DIY: Carbon Fiber Gauge Faces / Speedo Color Change

[Zues Marine]

Tools:

Phillips Screwdriver

Flat-Blade Screwdriver

Push Pins

220-400 Grit Sandpaper

Xacto Knife/ Scissors

Colored Sharpie

1-2 Feet of 'Clear Carbon Fiber Vinyl' - Found Here

 

 

[1.] to begin, take the needles off your gauges:

 

~before you remove the needles for the speedo, tach, and, water temp lift them enough to slip them past the little stoppers let the needles hang free

 

http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/3/12/6/f_fgauge001mam_20226ee.jpg

 

~remember where they hang down to so when to go to put them back in you wont have to guess as much to get them back into reading correctly.

 

~when you go to put the needles back in it'll take a little force to get them seated properly

 

~to check to see if you've gotten them back in alignment for the 5spd ~31 mph is redline ~6250rpm for the L in 1st

 

~~I used this method to pop off the needles (carefully, of course)

 

~taking a flat head screwdriver, use the edge of the bezel as leverage to push up the needle as you pull em off with your other hand

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1024.jpg

 

 

 

[2.] remove the 2 screws to access your gauge, if you havent sanded and colored the back to change your dash colors, now would be a good time to do so...

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1026.jpg

 

* NOTE: you need to decide now if you want your carbon fiber boxes to go vertically up and down the gauges, or horizontally across them(i chose vertically) after you decide, make sure you pay attention to your choice throughout the following steps!!

 

 

[3.] lay out your vinyl face down make sure its goiing the same direction you chose. and trace around your gauge leaving about .25" of clearance

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1027.jpg

 

[4.] Lay your gauge atop the freshly cut-out piece to make sure that it will cover it all... BEFORE YOU UN-STICK IT!

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1039.jpg

(it fits, the paper's just curved)

 

[5.] flip over your gauge and lay it on a roomy table or something of that nature, remove the vinyl, (be careful not to load it with fingerprints),take time to make sure that the boxes on the vinyl are straight vertically or horizontally. you dont want it to be crooked, trust me. when you feel its right, delicately lay it on your gauge.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1041.jpg

 

[6.] take the time to smooth out the vinyl on your gauges very well, the better you rub it in, the better it'll look. i just used the back of my fingernail, it seemed to work

 

[7.] now find something safe to cut on, i used a brownie box. mmmm... and use a box or xacto knife to cut the excess away. note the knife is actually amidst the colors to the right of the picture

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1042.jpg

 

[8.]im sure by now you know to remove any bubbles by popping the with a thumbtack or sewing neeedle but if you didnt, now you do, poke and squish, but now you need to make the screw holes, the tach hole, and the tach stopper holes.. just poke them out with a thumbtack.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1046.jpg

 

[9.] reinstall your gauges to the bezel when you're all done

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1049.jpg

 

[10.] before you put the dash back together, take the gauge cluster without the clear cover and trim and hook it up to your car.. take a drive and take time to adjust your speed / rpms

[11.]put everything back together and enjoy!!

 

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/100_1052.jpg

 

 

horrible pic, light is spread even, i'll get a better pic soon

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/IMAGE_105.jpg

 

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/wakeboardingguy/SL-i/DSCN0384.jpg

[compspeed]

just a quick tip on calibrating the needles, with the motor off and the ignition on, so the gauges are getting power, then adjust the needles!!! On gas gauge it helps if its on a full tank( or empty).

[amp27]

this is sick.... better then mine

[Bassnectar]

that is incredibly sick and good pics

[Zues Marine]

anyone try this out yet?

[Bassnectar]

zues! im gonna try this soon, im going to the junkyard this thursday as they got 2 new legacies, so im gonna find some gauages if possible and attempt this mod

 

 

What kind of leds should i use to replace the stock ones? and will the illumination control still work?

[Zues Marine]

yeah illumination control still works, i didnt use leds, just took off the blue plastic thing on the bulb to make them clear..

[subikid90]

superbrightleds.com

 

make sure to replace the turn signal ones too...I forgot and it sucks

[boricuajr]

nice job zues

that is sick!!!!

I think Im going to have to add this to the TO DO LIST

[Bassnectar]

yeah illumination control still works, i didnt use leds, just took off the blue plastic thing on the bulb to make them clear..

 

 

hows it glowing red? you must've changes the lights is what i mean

[worknlikeadog]

He colored it with a sharpie

[Benders]

To be more clear, he sanded the blue/green off the back of the gauge face that makes them glow green, then colored the back of the gauge face with a red sharpee and took the blue "condom" off the bulb, so the bulb is white, and when it shines through the sanded and red colored gauges, they glow red. Do a search, there is a diy for doing it either here or on sl-i, I can't remember which.

[WellsMcKenzie]

Sorry for bringing this old topic back up, but I need help getting the needles off. I sanded and colored the gas one already and now I have one red and the rest are green. I was wondering if it is supposed to be pretty hard to get the needles off.

[Zues Marine]

yeah it was kinda a bitch to get em off... i dont reccommend removing the temp or fuel needles cuz mine are still messed up

 

speed and tach is easy to readjust

[WellsMcKenzie]

I ended up sanding them with the needles on and the stuff attached the needles. My only issue was I put the gas gauge thing in wrong because it rotated when I sanded it. So now I have to keep checking my car to see if the gas is reading right. Thanks for making this though, I never would've known I could make my cluster red with some simple tools. i didn't do the carbon fiber part, black is fine with me.

[Darkebane]

im confused...when i laid CF vinyl over my gauges, i couldnt see any numbers lol...

[Zues Marine]

its clear carbon fiber vinyl. works well

[Darkebane]

oh...dunno if you can get that around here...havent seen it yet.

[subikid90]

ebay is your friend lol

[Darkebane]

Not in canada it isnt lol...Shipping prices to canada are outrages... Right now im looking for a set of 9007 HID's since i just put the 2piece 98legacy headlights in my 97 LGT... Shipping prices are more expensive then the product itself in a lot of the cases lol..

[subikid90]

Please don't put HIDs in projector housings. You would be better off with a set of the euro silverstars.

 

I am glad I don't live in canada. Is there not a disturber in canada of HID kits like dmmtuning or HIDcountry here?

[Zues Marine]

Please don't put HIDs in reflector housings. You would be better off with a set of the euro silverstars.

 

 

fixxorrd!!

 

and +1 to that, the beam pattern will be scattered to the point where not only will you waste most of your light output, but youll also blind other drivers and possibly melt the housings

[subikid90]

That's what I meant

[Darkebane]

whos putting HID's in projector housing? I said 2 piece headlights from a 98 legacy...no projector in them..

[subikid90]

I meant relector...They should be put in projector housings