How-To: Remove Film From Gauge Cluster (Red or Purple/UV LEDS)
I found this is my old vendor section and figured it would serve better here. Enjoy.
This is if you're interested in Red or Purple/UV LEDS. Or maybe want that extra color to shine through for your other LEDS.
**WARNING** SRTforums and myself will not be held responsible for what you do with your gauges. This is only here to give you an idea on what you possibly COULD do to remove the green film from your gauge. It is recommend that you try this on an extra gauge to practice on.
Cut several strips of 100 grit sandpaper into 1x8" strips or so.
Here's a time when you need to borrow a hand for about an hour. What you are going to do is slip the sandpaper behind the thin gauge face and move it back and forth like two lumberjacks sawing - while the helper is pushing down from the top on spots that need to be sanded. The back of the gauge face is covered with black paint with a thin green film under that, you need to sand through the black paint and the film, you only need to sand under the numbers you want to show up. Check your progress by bending the gauge face and shining a light down the gap, if it lights up white you got rid of the film, if its green you didnt. If anyone has questions just ask, I can't think of a better way to explain it at the moment.You need to get over the fact that you will need to gently move the needle pointers out of your way when you are sanding, for the speedo at 180 MPH; for the tach 12k RPM. Also, the fuel and engine temp wont move super freely, thats normal, you can still slowly push them out of the way and back when your done. My best tip is just take your time! Below are some sanding positions you might want to try:
Notice that there are little black rings under the gauge needles, if they pop up, it makes it easier to slip paper under it, just make sure you push them back down before re-assembly. You know there down if the needles move easily - as if in a liquid. All they really do is hold the thing face against the frame of the gauge, they come on and off really easily, the picture below is an attempt at showing them.
When they are popped up and with sandpaper under, the peach thing is your finger or something you are using to apply pressure from the top, make sure the rough side of the paper is facing you.
I'm still trying to figure out if anyone has ever done the HVAC overlay as well. Anyone out there successfully done that? How about you srt4moster?
HVAC is a huge pain in the ass. Placing different colored bulbs behind there looks terrible, as it doesn't mix well with the film (your blue AC side would be purple-ish). The plastic film on the HVAC overlay is not the same as that on the back of the speedometer, it's really thick plastic shit. If you're pretty good with a fine dremel, you could remove all the green film from the back of it just enough to leave the clear overlay that's underneath, but you'd have to be damn careful not to burn through.
My thoughts were to do this to all the green film, but leave the red and blue in place on the AC dial. I have a lot of red acetate film that I was thinking of putting in place where the green film was, and after several layers it really started to look nice (true red, not pinkish). Then I burned clear through the overlay and gave up. I did the switches in red LEDs and thought about the gauge cluster, but I just don't think I could do it without screwing up. Hope you guys have better luck.
^^^ Yeah, my plan was to use red film as well, so as to preserve the blue areas for the A/C. A friend has an extra overlay that I'm going to experiment on. If I have any better luck then I'll post up the result and how I came to it.
I have done my gauge cluster but I used a razer blade. I left all the redline area and a few other places. I used the razer blade so I could get more detailed. I need brighter leds but it's a lot better than b4. I'll get my pics up here in a few and you guys can let me know what you think. I have b4 and after pics
Here's a few pics I have, sorry for the poor quality. I also need to get brighter leds but you can tell from the pics how much of a difference it makes.
Here's a few pics I have, sorry for the poor quality. I also need to get brighter leds but you can tell from the pics how much of a difference it makes.
How the hell did you get the needles off?! I tried for a good solid hour trying to get them off and was afraid i was going to break them so I gave up!
I used two flat head screwdrivers to pry up on both sides of the needle at the same time..... you have to be very careful or you will break them lol cause I did
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How-To: Remove Film From Gauge Cluster (Red or Purple/UV LEDS)
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