instrument cluster restoration

[tonys_shelby]

Any recommendations of who to send the instrument cluster to for restoration. I've had the "tach guy" do one but he seemed so arrogant and the back wasn't detailed like I would have wanted etc.

[1967 eight barrel]

WARNING! Do NOT LET THE TACH GUY GARY TOUCH YOUR INTRUMENTS!
There is a thread on this asshat I posted, as well as a few others.
Phil did beautiful work, the tach works flawlessly and the sweep is smooth.
My tach wouldn't read correctly and the needle bounced on both the speedo
and the tach. They were full of metal shavings.
                                                            -Keith

Phil Severance.
Phidon Restorations
283 Trotter Dr.
Twin Falls, ID 83301
Phone: (208) 734-4535

[DennyD]

+1 for Phil Severance, he's done a couple for me and close friends, perfect workmanship!

[roddster]

  I had Phil do my Tach 6K to 8K, and also had my speedo done 120 MPH to 140 MPH for my clone/tribute/fake/copy/etc car.  Nice work and a pleasure to do business with.

[2112]

http://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=286.msg8503#msg8503

[tonys_shelby]

Great Keith I'll give Phil a call.  You put the words of my experience with the Tach Man better than I could have!

[Rocket]

We had Phil do the tach for 550. Quick turnaround and good price.  Ron

[1967 eight barrel]

Tony, not only did Tachman do my tach and speedo the first time I also had him re-screen the gauge faces.
He claims they are silk screened. He outright lies. They were stickers stuck onto the faces.
They came back, the rivets were left out of the faces, they were replaced by two screws that were left loose.
The movement hit the face and the tach would not sweep and was off as far as the calibration. When I called him he acted like he was intoxicated. He was belligerent and refused to rectify the issue, refund the work and then whined about being a veteran somehow was trying to segue into how it somehow was connected to his piss-poor work and customer service when I mentioned I am also a combat veteran and don't use it to justify bad behavior he went into a tirade an denigrated my service because I wasn't in Vietnam. He was in the Chair Farce as a fueler.  His BS and rip off of other reputable restorers is reprehensible.
Rocketman's Classic Cougar is doing the tach conversions as well. He tried to get the supplier of the three wire tach to stop selling to Bob and only sell to him.
Anyway, I am crawling off my soap box.  With the scum bags coming out of the woodwork and ripping people like us off I have just lost all tolerance for them.
In the end I ate the work done by Tach Boy and paid to have it all done a second time.
Hence my stern warning. Rocketman can do them too and does good work.

[tonys_shelby]

Keith that is awful! He did my '68 Shelby probably 15 years ago when I didn't know who do ask,  I don't even think there was a website then.  Anyway yes I had a few issues also and same thing he pretty much told me to stick it. This time I contacted a guy by the name of Kens ( he is near me ) first and he told me I was being to picky and didn't want to do it. I was great nor do I want to send it to you. Then I thought The SAAC guys will know! I've already contacted Phil, I'm confident it's going to turn out great.

[kingchief]

Phil is great.  He has done 2 tachs for me and I purchased another one from his inventory.  All work flawlessly!

Steve

[Mike James]

Well I can't comment on whether he was a jerk to you guys or not but the Tachman did an amazing job on my cluster. 

[1967 eight barrel]

Mike, no offense but you got lucky and perhaps don't know some of the details to look for.  Phil worked for Ford and knows the electronics inside out. He also has FORD parts that are new for repair, unlike Tachman who uses used parts to make repairs on tachs. Phil also confirmed my way around the issue for those of us running the Pertronix Ignitor II and up. There is plenty of crap Gary has done to those who he has done work for. 
As you can see, the negatives just in this feed are primarily negative in nature.
                                                                          -Keith

[Mike James]

No offense taken but I stand by what I said that he did a great job, communicated to me during the entire process, fixed everything he said he would, and his job packaging the cluster to send back to me is like nothing I have ever seen before.  He double boxed it, double wrapped it, and insured it.

I am sure others have had a good experience if I have.

[acman63]

Mike:  I hope you lucked out .  tachman did some work for one of my customers while back, 66 Tach,  didnt calibrate well.   I shipped it to him and when I got it back  ,  it didnt work at all ,  some of the bezel tangs were broken and he barrel spliced the wires,  I called him  and he started screaming at me that it was my fault,  it was UPS fault , it was Farias fault for making bad tachs - told me to throw it in the trash and dont ever call him again.  I told him my customer to do a CC chargeback and he did. I sent it to Phil and he said it was a mess inside.   A couple months later Tachman  calls me  leaving a message and asks me if I need any work done. Makes you wonder!

[1967 eight barrel]

I don't say negative things of that nature about a vendor for errors that are out of control. It's the fact he was a complete rude jack ass and refused to make it right, not to mention outright lying.  These kind of vendors are becoming more common all the time.  My issue wasn't isolated and I ATE what he charged me because it was over 90 days. I had to pay someone else to do all the work a second time, not to mention having to disassemble my vehicle again.
This is what I was hammering home. Many of us do I restoration over two or three years. By the time you realize something is wrong you have no way to recover your losses.
                                                                             -Keith