Printable View
For all of you using led's, here is a good way to make them "glow" more.
Take some sand paper and rough up the bulb, it will make the light diffuse more for a glowing effect, rather than and directional light effect. Since LED's are usually so bright, it should still be brighter than a stock bulb.
Pics in tutorial still not showing up. https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...efault/sad.gif
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...71_49_full.jpg
that was during the evening
for those wanting LED's (i had some and they're better than regular 194's)...take a look here..
Super Bright LEDs
i think this site has them for guage clusters. i'm getting some LED's for my corner lights.
pics should be updated except for the first one still searching my computer for it.
Oh and divagalant you were not suppose to take the needles off. if you need more help or a new guage cluster email me at [email protected] and that goes for everyone else that needs help to.
i just want to say great mod. alredy finished it looks awsome. but i'm having trouble with my fuel gauge needle, im not really sure if it's reading correctly. any advice on fixing it?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(stevievano2lk)</div><div class='quotemain'>i just want to say great mod. alredy finished it looks awsome. but i'm having trouble with my fuel gauge needle, im not really sure if it's reading correctly. any advice on fixing it?</div>
Thanks i just thought i would pass something on to the rest of the members for all the help and idea's that they have gave me. Also try what i recomended to another member below. vvvvvvvv
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SilverKnight)</div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(phelixx1)</div><div class='quotemain'>Should i go fill it with gas all the way and then move the needle myself or just see if getting gas will move it to the right place?</div>
Fill the whole tank up with gas then move your needle all the way up. just make sure you monitor the amount of driving you do in case the guage is broken and your not stuck out of gas somewhere.</div>
I also think im going to start a new topic on How To Fix Your Broken Cleared Needles. https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...ault/laugh.gif
How do i change my AC bulbs? I tried clickin the link to the 3g forum but it didnt work.Also for the two buttons on the AC panel, wut size bulbs are they (they're tiny!)?
Does anyone know how to change the bulb for the side mirror adjuster?
I had the gas gauge problem when i cleared my guages but like you guys said, i filled the tank and it works fine now. thanks
yes! that only took me about 30 min.. It only took 10 min. once the cluster was out. my needles reacted to the polish immediatly. cant wait til its dark so i can see it.....
its night now and it looks so freakin awsome. i love it. it only cost me $9 for the lights. i recomend everyone to do this......
some of the pics are not showing, i would like to do this myself within the next few days (already bought the bulbs) but i'm the type of person that likes to know what he's doing before he gets his hands dirty. i have over 200MB of webspace so if he needs someone to host these pics, i'd be glad to. and linking is also allowed https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...lt/biggrin.gif
damn, i did mine today, didn't take but 30 mins and it looks nice, i can't wait till it's dark. i'll post pics when i can https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...lt/biggrin.gif I did blue with red needles. (volkswagen style)
http://www.donahuetech.com/dash.jpg
i know, my camera sucks, the blue is much bluer (if that is grammatically correct)
i'm going to repaint my needles. a friend of mine said i can get a florescent red or sumthin like that which would make them glow, but so far i'm happy wit wat i got. thanks silverknight 8)
i tried filling up my gas and moving the needle but when i turned the car on the needle just dropped to about half way then stopped. speedometer doesn't work correctly either
is there anything else i can try myself?
hey silverknight you gonna get back to me on the guage cause i still need it
i dont know if he is still around man....
I did the tutorial today very very easy!!!!!!!! but the only prob i had was that my fuel gauge after filling the full tank hits the F albhabet ie goes beyond the full mark line... nothing major but yeah
Also need to brighten the lite...probably LEDS:) gotta research about that...
hey...great tutorial...one problem...i put red lights in n its not very bright, i cant see all the numbers n stuff on the gauges...do u know how it can be fixed?
Thank's for that tutorial guys....
I've tried it this week-end and it's pretty easy to take apart. https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...lt/biggrin.gif
For clearing the needles I've taken some nail polish remover without aceton...because it eats plastic.....be careful.... https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...ault/laugh.gif
look at the result :wink: .....painted them Gold with nail polish...and put some amber lighting bulb (194).....but there not that bright until it's dark outside :? ....maybe another type of bulb would be better....or some LEDs :roll:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...9/853331_6.jpg
I'll put some night pics soon...i promise :wink:
so you cleared your needles and then painted them back to yellow?? https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...ault/laugh.gif
Yep.... https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...ult/tongue.gif ...didn't want to have a fuzzy color like purple or pink.... :shock: ...... https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...ault/laugh.gif
In fact it's gold....the metalic finish doesn't seem to be noticeable on the pic.... :cry: ...
But in fact it's really shiny 8)
...wait 'till you see the night pic.... :wink:
Here's how it looks at night.....
