Needle Color Change 2
05-02-2006 | 06:51 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
SL Member
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 988
From: NW Chicago
Needle Color Change 2
A DIY for all of you that might want to change the color on you gauge needles. (Also for anyone that doesn't want to melt or solder anything.) It took maybe an hour or two tops. The longest time spent is painting and waiting for it to dry.
Part of this is taken from panasoanic's writeup for swaping out the gauge cluster led's (which I recommended if you don't want your needles to look blended with the amber backlight. Red would probably look ok with the stock though. Got mine done by Chris from SE: Detroit courtesy of a SE: Chicago meet
)
"1.) Remove the stock trim housing. First, move the steering wheel all the way down and move the turn indicator and headlight stalks all the way down." Then grab the black plastic housing around the gauges and just yank it out straight towards you. Don't worry, there are no clips to break off or anything. It just pops right out. Set this aside somewhere where it won't get damaged. (I just put mine in the passenger seat)
"2.) There is one Philips head screw on the top of the cluster, take a screwdriver and remove it. Place the screw somewhere where you won't lose it."
(a few photos are of after needle swap. I forgot to take photos of when I first pulled it out, but you get the idea.)
3.) To remove the gauge cluster you more or less do the same procedure as the black outer housing. Grab the cluster from the sides and behind it and pull straight out. I try to use a light jerking motion to pop it out, without bumping it into something on its way out. Your hands should bump the inside of the dash before the plastic of the cluster would actually hit anything. Tilt the bottom of the gauge cluster towards you and the top of the cluster inwards. This will make it easier for you to remove the cluster from the hole in the dash.
(two photos superimposed. Couldn't hold the camera to take a photo with both hands on the cluster.)
"4.) Once out, remove the wire harness from the connection on the top left of the gauge." You have to push in a clip on the underside of the wire harness, then pull it out. If you are having trouble, just kind of wiggle it back and forth while holding the clip down."
"5.) Take the gauge cluster to a nice, clean work area."
6.) Remove the clear plastic housing of the cluster. There should be several clips all along the edges of the cluster. (about 8-10 of them I believe) Just push each one in sequence and gently pry it up and off. It doesn't really take much effort at all, so be careful not to pry too hard in one direction or you may risk cracking one of the clips.
7.) Try to remember where your needles stop at (piece of tape or light pencil mark or something). This will make it easier to align the stop point when you put your newly painted needles back in.
8.) Remove the gauge needles. I used two flathead screwdrivers. (you may want to wrap the handles in a cloth or keep your fingers underneath them as you pry up or you'll put a dent in the black plastic inner housing.) Slide the screwdrivers under the silver circular housing of the needles and try to pry it evenly upwards, taking care not to bend the pin that the housing is fastened to. Once you get enough upward pressure, they kind of pop off at you. Make sure you got good reflexes or they might end up across the room or broken from impact with the floor.
9.) Once you got all your needles off, set your cluster pieces aside somewhere that it won't get damaged or paint could splash onto it.
10.) Removing the stock paint. This part is relatively easy. Just take some acetone or nailpolish remover and wet a cloth or cotton ball and rub the bottom of the needle and the paint comes right off. (Take care not to rub the silver part of the plastic housing, as the paint will come off this as well, but only after more pressure/rubbing than is necessary to remove the needle paint. You can see the color difference on my fuel gauge needle, as this is where I screwed up.) To get the stock paint that is inside the housing still, just dip the tip of a watercolor paintbrush and slide the badboy in there and wiggle it around a little. The paint should come off after a second or two. (you could probably put a piece of scotch tape on either side of the hole to prevent the acetone from rubbing off the silver paint on the housing. But I didn't bother, none came off there when I did it.)
11.) Check the needles with a flashlight or hold them up to the ceiling light to see if there are any smudges. Remove with acetone and a clean cloth if necessary.
12.) Cover the sides of the needle with tape to make it easier to paint the back. Try to get the tape as flush to the side as possible or it will cake onto the backing. (The paint will come off rather easily when it is real thick) Take your acrylic color of choice and use a fine tip painting brush. (I used a camelhair brush used normally for painting small figurines that I bought from a hobbie store.) Starting with the inside housing, just slather some paint inside on the underbelly of the acrylic part of the needle. From there just lightly paint the underside of the needle moving outwards toward the tip. Try to make it thin and as even as possible. Make sure there are no air bubbles as well.
