White guages and blue LEDs
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White guages and blue LEDs
Just thought I'd post some more pics for people to see what white guages look like in a 90-92 Camaro with blue lights behind them.
Last edited by Blackened; Apr 24, 2002 at 04:49 PM.
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From: Pflugerville, TX USA
Car: 1999 Camaro Z28
Engine: LS1 V8
Transmission: T-56 6spd
Those look freakin' sweet! I like the way just the numbers light up. Which bulbs did you use? Have any pics of the installation?
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From: Boosted Land
Car: 92 Z28
Engine: Boosted LSX
Thats awesome. Exactally the Look I want.. Please post what bulbs or LEDs you used. I also PMed you my e-mail addy if you can send any more photos and info... just incase I dont see this thread again.
Thanks
Chris
Thanks
Chris
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 403
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From: Smokey Mountains, NC
Car: 91 Camaro RS
Engine: 305 TBI
Transmission: Auto
Axle/Gears: Stock
Here's a quote from Blackened from an earlier thread:
I would do a tech article, but now that the cluster is already finished it wont be easy showing everybody what to do w/out pictI would do a tech article, but now that the cluster is already finished it wont be easy showing everybody what to do w/out pictures. To give you a basic rundown...
I used the white guages from MacEwen and removed the stock black ones. Used about 50 blue LEDs in the cluster. I soldered them toghether in strings of 16 and hot glued them down to the cluster. Ran the wires from the LED through the stock bulb holes and soldered them directly on the to bulb contact pads. Since the LEDs give off a very narrow beam, it looks stupid when you first assemble it and turn it on since you'll see spots that are very bright and some spots that arent lit up at all.
What I did is I went to walmart and got some sheets of very opaque thin plastic. I taped it to the back of the overlays and cut it out to fit. This way when the light from the LEDs shines though it, it disperses the light in a more even pattern, giving the whole guage a finished look.
That's pretty much it, if you need more details just email or PM me.
ures. To give you a basic rundown...
I used the white guages from MacEwen and removed the stock black ones. Used about 50 blue LEDs in the cluster. I soldered them toghether in strings of 16 and hot glued them down to the cluster. Ran the wires from the LED through the stock bulb holes and soldered them directly on the to bulb contact pads. Since the LEDs give off a very narrow beam, it looks stupid when you first assemble it and turn it on since you'll see spots that are very bright and some spots that arent lit up at all.
What I did is I went to walmart and got some sheets of very opaque thin plastic. I taped it to the back of the overlays and cut it out to fit. This way when the light from the LEDs shines though it, it disperses the light in a more even pattern, giving the whole guage a finished look.
That's pretty much it, if you need more details just email or PM me.
ures. To give you a basic rundown...
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From: austin, tx
Ohh man pleeeez show me how you did that, I want it just like that :hail:
e-mail me or post it or somthing d_rtis@hotmail.com
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From: Trenton NJ,Rochester Ny
how did you run extra LEDs? I bought 11 of them for my 11 sockets in my 89 RS. But I bought the expensive ones, 3 bucks a pop for 10,000MCH's supposed to be the brightest out there. I still cant figure out the freakin formula to figure how big of a resistor to use.
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I completely eliminated the bulb sockets. I soldered about 14 of them in series (2 7 LED strings) and hot glued them behind the guages. Then I used a piece of white paper over them to help diffuse the narrow beam pattern of the LEDs. I'll do a tech article today or tomorrow.
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From: Boosted Land
Car: 92 Z28
Engine: Boosted LSX
Def. would like to see a Tech Article... maybe pull it out and take some Pic's of the back side???? PITA yes but would be worth it to all of us.
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From: Costal Alabama
Car: 1989 Iroc-Z
Engine: 350, ZZ4 equivalent
Transmission: Pro-Built Road Race 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.23 Dana 44
I made a tech artical on how to do this awhile ago...
http://www.apmracing.net/Old%20Site/LukeS/led/LED.htm
http://www.apmracing.net/Old%20Site/LukeS/led/LED.htm
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From: Costal Alabama
Car: 1989 Iroc-Z
Engine: 350, ZZ4 equivalent
Transmission: Pro-Built Road Race 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.23 Dana 44
Originally posted by Blackened
Yeah... but my method is COMPLETLY different.
