ledbetter66
02-16-2008, 12:04 AM
I'm not usually one to complain about a company but, I think some people should know about companies that do poor work. I just got done doing a frame off on my 68 GTO and the gauges were one of the final finishing touches to my car so I wanted them to be nice. I have never heard anything bad about these guys as their reputation is excellent and I can't find a negative thing about them on the internet either. First off when I got my instrument cluster back it looked awesome the glove box portion however, was a different story. The paint they had used on the glove box was not allowed to dry before they wrapped in plastic and it left an impression on the painted portion of the glove box. At this point I was not to worried I figured I could repaint this on my own and so I chalked it up to bad luck and moved on. The gauge calibration however was A freakin nightmare. Let me also state that this car has all new wiring from M&H Electrical (great company) so I know that wiring is not the issue. These guys Charged me 1450.00 to repaint and recalibrate my gauges and rebuilt my speedometer. Upon putting my cluster and intially driving the car the speedometer started making a hideous sound so I stopped the car and removed the cable. Eventhough it had a new drive at tranny and cable I still thought maybe I had done something wrong. Luckily I had couple of old speedos so I ripped my dash apart and put in an old one which is really a drag because now I had newly painted gauge pod next to my old crappy speedo. Suprise, the old one worked perfectly again, I thought maybe I did something wrong. My gas gauge never worked right it flopped all over like a richter scale ( I know a little movement is normal but this was crazy). These guys have such a good rep that I never suspected them and yes my grounds are all there were they are supposed to be. I called the guy at
American he told me the speal about how these old gas gauges have lots of movement amd this is normal. I told him I realized that but, this gauge was flopping all over the place even will a full tank. I got off the phone with him frustrated and then looked into replacing sending unit which I did with the same resulting flopping gauge. At this point I was at the end of my rope I decided to buy a gas gauge still in the box from a packrat on E-bay for 30.00 I installed in my car after now having my dash apart and putting it together I got the 40 year old gas gauge in and it worked perfectly. As far the speedometer I took it to a repair shop here in Denver and when he saw it he told me that guys at American did nothing too it and he could tell because the bushing had not been re-pressed in and the magnet was old. So basically they set the odometer to 00000 and did nothing to the speedo and charge me for it. This company is called Deluxe speedometer and they do excellent work I had them rebuild another one that I had laying around and I just sold it on Ebay. I think American is O.k. for the cosmetic aspects with gauges but,I would think twice about having them rebuild my gauges.
American he told me the speal about how these old gas gauges have lots of movement amd this is normal. I told him I realized that but, this gauge was flopping all over the place even will a full tank. I got off the phone with him frustrated and then looked into replacing sending unit which I did with the same resulting flopping gauge. At this point I was at the end of my rope I decided to buy a gas gauge still in the box from a packrat on E-bay for 30.00 I installed in my car after now having my dash apart and putting it together I got the 40 year old gas gauge in and it worked perfectly. As far the speedometer I took it to a repair shop here in Denver and when he saw it he told me that guys at American did nothing too it and he could tell because the bushing had not been re-pressed in and the magnet was old. So basically they set the odometer to 00000 and did nothing to the speedo and charge me for it. This company is called Deluxe speedometer and they do excellent work I had them rebuild another one that I had laying around and I just sold it on Ebay. I think American is O.k. for the cosmetic aspects with gauges but,I would think twice about having them rebuild my gauges.