13.) Let the needles dry for a minute or two and then check with the light again. If it looks choppy or non-uniform, go back and paint another coat on lightly. Keep checking and painting back and forth until you feel it is satisfactory. It may not look like the light is coming through the paint enough, but trust me, it will be nice and bright once installed.
14.) Once the paint is dry and you are happy with the look, pull off the tape and check the edges of the needle. If any paint is hanging off the sides you'll want to take a razor and lay it flat against the side of the needle and GENTLY slice the excess paint off. You gotta be real careful to actually slice and not just drag the blade across it or it'll pull chunks of the paint off (especially if its not totally dry) or you'll end up having to paint all over again. Then seal up the paint with some clear acrylic nail polish. Try to get the clearest kind you can. I picked the non-chip stuff. I figured it would hold up the best in varying temperatures as I live in chicago and we have like 4 seasons all in one day. (Plus I was in the nail polish/makeup isle and I was starting to get an anxiety attack with all the people around lookin' at me weird so I grabbed whatever was closest.
) I put on two coats of that and wiped off any excess that got on the sides of the needles.
15.) After 5-10 minutes, the polish should be dry and you can start putting the needles back in. Line up the needle pin with the housing and push down slightly, but not all the way in. Turn the needle counter-clockwise (for the gas gauge, turn the needle clockwise) until you feel it snag. That's the stop point. Pull the needle housing up and place it at your marking on the gauge to align the needle properly. Once it's all lined up push down the housing until its almost flush with the gauge. (Don't push too hard or the housing will be too close to the face of the gauge and will end up rubbing against it and the needle won't respond as quickly as usual. Also try to push the housing in as straight as possible or the housing will spiral around the pin and you'll not be perfectly on the stop point.)
16.) Repeat with all the other needles.
17.) Clean off your plastic cover while you have it exposed and push it back in on all the clips. (Make sure you double-check all the clips and push all of them together hard enough, I had to squeeze harder on one in order to get it to shut properly.)
18.) Tilt the top of the gauge cluster forward to make it easier to get into the abcess and clip in the wire harness.
19.) Push the gauge cluster into the hole in the dash and line up the spot where the phillips head screw goes it and then gently lift the bottom of the cluster over the lip of the abcess so you can get it in all the way. Just line up the holes to the phillips screw spot and push in on the four corners of the gauge cluster. You should here them all click into place. Install your screw, being careful not to drop it. (I recommend using a magnetic tipped screwdriver cuz my dumbass dropped the screw into the bottomless void that is the tC's dash.
)
20.) Place the black plastic outer cover on the steering wheel and push the little rubber piece back a little to tuck under the dash between the steering column. It might be a little of a pain, but try to weasel the top of the piece into the hole first and then slide the bottom in afterwards. Then push it in nice and straight and it should pop right into place.
21.) Fire up your tC and bask in the glow of your new needles.
Final product after LED & needle color swap:
Just a little bit of proof that I did it myself
The LED man with the master plan (in Mark's garage):
Part of this is taken from panasoanic's writeup for swaping out the gauge cluster led's (which I recommended if you don't want your needles to look blended with the amber backlight. Red would probably look ok with the stock though. Got mine done by Chris from SE: Detroit courtesy of a SE: Chicago meet
)"1.) Remove the stock trim housing. First, move the steering wheel all the way down and move the turn indicator and headlight stalks all the way down." Then grab the black plastic housing around the gauges and just yank it out straight towards you. Don't worry, there are no clips to break off or anything. It just pops right out. Set this aside somewhere where it won't get damaged. (I just put mine in the passenger seat)
"2.) There is one Philips head screw on the top of the cluster, take a screwdriver and remove it. Place the screw somewhere where you won't lose it."
(a few photos are of after needle swap. I forgot to take photos of when I first pulled it out, but you get the idea.)3.) To remove the gauge cluster you more or less do the same procedure as the black outer housing. Grab the cluster from the sides and behind it and pull straight out. I try to use a light jerking motion to pop it out, without bumping it into something on its way out. Your hands should bump the inside of the dash before the plastic of the cluster would actually hit anything. Tilt the bottom of the gauge cluster towards you and the top of the cluster inwards. This will make it easier for you to remove the cluster from the hole in the dash.
