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  #16  
Old 12-17-2004, 06:25 PM
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gsodonis gsodonis is offline
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Talking Re: Re: Re: Silver Trim Rings

Quote:
Originally posted by gsodonis

However, your reply has given me another thought. I will call one of the companys that makes signs today to ask them to cut me the correct sized circles in adhesive vynil. They can program any cut shape with their software which should allow me to get the correct sized rings to better mask the gauges.
Sti Guage Faces
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  #17  
Old 12-31-2004, 06:29 AM
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New look guages - v.2

I installed my white face gauges last night - with a couple of embellishments:
1. the needle centers are painted flat white
2. the guage hold down screw heads are painted white
3. the surrounds (rings) around each gauge are painted silver
4. the two upper guages (door ajar on the right and trunk lid ajar on the left) are color matched to the rest of the white faces with blue outlines (instead of black)
5. the center gear position indicator is blacked out (not needed with a 5-speed)
6. all white incandescent bulbs replaced with bright white LED's
7. the two bulbs that 'wash' over the front of the guage faces were replaced with bright blue LED's
8. the green tinted plastic pieces that made the odometer numbers appear green were removed to allow the numbers to look white instead.

I experimented with different colors for the odometer numbers
- blue - numbers looked good and complemented the guages, but the needles were dark and not red and I wanted red needles.
- red - numbers were VERY red and needles looked good, but some red leaked out across the faces and made the guages look funny.
- white - makes the numbers POP and my favorite effect - that's what ended up using.

The biggest change was replacing the top two bulbs with two blue LED's. The give the entire guage FACE a blue color and the EL reverse numbers and marks are still clearly visible. The attached pic doesn't portray the look exactly - the camera makes the guages look a bit brighter than they really are - but IMHO, I love the blue faces. I also experimented with different front face lighting - red, UV, white & blue and stuck with blue. The best part is that I can change the color as often as I want.

You can achieve any color guage face you wish, as long as a 74 type LED bulb comes in that color. If you have white faced guages, you can make the entire faces glow red, green, yellow, blue, orange and even white at night. The possibilities are almost endless.

I'll take better pictures of the daytime look later today.
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File Type: jpg white faced gauges.jpg (43.6 KB, 182 views)

Last edited by gsodonis; 12-31-2004 at 06:34 AM.
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  #18  
Old 12-31-2004, 06:32 AM
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Gauges at night - blue faced

Here a night time pic
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File Type: jpg blue gauges.jpg (40.0 KB, 193 views)
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  #19  
Old 12-31-2004, 06:45 AM
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BOM

I can create a Bill Of Materials for anyone interested. In short:
- little blue LED's for the face color - $0.79 ea.
- The backlight ones (type 74 for the idiot lights, turn signals, etc - $0.79 ea.)
- The four large white LED's for the needles and odometer lighting - $3 ea.
- Flat white testors model paint - $1.50
- Flat black testors model paint - $1.50
- Satisfaction of doing it yourself - priceless

I think that the white faced SVX gauges have gotten a bad rap in the past because, IMHO, thet look incomplete with the black needle centers and the black screw heads. Painting them white completes the look, in addition to making the other two 'red headed step children' gauges white as well.
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  #20  
Old 12-31-2004, 08:22 AM
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I think that looks pretty cool. Nothing better than doing something yourself either - no one else has it
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  #21  
Old 12-31-2004, 08:30 AM
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Hmmm, I wonder what the UV face bulbs would look like with stock gauges.....
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  #22  
Old 12-31-2004, 08:52 AM
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Hocrest Hocrest is offline
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Re: BOM

You did a beautiful job on them.

Personally I'm still not sold on the white background but I will be adding the silver ring to mine
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  #23  
Old 01-03-2005, 12:04 AM
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SilverSpear SilverSpear is offline
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very sweet !! nice job, but I would have prefered you got a 2000 VW dash, see how it is made (the blue bulbs and stuff) and do a professional job on it
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