Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Indiglo guages, now no tach

Most of the rub comes from the routing of the power wires to the gauges. An easy way to avoid this is to not bend those tabs down, rather notch the white portion of the plastic cluster housing. This keeps the face from bowing up and rubbing the bottom of the needles.

Some tape can be used around the edges as well. I only recommend super glue if you never plan on removing them as the glue will destroy the factory faces.

An easy way to lift the needles is to use a pair of side cutters. Lay a paper towel on the gauge face as not to mark it, then place the tips of the side cutters under the edges of the needle base. Squeeze slowly to raise the needle. Be carefull to not squeeze to much and cut the needle base off!!!

Only remove the factory needles if you know how to recalibrate the factory gauges. It is not needed with these gauges if you use the above methods correctly. I will have pictures and instructions written up soon for these gauges since they came with nothing from the factory.

Brad is it possible to cut a bit of the indiglo gauge without breaking it? Sounds a strange question I know but if you look at the pic below you'll see what I mean - when Ford changed to the electronic cluster they moved the mileage displays slightly so it no longer lines up.

Personally I'm going to change to an electronic speedo to fix the problem but I've been asked this by another MEGer. Cheers.

TTT

The glow material must stay sealed to keep the long life in tact. The small metal particles in the materials will rust, which them makes them not glow after a short period of time. Glue will not work to reseal the gauge materials because it will corrode the materials and discolor it... Expect half life or less with cut materials is what I was told by an engineer of an electro-luminecent material manufacturer.

In short, no, I would not cut them. They will work, but for how long is your own guess.

hmm, i guess that means no, huh?

Dash is fixed, I had to pry up tacho needle a bit. Is there going to be HVAC ones doen now too? I NEED them.

I've been told 45 days for HVAC and SE gauges...

Another 45 days...

I don't think an aesthetic mod has ever gotten me so excited. Now to find some matching gauges to put in the piller pod...

Thanks for the advice Brad. I'm gonna change my speedo to electronic anyway but some of the other cable speedo guys aren't too keen on the conversion so guess they'll just have to sell up or put up with no mileage.

BTW looking at the wiring diags etc I assume the only thing I need for the electronic speedo is the VSS wire (plus the switched +12V and 0V wires which are already on the cluster)? I have already got a VSS wire in the cabin since I wired in the trip computer so this should be quite easy.

Do you think I can fit the speedo to replace the cable one in my existing cluster, or should I swap the whole cluster? I'm thinking just swapping the speedo will be easier cos the connector pinouts have probably changed on the newer cluster.

Thanks for your advice and sorry for going OT!

WOW the Guages look SAWWWWEEET , !! i will buy them ASAP , i just got my PayPal account verified so i will be sending some lute ! QUICKNESS , how many diffrent color settings is there for the Gauges ?