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Replacement 550 speedo/tacho dishes on EBay

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Oddjob:
I've always been a fan of original Honda equipment, if I can still get it that's what I use.

However the chrome dishes on my 550F2 clocks whist still looking reasonable were starting to show small pits etc and I decided to get them rechromed. I did look for new ones as sometimes it's cheaper to buy new than have old stuff rechromed. However the original part number seems to have been susperceded to another bikes dishes, so 37236-404-000 is now 37236-426-000. Seems ok except they are very slightly different, some of the holes seem to have moved IIRC. That didn't sit well with me so I decided to just go with the rechrome. All was well until one day I'm trawling ebay and comes across these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302689446031, £39 for a pair when CMS want about that for one, worth a look I feel so I buy them. When they arrive, last January as it turns out, I just give them a cursory look and store the box for when I get round to having the clocks renovated by Peter Kent.

Moving forward some months now, the clocks come back from Peter and a very good job he did of restoring them, I didn't post any pics of them when they returned as I wanted to post a pic when they were mounted (sorry Peter).

So finally I get round to doing some work on the clocks and here's where I notice what's appears to be different about the dishes. I always go OTT on trying to keep the parts I buy in as good a condition as I can, so I tend to paint everything that can't be seen BUT can still rust with zinc 182 paint, usually by brush as it can flow into voids etc. So out comes the dishes so I can paint the inside of the dish, now I do a LOT of polishing and I can spot the signs of something that's been polished and these have, there is still polishing compound around the inside of the holes in the dish, you can even see it on the pics on the ebay auction, as I always degrease the surface first, when I start to apply brake cleaner it started to dissolve the polish, this made me wonder, why polish a chrome finish, yes they polish the metal before chroming but any residue would dissolve in the chroming process, I then notice the colour of the metal, it's not mild steel like the 550 dishes, it looks stainless steel. The outside on inspection has clearly been polished to shine like chrome, hence the polish residue.

So these are stainless and thus almost immune to rust, unlike the standard dishes. For me that's a big win as they do tend to get grit strikes in transit and that causes pitting and before you know it you've got flakes of chrome coming off.

So I thought I'd point that out for anyone restoring a 550 or even a 750 with the same size dishes, even the 500K2 are the same I think. I may have a little play with them to see if I can increase the level of shine on them, you never know, they could look even better than the standard ones and they are certainly cheaper as well.

Sesman:
Hi, oddjob.

I used these for my 550 F2 build and they are indeed s/s. However I was unsure of the s/s quality and still applied a light coating of WD40 to the insides. There is no sign of corrosion after two winters in my garage.

I seem to recall my units arrived complete with the rubber inset rings.

I’m pretty sure the 550F2 trip meter is outside the ring, but the 500K2 exits out the back. At least that’s true of the USA ND instruments.

Sesman:
My 550F2  clocks as restored by Peter.

I’ve also just received my 500 clocks and I’ll post when I’ve mounted them (ahem). I’m currently drilling the clock mount to receive the trip reset.

Oddjob:
I have Nippon Seiki gauges and the trip meter comes out of the side above the dishes.

Sesman:
Same for my 550 ND Speedo (first photo). My 500 is rear (2nd photo). Or did you mean your Seiko 500 comes out sideways?

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