in the way (like your face?). Others have held the meter in boiling water on the kitchen stove with good success. I personally have tried that a couple times, but it never worked for me. Back to the spare tire.
I did break one pounding it onto the spare tire once. Close examination showed corrosion in the breaking area, so it wasn't entirely my misuse. It was one of the ones I later restored, with a new thermometer (they happened to be available at the time) and some J B Weld. I used it on one of my cars for several years.

(Dan T types faster than I )

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 6:19 pm
by Humblej
I suspect the thermometer is not actually broken if the only symptom is red at the top of the tube. As others have written, the red can be coaxed back to the bottom. I have had success by alternating heating the base in boiling water and wacking in an upward direction the bottom of the probe with a rubber mallet.
If the tube is actually broken don't mess with it, many (most) old thermometers used mecury which is hazardous.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:20 pm
by JH1427
I too have a NOS moto meter that was stored on its side for the last 80+ years. It will be one of my winter break projects.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:03 pm
by Mark Gregush
Re; If the tube is actually broken don't mess with it, many (most) old thermometers used mecury which is hazardous
The Boyce is alcohol based.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:30 am
by TRDxB2
The fluid in a liquid thermometer rises an falls as a result of the glass bulb on the bottom expanding and contracting as a result of temperature changes and not as a result of the fluid changing state. One recommended method of rejoining the separated liquid, not mentioned above, is to use an ice bath - after all drawing the fluid back into the bulb at the bottom is what you are trying to do. Just insert the bulb portion or equivalent into the ice bath, not the entire column. Mercury freezes at -37.89°F and alcohol at -173.5°F, so don't use dry ice.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2019 11:14 am
by csnailnrun
The glass tube isn't broken. I'll try the options y'all suggested to get the mercury back to the bottom as it should be.
It is a Peerless. I assume the tubes are universal?

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2019 11:22 am
by BobD
Have never seen a motometer that uses mercury. A bright silver like appearance would indicate mercury. Red would indicate alcohol.

I am sure there are exceptions out there.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:37 am
by csnailnrun
Dan, would zip tying my Peerless to the T hub accomplish that of a lathe? Clearly a lot slower rotation which may be the required case.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 12:39 pm
by Norman Kling
I have one which got hot and the red stuff went all the way to the top. I tried putting in the freezer, I tried boiling it, I even tied it to my spoke wheel, jacked up the wheel and ran the car, which threw the motometer across the garage, but it is still up! Got a replacement from Langs.
Norm

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 2:02 pm
by BuddyTheRoadster
I don't know if this would be long enough, but it's a possibility.

https://cwmoss.com/products/thermo-quai ... gI1lvD_BwE

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:30 pm
by Scott_Conger
Mark

as a teenager, working for a clockmaker which eventually led to an apprenticeship, the clockmaker had laid a mercury pendulum vial in the burlap catch apron of one of his watchbenches. Eventually he accidentally broke it and for the next 3 years that I worked Wednesdays for him through highschool, he'd simply plunge through the mess to fetch a tool he rembered being there and boodles of that stuff would roll off his hand and tools and danced into every corner of his garage/shop. It was a very large container, having come from a pinwheel regulator...I bet it was a good 20 pounds of the stuff, over 2 inches deep in the catch tray. I frequently hovered over the mess while cutting gears on the lathe on the bench.

Highly toxic stuff, but never had an obvious impact on him or me. Benzine and cyanide were common chemicals in the business, used with little regard to their danger, though he did appear to have a little bit of respect for the cyanide.

As a young kid, I had a small ball of the stuff and played with it along with friends...it eventually got to school where it disappeared into nether-reigions of the classroom. That school will remain unnamed, lest it be torn down.

And people want to talk about not letting kids ride without belts??? :lol: :lol: :lol:
Knowing what I know now, if the state found out, my mom/dad would be in prison for the stuff I was exposed to... :lol:

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:40 pm
by BobD
To follow up on Scott's story, I am another one guilty of playing with mercury when I was a kid. Dad brought it home from work. It was used in the instrumentation at the sugar factory he worked at back in the '50's through early '70's. The properties it possessed was considered at the time quite fascinating to those (and me) who worked with it.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 1:13 am
by Steve Jelf
When I was a kiddo dimes were still made of silver. It was fun to slather a dime with mercury and make it extra shiny. In the early nineteenth century mercury fumes were used in making hats, and they also wrecked the brains of the hatters. That's the source of the phrase mad as a hatter. We who played with the stuff as kids were lucky to escape unscathed.

Mercury Danger

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 1:17 am
by Novice
"What doesn't KILL You makes You stronger" ? There are thousands of mercury switches still out there in every thing under the sun many inside a glass bulb waiting to get broken.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 6:12 am
by D Stroud
I too played with Mercury when I was a kid somewhere in the late '50's early '60's, it was fun stuff. It was just a small bit that would fit in the palm of my hand, probably explains a lot about me now. ;) Not sure where I got it, probably from some sort of switch or something. Had a lot of fun with it until I dropped it in the dirt outside, then it was gone. Only had it for a few days, probably a good thing. At least I didn't ingest it like some kids apparently do with lead based paint. (didn't do that either :) even back then, most of us kids had some common sense) Dave

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 6:26 am
by Dallas Landers
That explains alot Dave ! :lol:

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:12 am
by kmatt
My Grandfather Al, on my mothers side, worked in the gold mines of Grass Valley Ca in the 1920's up into FDR's early days of killing the gold standard. In the late 1950's and 1960's when we would visit the grandparent's still in Grass Valley Al would talk about working in the mines. Al much preferred working in the mine shafts dealing with drill rods, blasting, and loading ore cars than working in the stamp mill with the rock dust and Mercury mix always in the air, and the constant loud stamping noise. Even back then the miners knew that constant Mercury exposure wasn't good.

Re: Motometer thermo replacement part

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:51 am
by D Stroud
Dallas, YUP!!!! ;) Dave