Custom gauge faces on my SA22C :D

[-xlr8planet-]

Hi again guys

As usual, when I dont have the engine parts I need, I turn into more trivial, usually asthetic things, like polishing or painting something.

This time, I happend to have the gauge cluster at hand and I thought "man, that thing looks like crap compared to the 99FD cluster."

For starters, Im a sucker for cars with the tach starting with 0rpm at 6 o´clock.

Since you just pop out the needle to remove it, nothing stops you from putting it at 6 o´clock if the gauge is re-design accordingly.

To make custom gauges, you CANT just overlay something on top of the existing one. For starters, its backlit, and the previous design will show up.

So the solution is to create the pieces from scratch. That meant finding the proper material to do so.

First try: printed gauge over a plastic material, and since we have no limits on what can be done, lets go Ferrari style mixed with RE logos (dont hate me if you guys dont like it, I wanted to try something in color instead of just black)

Oh, and while I was at it, I decided I wanted RED needles. (I will post how to some other time)

SO here we go, pics to make this thread worthy.


Stock cluster. I really really hate the volt meter and the clock



opening up the cluster






tach face removed



Pretty much what it will look like, but without the tach face



Stock and my options



Stock against light



Custom against light. The whole yellow part should lit up at night. I might add some leds to the oem illumination.



Gauge face against the LCD tv. This kinda shows what the material is like.


And .... you guys probably wonder "WTF? where are the pics of the finished thing!"


Here´s the deal: Post a comment, a critic, whatever you guys want, and I will post the pics tomorrow


Thanks for reading!

[FerociousP]

You sir, are awesome. So awesome in fact, that I'll wait for pics. I like the ferrari-esque style.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people interested in custom gauge faces, especially ones that aren't "Ricey".

[Silver86]

in for the pictures... looks good!

[Viperx7]

Looks great. I'd be interested in some of those, but not in yellow.

[Turbo SA22C]

Nice. Waiting for the finished pics

[-xlr8planet-]

Teaser




more pics to come

[Silver86]

that looks really good!!!

[Turbo SA22C]

WOW!!!!!!!! Looks great. Are you planning to do the speedo too?

[-xlr8planet-]

Originally Posted by Turbo SA22C

WOW!!!!!!!! Looks great. Are you planning to do the speedo too?

nop

this is the look I was after

[JerryLH3]

That is really cool. I'd love to see a write up on that, as would others, I imagine. While many people might be thinking they could get the stock gauges to look like their aftermarket gauges, I'm almost thinking if I ever did something like that, I'd want to go the other way, and make my aftermarket gauges look stock, assuming it's possible to modify aftermarket gauges like that.

[project86]

^^^ +1 id like to see a write up, materials, equipment used etc.

[FIBREMAZ 13 BEEF]

Looks great but you do realise it won't be accurate?

[-xlr8planet-]

Hi Fibremaz! Long time no see

Please, tell me, why it wont be accurate? I just repositioned the needle, the scale is the exact same. Am I missing something?


I scanned the original face and then just worked on that

I used backlight material, printed on a Designjet L25500 (U$S 20k printer)

[FerociousP]

Originally Posted by FIBREMAZ 13 BEEF

Looks great but you do realise it won't be accurate?

I was wondering this as well... such as the weight of the needle, leverage, etc?

[FC Zach]

Looks really good man, now I'm thinking about doing this to mine. I wouldn't think accuracy would be an issue as long as the spacing of the #s are placed evenly throughout the gauge. And the factors such as weight (of the needle) and leverage shouldn't hinder in any way since the needle is the same (isn't it?).