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member.../853331_12.jpg
Day
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...9/853331_6.jpg
Maybe i'll putt some LEDs instead....it's not bright enought for my taste....
Is there another way for brightening them...like changing a resistor ?
never thought of doing this until now
can u clear the # on the spedo with the nail polish remover???
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...9/853331_6.jpg
Is the stock non-GTZ gauge faces / bezel (basically the entire area that is greenish-blue) one piece? It looks really ugly and I want to replace it with at least the GTZ version, but without doing anything to the lights. Anyone wants to sell his / hers?
GTZ has the same ugly ones you have. From like 02+ Just get a 99-01 guage bezel from ebay, it will cover the teal ugly color.
Noob question: do I have to remove the needles? I've heard bad stories about the needles screwing up after you replace them.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rhema83)</div><div class='quotemain'>Noob question: do I have to remove the needles? I've heard bad stories about the needles screwing up after you replace them.</div>
I just did my gauges and i had some problem with the temp needle. I broke it. But its still works just fine. Just mke sure that you take a good look at where the fuel needle is before you remove it so you can put it back in the same position. Of you can just do what I did and fill the tank till fuel was running out and then when it gets to F your good https://www.thegalantcenter.org/styl...ault/laugh.gif
i took apart the guages, and cleared the needles: absolutely no problem. now, i wanted to paint them with a green color, so i figured why not use my girlfriends nailpolish. well, the nailpolish doesnt really work... does anyone have any suggestions as to what to use? im not sure if it would work, but i was gonna maybe try using "sharpie" markers. all input is welcome
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Xrs2)</div><div class='quotemain'>GTZ has the same ugly ones you have. From like 02+ Just get a 99-01 guage bezel from ebay, it will cover the teal ugly color.</div>
actually im pretty sure GTZ's came with White Guage faces.
ya wat do i do now.. my fuel gauge is stuck at F and it wont come down. if i do it with hand bring it down middle. it goes back up to F. any idea?
yo i tryed clearing my needles yesterday nd it worked it looks mad hot nd it was so easy...
Nah I have an 02 GTZ, and they are greenish/teal. I am not sure about the 03 GTZ tho.Quote:
Originally Posted by cardude03
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SilverKnight)</div><div class='quotemain'>
With a couple of cotton swabs dip the cotton swabs into some nailpolish remover and gently remove the orange from the needles. Â*be carefull not to saturate the needle to much with nail polish remover as it sort of melts/eats the plastic on the needle i dont know why but it did it to me.
</div>
I dont know what type of nail polish remover you was using. :roll:
Nail polish remover isnt strong enuf to do that. If it was then it would eat through nails too. :twisted:
And I dont know how you can get all the yellow paint off of the needles with just a cotton swab I even tried taking all the cotton off of the swabs and I still couldnt get it all of. I had to use some tissue paper and toothpicks. :shock:
when i cleared my needles...i used that other method where i scratched the orange off with a blade...instead of using the nailpolish remover. this technique was very easy to do...
i did mine today w/ blue bulbs, looks sweet
Awesome topic, never thought of doing something like that untill now.
Today went to the local automotive shop called Repco, sadle they dont have any bulbs that are of desierd to me colour, but what they did offer to me is a solution in form of colourful CONDOMS used for bulbs, basicly its a rubber that you pull over your existing bulb in order for you to get a desierd look.
I went for red, and here are some pix of those small condoms, and before and after pix. Now my needles are orange in colour, but when the dashboard lights up needles blend it with the colour, so dont really have the need of clearing them and painting, however might do that some time later in order for the needles to gain more aggressive look by painting them red.
The blue rubber covers are the once that were originally pulled over me bulbs, but the colour only appeared in white on the gauge, after replacing them with red once, the colour is 100% changed and waaaay betta.
Its about the cheapest and the only alternative i could find, so no LED's No Bulbs, just mini Condoms lol
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9561/dscn0158yn3.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/5636/dscn0160ct3.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/4536/dscn0161mq1.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2189/dscn0162mb2.jpg
And here is BEFORE
http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/2204/dscn0163ey5.jpg
And AFTER
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5638/dscn0165pq2.jpg
8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
very easy mod...thanks for the tutorial....
I went to AutoZone yesterday and bought 3 packs of 194a Blue! Installed it in 10 mins.. and I love it!
Great Tutorial!
Thanks! :twisted:
I just did mine with nail polish remover and I got about 99% of it off. some that was right on the edge next to the plastic needle holder i couldn't get off even when i tried a razor blade on it. Will post pics of it with my S7 gauges soon. Also put the 194B bulbs behind the cluster for a lil extra blue color.