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Gauge cluster color chagne, interest

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Matt R

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I'm trying to gauge interest for having me change the color of your gauge clusters. You would remove the gauge cluster, send it to me, I would change the light-up color of the stock gagues, and send it back. Included in the price would be:

  • Return shipping
  • Removal of green from gauge faces
  • Installing 5 LEDs, color of your choice, from superbrightleds.com
Anyone that has done this themselvs know what a pain in the butt it is, especially removing the geen and getting the little bulbs out. I would charge $35 total. (LEDs are about $7 for 5, $7 shipping, and the other $21 would be for labor.

Some issues that would be involved though:
  • You won't have a cluster for a week.
  • The needles would have to be recalibrated.
Please post interest.
 
I'm interested, but I'd like more details on how this is done first.

I have attempted this myself, and while the results were OK, they were not just the same as stock with a different color. It was obvious they were modified because it was too hard to replicate the quality of stock.

Removing the green film on the gauges was extremely hard to follow the shape of the numbers and lines without creating circles in the areas that were sanded. So I decided to sand the whole face, which came out fine, but when they were lit, the gauges were too bright because the whole face would glow, and just glow brighter for the numbers and lines.
 
For anyone here, you may remember the Mobil 1 badges GB I conducted here. I'm not about to go out and screw anyone over, trust me. Check with many people on this forum.

The way I would do it:

Remove the needles very carefully with 2 spoons. The slowly peel back the face off the plastic. I also break off the plastic light channels only on the speedometer to eliminate some bright spots. To remove the green, I do it very carefully by hand with perscision screwdrivers. Trust me, it is a ton of work. Then the gauges are washed, and reattached with emblem adhesive. To do the bulbs, I take out each bulb trying to pry or pull it out, and getting any pieces out. Then I take the LEDs and bend the pins to fit, and slide them in. These are the LEDs that have the resistors built into the base.

The gauges, when finished, would appear identical as they do now during the day. At night, they would light up w/ the color that you choose from:
  • White
  • Blue
  • Green
  • Red
  • Amber
  • UV/Blacklight
Now some points. Some colors will be much brighter than others. Intensity is very important. Listed are the intensities for the different colors:
  • White- 6200
  • Blue- 1860
  • Green- 9100
  • Red- 5600
  • Amber- 6400
  • UV/Blacklight- 1020
So as you can see, the blue ones will be significantly dimmer than the green ones. I did mine in red and they are nice... not as bright as stock, but good. I'll try to get a few extra pics of mine later. Please keep in mind the numbers are sharp, like stock. The low light to capture these makes it appear blurry.

P1300041.jpg
 
Wow, I will say that is awesome work. I'm very interested in these now.

Can you post some other pictures with full shots of the gauges lit up?
 
hotdimmes said:
any chance at a matching hvac/hl switch set?
Click to expand...

While I feel S&H should not get crap from this forum for money, I think that might your only route. :blackeye:

The gauges just weren't right for me in the end. They did not have that factory look to it, but the HVAC was exactly what I wanted. Looks amazing at night.

Modding the HVAC panel is extremely hard because of the overlay that Ford uses from the factory. It's very thin and difficult to work with.
 
I've attempted the HVAC by scrapeing off the green twice now, and both results were disasterous. I'm afraid I can't offer any options on this because I know the quality would be 0.
 
I'm intersted, but I need to figure something out for the hvac/hl switches. didnt people end up with half an inch of open space on the left of the panel??
 
Matt,
Would you be willing to provide alternative options? I can't really see myself driving around without a whole cluster for a week. My mileage would be off and whatnot and finding a spare is a pain. How do you feel about people pulling off the faces themselves and sending them to you for green film removal?
 
hotdimmes said:
Matt,
Would you be willing to provide alternative options? I can't really see myself driving around without a whole cluster for a week. My mileage would be off and whatnot and finding a spare is a pain. How do you feel about people pulling off the faces themselves and sending them to you for green film removal?
Click to expand...


Sure, that is totally an option. A possible option is I could photocopy a set of gauges and send them to you. Then you pull off the faces, tape on the photocopies, and send me the faces. For the bulbs, pull out 5 of the non-important ones, and send those in.


I'm still working on getting some good night pics. I took a few the other night but they wern't any good. Also, another point to make- if you have clear needles, they will light up whatever color the LEDs are. If you have red needles, I'm not sure how that would come out.
 
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Sweet. I dont think you would have to photocopy them for us, or me at least. I could just scan them and and print them out, Just so I know I'm not speeding too much :) Also, why exactly would we need to send the 5 bulbs to you? Don't I just need to replace the bulbs with LED's?

I have the stock white/clear needles but I'm planning on modifying them, either with a red sharpie or whatever works best.
 
hotdimmes said:
Also, why exactly would we need to send the 5 bulbs to you? Don't I just need to replace the bulbs with LED's?

I have the stock white/clear needles but I'm planning on modifying them, either with a red sharpie or whatever works best.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. First off, shipping is pretty much the same regardless of how many LEDs your order. So it wouldn't be as cost-effective to have everyone buy them individually. Second, the bulbs are a royal pain in the ass to get out. I've done 3 different clusters now, so I have a better idea of what gets them out whole vs in pieces. Also, the LED wires need to be bent in a certain way or they short and blow the fuse in the cluster. You are welcome to do it yourself, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
I still don't understand why the bulbs need to be sent to you though. This is the process I have in my head of what should be happening:

===============
I remove faces and send them to you.

You remove green film and send them back to me along with LED's.

I remove bulbs and reinstall faces and LED's.
==============

What am I missing here?
 
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