Gauge needle color change

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jetas
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Gauge needle color change

Post by jetas » 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....

Image

Step 2

I just used a plain razor and gently scraped off the paint, and the white, after that the needle was crystal clear.
Image

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.
Image

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....
Image
Last edited by jetas on Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by jT » Sun Apr 12, 2009 4:44 am

i think i missed the question...

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jetas
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Post by jetas » Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:58 am

no question here, just showing this in case anyone wants to try it
-J.J. | Official I sold my Neon Member #008
86.5 Nissan Hardbody LB- will be for sale soon...

1989 Yota PU- "Tammy" -Rest In Pieces...

2000 Plym Neon- "Stacy" -Sold 3/25/09 =(
Ntyvirus1 wrote:im debadged so i just drive a gray thing.

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wacko
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Post by wacko » Sun Apr 12, 2009 11:22 am

u have to be member
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Post by Tam » Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:48 pm

wacko wrote:u have to be member
Yeah...

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Swordfish2Cowboy
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Post by Swordfish2Cowboy » Sun Apr 12, 2009 3:32 pm

It'd be nice to see what all was being said without having to sign up. Oh well, I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, so I'll look.

EDIT: Nevermind, I can't. Their website is fucked up. Can you copy/paste or gimme your username and password?
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Post by arlenok » Sun Apr 12, 2009 4:31 pm

pics please? dont feel like signin up
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Post by SOKADAO954 » Sun Apr 12, 2009 4:33 pm

pics please.
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Swordfish2Cowboy
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Post by Swordfish2Cowboy » Sun Apr 12, 2009 6:40 pm

arlenok wrote:pics please? dont feel like signin up
You can't sign up even if you wanted to. The site is fucked up.
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Post by jT » Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:04 pm

jetas wrote:no question here, just showing this in case anyone wants to try it
oh, i didnt even see the link.. color was so light that i missed it

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jetas
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Post by jetas » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:34 am

Updated 1st post
-J.J. | Official I sold my Neon Member #008
86.5 Nissan Hardbody LB- will be for sale soon...

1989 Yota PU- "Tammy" -Rest In Pieces...

2000 Plym Neon- "Stacy" -Sold 3/25/09 =(
Ntyvirus1 wrote:im debadged so i just drive a gray thing.

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Post by arlenok » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:47 am

Hmm thats not a bad idea. Not sure if I'd feel like recalibrating the gauges afterwards, but I'd like to see some finished pics if anyone does this
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supermike
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Post by supermike » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:17 pm

arlenok wrote:Hmm thats not a bad idea. Not sure if I'd feel like recalibrating the gauges afterwards, but I'd like to see some finished pics if anyone does this
Recalibrating isn't too hard, I did it with no problems.
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Post by arlenok » Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:37 pm

I don't have the energy to figure out how, and do it \:D/
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Post by supermike » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:55 pm

arlenok wrote:I don't have the energy to figure out how, and do it \:D/
BRB... I'll find it for you...

EDIT: It's in here ---------> viewtopic.php?t=27518
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