Has anyone changed the color of the ugly-*** stock orange gauges et al? What is involved, or is there a FAQ?

 

WHy? orange is sweet, thats what my bimmer was. I love orange, what color would u prefer?

 

a few have looked into it, I beleive their final judgement was that the actual facing needed to be replaced(I think it has an amber tint to it). along with the lighting behind it being redone to a new color.

IMO at this point it is FAR from worth what it would cost.

 

How long are you willing to wait?

I've been slowly working on a multi-function solution for the S which could easily be redesigned for another vehicle, but I make no guarantees as to when it will be done...

Mac's Project #2: Upgraded instrument cluster, no need for colored filters

 

isnt the S2k already all digital dash or whatever? I know the little RPM thing is more or less. dont see how you can get around the tint of the actual gauge, no matter what color light you put behind it, it will end up being a bit amber.

 

www.blackcatcustom.com

get these guys to make some with clear markings and switch the lighting to LED. the hard part is the LEDs. you need to replace a single lamp with multiple leds because of all the light pipes.

 

not a bad idea, looks like 2-300 maybe less if you ordered a few of them. I dont imagine the LED setup would be terribly difficult. depends how fancy you went with it, if it started doing functions and active type stuff, that might be a bit tricky, but just straight up light of a different color coming through, not too hard.

 

Ares,

If you have the time, I suggest reading through my entire post on the S board. The entire S dash is an LCD panel backlit with 5 standard bulbs with a multi-color filter (mostly amber) between the two. I remove the filter and replace the bulbs with a board containing multiple tri-color LEDs, like the ones I use for my footwell lights and windscreen lights.

Since I retain complete control over the LED color, I can have it do all sorts of things. First off, I split the cluster into sections, each with an independantly controllable color. Second, I can change the color of any portion based upon outside influences....a LOT of people asked me to turn the tach red when the VTEC cam locked in, so it's a user-selectable option. Third, quite a few wanted the speedo to change colors based upon the gear they were in, so again, it's a user-selectable option.

The list of potential options goes on and on, but at some point I had to say "This is what it will offer" so I didn't get feature creep and end up with a shody product. The code I'm using to control the LEDs in my footwell lights is the same that will be used in the instrument cluster upgrade, so the cluster is put on the back burner at least until the footwell lights are finished and the technology/code is proven out.

 

Mac, I know you mentioned doing something for the main gauge cluster, but what about the REST of the lighting? Dont you agree that it would look odd to have a really cool gauge cluster but then all the buttons and various other gauges and displays still have the factory amber color?

From what it seems, there is no EASY way to attain this goal without fully disassembling each and every illuminated module inside the car and then converting it.

That is what I did with my S13.

 

ah I see what your saying mac; do you know for sure if the Z is using the same setup of a filter? and the amber hue is not in the actual face plate? the stuff you do with the LEDs is really something tho; very impressive.

and S13 too, that is probably the single thing that will keep this from being an easily sold kit. Im sure if mac or anyone else manages to get the gauges made, that would be something you could "sell" to install. but you cant sell anything for the radio and AC and all. best you could do is a swap on a core set that you modify, but all in all hand modification to that many peices is a bit on the "too much" side IMO.

 

Remember, though, these types of modifications usually end up on the vehicles owned by crazy people like us...you know, the ones who don't mind spending 50 hours changing out two dash lights because "It looks cool!"

I don't have direct access to a 350Z as no one local has stepped up to the plate. Granted, I haven't pushed that hard to find one, but once the code is done for the footwells you can bet I'll be going directly to the dealerships for prototyping

 

I believe that changing the color of the dash may not be that technically difficult. On a prior car (01 celica GTS) I wanted an entire orange dash. Toyota OEM supplied an orange dash with a green lit radio and a blue LCD clock. I removed the in-dash, removed the radio ***** and lcd screen that was laying over approx 54 LEDs. After I unsoldered these LEDs, attached new "yellow" LEDs, and re-assembled the in-dash, I had an orange stock-looking radio. On the clock I overlayed a light filter (gel) from a camera shop, and the bulbs I painted with a transparent orange spray paint. The result was beautiful; a completely color-matched, orange dash. It can be done, but it takes time, good soldering skills, and patients.

 

I've talked to the owner of blackcatcustom.com
It all depends whether the needles are removable or not.

What we do is send him the cluster to have him look at it,
disassemble it and scan the gauge faces.

Then he can do whatever color or design you want. I talked
to him before and wanted to do black face gauges.

I can't invest in such a thing right now. If I had lots of money,
I would invest in a heart beat.

He's charging about $150-200. He can invest and buy a gauge
cluster himself, but he'd sell the faces at a higher price to
recover cost. It's better to have someone lend him a cluster.

Once you get the faces, have a specialist install them and
calibrate the gauges. He says it's like a $50 job.

The reason for sending the cluster is that he doesn't have a
pattern to make the faces. Once he gets the pattern, he can
make as many as he want.

 

Aside from the cluster... the panels are lit with tiny amber LEDs. I think the A/C controls have about 14 LEDs in all. I don't have the part number though.

 

Well then wouldnt it just be a matter of accessing the LEDs and replacing them with a new color?

I know BMW et al uses orange, and it's easiest on your eyes etc etc. But to me it looks like a Pontiac. I like the traditional (?) white on black or black on white that my past Nissans have had. I don't want anything funky.

 

I will shell out $200 in a heartbeat if this guy can make a color of my choice! Anyone live near this guy so he can see your gauge cluster person?

 

yeah he just take a scan and change coloring and what not later.

with a new face tho, yeah it should just be a matter of replacing the LEDs.

which very may be just a matter of clipping in new LEDs actually if my hunch is correct, and youd retain all of the stock charecteristics including the brightness levels and all that...

 

Do you mean without changing gauge faces? Just to clarify, I don't necessarily want to change gauge faces, just the color of the lights. (of the numbers).

 

I havent done the research myself, but from what Ive read the numbers in the face are tinted amber... thus you cant just replace the LEDs, but must also replace the face even if your just changing the tint to the letters.

but again, I havent checked this out for myself; so maybe I read misinformation, or just misread it.

 

This sounds like something I should take on...I would probably replace the entire face with a copy of the cluster, but on a frosted sheet, not amber. Then you can choose whatever color you want.