Gauge needle color change
Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:25 am
Not sure if this would work with the neon but it wouldnt hurt to try
Step 1
Well I did my reverse Indiglo Guages, but with my white needles I could hardly see them! So I started the hunt for some sport trac needles, but couldn't find any for less than 60 bucks. I heard other people painting the whole needle but I personally thought that it had looked like crap. Also knowing that ALOT of other people were trying to find a way to do this, these were out of my 96 but i'm pretty sure that ALL the needles FOR ALL THE YEARS were made just like this, so it should be the same procedure....
So I pulled apart my guage cluster and took my needles off, here is the step-by-step.
Researching and studying the needles, I had realized that they were completely clear plastic, with white paint at the bottom, and made them look solid white. Than when the lights were turned on, it lit up the clear part of the needles and shined on the white and made it look like the needles were white. So In a nutshell, I scraped the paint off used different paint, and that's about all there is too it. Here's the step by step....
I first tried some teal paint over the white, just to see what it would look like, but I didn't like it, so I just used the Hot Red, I had initially planned on Using....
Step 2
I just used a plain razor and gently scraped off the paint, and the white, after that the needle was crystal clear.
Step 3
Here's the paint I used, it's a pen type,"Fine-Line PX-21" I bought it at wal-mart for less than 3 dollars.
Step 4
Here I just painted the bottom of the needle, and now you can see what I meant about painting just the bottom of the needle makes the needle one solid color. Here is the finished product, me camera messed up a little but you can see the results, I just took the brush on the paint and just painted the white base part of the needle. Now as soon as I put them back in, they will glow red as the light hits the bottom of the needles like they are supposed too. They should be redder but otherwise exactly the same as sporttrac needles. The Needles alone took less than a half hour of work....
Step 1
Well I did my reverse Indiglo Guages, but with my white needles I could hardly see them! So I started the hunt for some sport trac needles, but couldn't find any for less than 60 bucks. I heard other people painting the whole needle but I personally thought that it had looked like crap. Also knowing that ALOT of other people were trying to find a way to do this, these were out of my 96 but i'm pretty sure that ALL the needles FOR ALL THE YEARS were made just like this, so it should be the same procedure....
So I pulled apart my guage cluster and took my needles off, here is the step-by-step.
Researching and studying the needles, I had realized that they were completely clear plastic, with white paint at the bottom, and made them look solid white. Than when the lights were turned on, it lit up the clear part of the needles and shined on the white and made it look like the needles were white. So In a nutshell, I scraped the paint off used different paint, and that's about all there is too it. Here's the step by step....
I first tried some teal paint over the white, just to see what it would look like, but I didn't like it, so I just used the Hot Red, I had initially planned on Using....
Step 2
I just used a plain razor and gently scraped off the paint, and the white, after that the needle was crystal clear.
Step 3
Here's the paint I used, it's a pen type,"Fine-Line PX-21" I bought it at wal-mart for less than 3 dollars.
Step 4
Here I just painted the bottom of the needle, and now you can see what I meant about painting just the bottom of the needle makes the needle one solid color. Here is the finished product, me camera messed up a little but you can see the results, I just took the brush on the paint and just painted the white base part of the needle. Now as soon as I put them back in, they will glow red as the light hits the bottom of the needles like they are supposed too. They should be redder but otherwise exactly the same as sporttrac needles. The Needles alone took less than a half hour of work....