(two photos superimposed. Couldn't hold the camera to take a photo with both hands on the cluster.)"4.) Once out, remove the wire harness from the connection on the top left of the gauge." You have to push in a clip on the underside of the wire harness, then pull it out. If you are having trouble, just kind of wiggle it back and forth while holding the clip down."
"5.) Take the gauge cluster to a nice, clean work area."
6.) Remove the clear plastic housing of the cluster. There should be several clips all along the edges of the cluster. (about 8-10 of them I believe) Just push each one in sequence and gently pry it up and off. It doesn't really take much effort at all, so be careful not to pry too hard in one direction or you may risk cracking one of the clips.
7.) Try to remember where your needles stop at (piece of tape or light pencil mark or something). This will make it easier to align the stop point when you put your newly painted needles back in.
8.) Remove the gauge needles. I used two flathead screwdrivers. (you may want to wrap the handles in a cloth or keep your fingers underneath them as you pry up or you'll put a dent in the black plastic inner housing.) Slide the screwdrivers under the silver circular housing of the needles and try to pry it evenly upwards, taking care not to bend the pin that the housing is fastened to. Once you get enough upward pressure, they kind of pop off at you. Make sure you got good reflexes or they might end up across the room or broken from impact with the floor.
9.) Once you got all your needles off, set your cluster pieces aside somewhere that it won't get damaged or paint could splash onto it.
10.) Removing the stock paint. This part is relatively easy. Just take some acetone or nailpolish remover and wet a cloth or cotton ball and rub the bottom of the needle and the paint comes right off. (Take care not to rub the silver part of the plastic housing, as the paint will come off this as well, but only after more pressure/rubbing than is necessary to remove the needle paint. You can see the color difference on my fuel gauge needle, as this is where I screwed up.) To get the stock paint that is inside the housing still, just dip the tip of a watercolor paintbrush and slide the badboy in there and wiggle it around a little. The paint should come off after a second or two. (you could probably put a piece of scotch tape on either side of the hole to prevent the acetone from rubbing off the silver paint on the housing. But I didn't bother, none came off there when I did it.)
11.) Check the needles with a flashlight or hold them up to the ceiling light to see if there are any smudges. Remove with acetone and a clean cloth if necessary.
12.) Cover the sides of the needle with tape to make it easier to paint the back. Try to get the tape as flush to the side as possible or it will cake onto the backing. (The paint will come off rather easily when it is real thick) Take your acrylic color of choice and use a fine tip painting brush. (I used a camelhair brush used normally for painting small figurines that I bought from a hobbie store.) Starting with the inside housing, just slather some paint inside on the underbelly of the acrylic part of the needle. From there just lightly paint the underside of the needle moving outwards toward the tip. Try to make it thin and as even as possible. Make sure there are no air bubbles as well.
13.) Let the needles dry for a minute or two and then check with the light again. If it looks choppy or non-uniform, go back and paint another coat on lightly. Keep checking and painting back and forth until you feel it is satisfactory. It may not look like the light is coming through the paint enough, but trust me, it will be nice and bright once installed.
14.) Once the paint is dry and you are happy with the look, pull off the tape and check the edges of the needle. If any paint is hanging off the sides you'll want to take a razor and lay it flat against the side of the needle and GENTLY slice the excess paint off. You gotta be real careful to actually slice and not just drag the blade across it or it'll pull chunks of the paint off (especially if its not totally dry) or you'll end up having to paint all over again. Then seal up the paint with some clear acrylic nail polish. Try to get the clearest kind you can. I picked the non-chip stuff. I figured it would hold up the best in varying temperatures as I live in chicago and we have like 4 seasons all in one day. (Plus I was in the nail polish/makeup isle and I was starting to get an anxiety attack with all the people around lookin' at me weird so I grabbed whatever was closest.
) I put on two coats of that and wiped off any excess that got on the sides of the needles.
