Make Your Own Custom Gauges

someone needs to tell RPS about the dead link though...and i dont know how to use any of the image programs...i dont have one at all....

but if someone could help me do it, i'm willing to try it and make a how-to along with the helper....

one ? i have is how do the numbers and gauges light up if it printed on regualr computer paper?

 

they dont say it but you use transparency paper. Its see-through plastic sheets. I also have my guages scanned for a 99 ranger XLT w/4wd but I know nothing of photoshop. What I did was i took apart my cluster and removed the needles, then photcopied the guage plastics. Well I'm not going to totally explain it but here's the things i screwed up.

1. When taking off the plastic guage faces they're glued down hardcore, so i poked a few rips in them accidentally, luckily not noticeable.
2. Messed up some guages; I'm sort of watching my gas guage, i think its about 98% correct, and my oil level guage is horribly wrong. When i start the truck it launches straight up really wrong. But, I managed to set mileage perfectly, the secret is when you put the needles back on make sure they are at 0. Except gas, put gas where it was and REMEMBER WHERE IT WAS BEFORE YOU REMOVED THE GUAGES! otherwise you'll be worrying every time you get low on gas if its correct.

I can give anyone a high quality 4wd guage copy if they want, just PM me or ask me in thread. I think they'll work for newer vehicles, since you're replacing the design.

Aaron

 

well, go ahead and send it to me b_burnette2003@hotmail.com

i wanna do white face gauges with my custom MazdaSpeed Off Road logo.....

 

Ok, I think they're in my email but if they aren't it will take a while because my xbox is hooked up to the internet instead of the comp in my room; I'm on a laptop. I'll check though.

Aaron

 

is there anyway to overlay the new gauges over the needles...so u wont have to take them off?

i've seen this done on my buddy's honda civic when he put indiglo gauges in...

 

Here ya go, nice high quality pics. Right click and save as!

 

oh yeah you'll notice that some markings on those guages are hard to see lus on the last guage there is a tear mark. The tear mark is where i cut it off, so if you can cut yours off after you've made new guages. What I think would be the best way to fix the hard to see warnings and 4wd stuff is to make a new design, like just copy 4HI and 4LO to both images, and make them orange on the transparency paper. And theres two layers, black layer with spots for the numberings and stuff, and a picture layer with spots for the numberings and stuff. The black layer is simply to block out extra light so that your whole guages arent a very bright light.
If you have any more questions just ask. I've technically done this mod up to the photoshop part, and I even tried to mess with "the gimp"-a photoshop alternative. I know what you need to do when you photoshop it but I don't know at all how to manipulate photoshop.

Aaron

 

When I took mine off and put them back togethor, that i could tell that would be impossible. What you do is you get a "tiny crowbar type device" just something wth a bend you can use to pry. some of the guages pull off (pull hard! dont worry they're on hard but they will not break). Make sure you pull straight out though to not bend the copper shaft behind the needle. For the bigger guages, i found them really hard to pull off. So i popped off the needle cap, it'll pop off when you pull on it. Then i stuck the edge of a 7 mm open socket on it(heh reusing tools) and i pushed the bottom up as i pulled on it to make it pop off. Reinstallation you just push them on. Technically if you made the holes for the needle guages big enough you could slip them over the needle and set them, but that sounds hard, plus it would leak a lot of light through.

Aaron

 

haha...now i still have no idea what to do next....



i want this pic over the "rpm x 1000" thing..and ontop of a white gauge...basically inverse the colors of the stock gauges...maybe with blue numbers...

 

Ok well ill sortof tell you your next step. First, you go to the thread with the most posts in it. then you find someone with a badass photoshopped picture for their avatar. You proceed to beg them to do the photoshop for you. Try Christain, I thought he knew a hella lot about photoshopping. The picture does need touched up in a few places too. The gashes will make light come through funny on your dash. the most important thing though, get someone to do the photoshopping for you, and make sure they know what their doin.

Aaron

 

i need u to help me on a mod, if u will.....the topic is HERE Thank u! please help out!

 

Heh nice approach, and if someone makes you these guages please send me a copy Brent, I'm sorta stuck in the same place you are.

Aaron

 

haha alrighty...i have to get a new set of gauges anyway...my temp gaugekicked the bucket and i'll put in these new ones with what we're making...and i'll do a write up on it should everything go down how its supposed to....

aaron and whoever photoshops it will be included in the how to creator lists...haha

 

Guages are very easy to replace. If you want I could write the dash removal section, since I have to go in there soon to replace a bulb behind my gas guage. Actually, I could take pics, and you could do the writing part, just to make my life easy.

 

haha...aight...i'll have to see u're pics...i've taken my dash apart before but i forget the steps off the top of my head....

man..i hope this works out....

 

I did mine a couple of years ago, but I've since changed them again.




Sorry for the ****ty quality.

Here's what I have now. Reverse glow gauges w/o tach, which are a ***** to find for 91-94 dashes.

 

Something like this?

 

Something like this?

 

well, kindalike that....but where its at in this ^^^ pic, its covering the shift window

i was thinkin like resized and centered right ontop of rpm x 1000...like acutally on top...where u dont see rpm anymore....and all the same color, as to not have a hyper white block ontop of a semi whit background...

but that looks very good!!!!!!!

 

or maybe just trace the mazdaspeed off road thing with the find outline tool, or whatnot...and just have that over it...that would get rid of the white block effect

 

Clay: if i read it correctly... right under the RPMx1000 and above the needle. Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

Brent, it would look better if that logo was right under it instead of on top of it. I've seen a couple other people do them underneath and it looks good.

(Saleen, FX4 Level II)

You better write up a how-to on this when you finish. lol

 

Or

 

http://clayzplace.com/tippnover/test1.jpg

Or

http://clayzplace.com/tippnover/test2.jpg

 

http://clayzplace.com/tippnover/test1.jpg

Or

http://clayzplace.com/tippnover/test2.jpg