Guage Mod *Updated with great results and PICS for teh winz*

by **xavier** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:15 pm

**UPDATE** I finally found out what to do. I tried te el wire and it wasnt bright enough so I took it out and went back to red bulbs. Then I was looking at the guages and I had a hot spot (bright red spot) on one of the numbers on the speedo so I decided to try one more thing....sand the bac of the guages. Worked out great....takes a ong time though. I did the tach so far. I used my 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper and sanded the back until I could see the numbers through the back side. The result is an amazingly bright tach and dull speedo and fuel/temp guages. I still have to do the fuel/temp and speedo but now I have a bright red tach. It looks great! I might even try putting the el wire there now that light passes through the guages much easier. Ill have pictures of the un-done speedo and the done tach probably tomorrow. My wife and son have been so patient through the whole process. Ive had my guage cluster on the kitchen table in pieces for about a week. Its exciting to know that I have a solution that actually works!

These were taken in the day with the light intensity all the way up. The pictures dont do it justice!! You can see the hot spot on the "0" of the "20" on the speedo

by **krook** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:23 pm

xavier wrote:A while back I posted about using el wire or live wire (google it) to wrap around the backs of my guages to brighten things up. Since then, I went to Autozone and bought a 5 foot wire (white) with 12 volt inverter. I took my guages apart and began to wrap. I wired and reinstalled and.....it worked although much less bright than the concept in my head. I only used like 1 strand over each guage so I ordered me 30 feet of wire with an inverter capable of 30 feet. It came out to 58 bucks and I will post pictures when I get it and through the process.

Side note, my cruise control indicator led burned on me, probably my fault so I had to un solder that green led and re solder the only led I had which was purple. Its so hard to see but at least it lights up. Its kinda cool at night though cuz it looks like a black light.

hrmmmm....hate to bum your trip but there's actually white face gauges made for our car. :p

sounds unique though, post pics when you're done!

by **arch.HI** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:41 am

^^He wants to back lit the stock gauges with white.

Sounds interesting. Post some pics when you're done.

by **xavier** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:14 pm

krook wrote:
xavier wrote:A while back I posted about using el wire or live wire (google it) to wrap around the backs of my guages to brighten things up. Since then, I went to Autozone and bought a 5 foot wire (white) with 12 volt inverter. I took my guages apart and began to wrap. I wired and reinstalled and.....it worked although much less bright than the concept in my head. I only used like 1 strand over each guage so I ordered me 30 feet of wire with an inverter capable of 30 feet. It came out to 58 bucks and I will post pictures when I get it and through the process.

Side note, my cruise control indicator led burned on me, probably my fault so I had to un solder that green led and re solder the only led I had which was purple. Its so hard to see but at least it lights up. Its kinda cool at night though cuz it looks like a black light.

hrmmmm....hate to bum your trip but there's actually white face gauges made for our car. :p

sounds unique though, post pics when you're done!

Yeah, I know there are reverse guages and white guages and stuff. I want my guages to look stock cuz I like the way they look, I just dont like the way they light up. I have tried this before and it looks great, I just didnt have enough wire to adequatley light the guages up. Pics are a definite when Im done.

by **xavier** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:34 am

Update

by **xavier** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:56 am

bump for installation woes update

by **xavier** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:20 pm

bump for update

by **SleeperSolara** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 7:11 pm

Great waitin' for pics.

http://members.cardomain.com/djsaltine · by **djsaltine** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:38 pm

SleeperSolara wrote:Great waitin' for pics.

Yup, let us see...

by **xavier** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:08 am

Im taking a picture before work So I can link it

by **xavier** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 6:16 am

Pics added!

by **SleeperSolara** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 6:22 am

Looks good.

by **Sp33d** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:19 am

looks sick. nice innovation.

-mark

by **xavier** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:34 am

Sp33d wrote:looks sick. nice innovation.

-mark

Thanks, Im going to try blue bulbs and maybe just white bulbs

by **ChargedSolara** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 11:06 am

very nice touch..reminds me of the bmw' style.

Guage Mod Updated with great results and PICS for teh winz

Guage Mod Updated with great results and PICS for teh winz

Re: I ordered my el wire for my guages

Re: I ordered my el wire for my guages

Who is online