15.) After 5-10 minutes, the polish should be dry and you can start putting the needles back in. Line up the needle pin with the housing and push down slightly, but not all the way in. Turn the needle counter-clockwise (for the gas gauge, turn the needle clockwise) until you feel it snag. That's the stop point. Pull the needle housing up and place it at your marking on the gauge to align the needle properly. Once it's all lined up push down the housing until its almost flush with the gauge. (Don't push too hard or the housing will be too close to the face of the gauge and will end up rubbing against it and the needle won't respond as quickly as usual. Also try to push the housing in as straight as possible or the housing will spiral around the pin and you'll not be perfectly on the stop point.)
16.) Repeat with all the other needles.
17.) Clean off your plastic cover while you have it exposed and push it back in on all the clips. (Make sure you double-check all the clips and push all of them together hard enough, I had to squeeze harder on one in order to get it to shut properly.)
18.) Tilt the top of the gauge cluster forward to make it easier to get into the abcess and clip in the wire harness.
19.) Push the gauge cluster into the hole in the dash and line up the spot where the phillips head screw goes it and then gently lift the bottom of the cluster over the lip of the abcess so you can get it in all the way. Just line up the holes to the phillips screw spot and push in on the four corners of the gauge cluster. You should here them all click into place. Install your screw, being careful not to drop it. (I recommend using a magnetic tipped screwdriver cuz my dumbass dropped the screw into the bottomless void that is the tC's dash.
)20.) Place the black plastic outer cover on the steering wheel and push the little rubber piece back a little to tuck under the dash between the steering column. It might be a little of a pain, but try to weasel the top of the piece into the hole first and then slide the bottom in afterwards. Then push it in nice and straight and it should pop right into place.
21.) Fire up your tC and bask in the glow of your new needles.
Final product after LED & needle color swap:
Just a little bit of proof that I did it myself
The LED man with the master plan (in Mark's garage):
05-04-2006 | 05:43 AM
#7
Thread Starter
Senior Member
SL Member
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 988
From: NW Chicago
yeah, you don't paint anything but the bottom. the needle is made of acrylic which transmits light like fiber optics. The LED hits the needle under the housing and the light actually bounces off the top of the paint that's on the bottom of the needle and reflects it upwards through the clear plastic towards your eye.
05-05-2006 | 02:51 PM
#9
Thread Starter
Senior Member
SL Member
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 988
From: NW Chicago
Haven't tried that out, but when I had amber needles with green lights, the color went kinda yellowish-green. If you get blue lights but have stock needles, I believe it still looks amber but possibly a little darker. Blue needles with amber light might turn up blueish, but I have a feeling it'd turn up kinda brownish. I could be wrong though. You could probably try it with one of the needles to see. Or try getting a piece of clear acrylic and paiting it blue like the needle and holding an amber light to the side to test it out.
05-11-2006 | 05:45 AM
#10
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 15
From: Gainesville, FL
Great DIY! I'm going to try it as soon as I get my leds for my HU. I was thinking white for the needles, but if anyone has any suggestions with what color my needles should be with a super blue led interior holla back. Also, keep in mind that my model HU has the light changing lcd screen. Thanks
05-20-2006 | 02:45 PM
#11
I need some HELP!
I am having a dilemma with installing the needles back into place. I Put the needles back in at its marked places and when I start the car they move...but once I turn it (temp needle, mph needle, rpm needle) off the needles start to tick counter-clockwise until it hits the bottom of the gauge cluster and it can go no more. I tried to follow step number 15 and it does not work for me. I may be comprehending it wrong or something.
Please let me know what I did wrong.
-David
I am having a dilemma with installing the needles back into place. I Put the needles back in at its marked places and when I start the car they move...but once I turn it (temp needle, mph needle, rpm needle) off the needles start to tick counter-clockwise until it hits the bottom of the gauge cluster and it can go no more. I tried to follow step number 15 and it does not work for me. I may be comprehending it wrong or something.
Please let me know what I did wrong.
-David
05-20-2006 | 05:52 PM
#12
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 15
From: Gainesville, FL
More then likely your stopper is set too low. Just rotate the needles either way, it doesn't matter, until you can feel the stopper stop at the point you marked on the gauge cluster. Keep in mind you can't see the stopper, and make sure you don't push too hard like step 15 states.