Yeah... but my method is COMPLETLY different.
Member
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From: Smokey Mountains, NC
Car: 91 Camaro RS
Engine: 305 TBI
Transmission: Auto
Axle/Gears: Stock
Hey guys, remember we're talkin' about two different dashes, the 82-89 and the 90-92. Both take a little different approach. 
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From: cold ass minnesota
Did you put the yellow sticke on the right you did they come that way?
Did you paint the center 4 needles red, and if so with what?
And whay is the right gauge side not all the way up?
Did you paint the center 4 needles red, and if so with what?
And whay is the right gauge side not all the way up?
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I got stupid and cut the top of the tach overlay a little too much off the top. LOL I will get a new one someday....
Obviously the sticker is addition by me. I dont think Camaros came stock with AutoMeter tachs.
I didnt paint the needles. I TRIED to paint the speedo and tach needles but they turned out ugly. So I went and got some RS needles which are yellow. Weird... The guages in the center are stock and they were orange on my Z.
And racereno is right. The 90-92 dashes are backlit so it looks a lot better with blue lights behind them. The catch is... you have to remove the stock black overlays and use ONLY the white ones from MacEwen. If you just put both of them on there like most people it will look green because the stock overlays are yellow.
Obviously the sticker is addition by me. I dont think Camaros came stock with AutoMeter tachs.
I didnt paint the needles. I TRIED to paint the speedo and tach needles but they turned out ugly. So I went and got some RS needles which are yellow. Weird... The guages in the center are stock and they were orange on my Z.
And racereno is right. The 90-92 dashes are backlit so it looks a lot better with blue lights behind them. The catch is... you have to remove the stock black overlays and use ONLY the white ones from MacEwen. If you just put both of them on there like most people it will look green because the stock overlays are yellow.
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From: saugerties new york
Car: 91 firebird,mint
Engine: 305 tbi,lots of work done
Transmission: 700-r4 built by level 10 in nj
Axle/Gears: 3.73, auburn , precision
Originally posted by racereno
hey wasp
hey wasp
? am i missing something why the odometer is blocked out?
they look alright, i don't understand why you would need to cut the tach overlay to fit? why you use 90 speedo and tach needles and pre 90 iroc needles?
true that 91-92 stock guages have yellow lettering, removing the black guages wouldn't help this other than totally destroying the original setup, not to mention the black coupled with the white overlay is the reason that the light is blocked out. you should have a lot more light coming through if you removed the black.
i think that the overall setup looks nice and the blue is definately different. but your meathods don't add up to well.
either way, i think it would look good if you just settled on a particular needle color, nice mod
true that 91-92 stock guages have yellow lettering, removing the black guages wouldn't help this other than totally destroying the original setup, not to mention the black coupled with the white overlay is the reason that the light is blocked out. you should have a lot more light coming through if you removed the black.
i think that the overall setup looks nice and the blue is definately different. but your meathods don't add up to well.
either way, i think it would look good if you just settled on a particular needle color, nice mod
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Umm finding one these clusters in a junk yard is not exactly easy, k ? lol
How many 91-92 Z28s do you see in junkyards ? Well I have yet to see one!
I cut the overlays so it matches up with the old black cover that covers that ECM and INFL RST lights. Otherwise they would overlap.
I really dont give a **** about the stock setup. It was ugly and I didnt like it. That's why I did this.
You may not find this perfect, but not everybody is as **** as you about details. I mean look at your car! lol I for one don't bother myself with the little stuff like that. Overall it looks great and I'm happy
How many 91-92 Z28s do you see in junkyards ? Well I have yet to see one!
I cut the overlays so it matches up with the old black cover that covers that ECM and INFL RST lights. Otherwise they would overlap.
I really dont give a **** about the stock setup. It was ugly and I didnt like it. That's why I did this.
You may not find this perfect, but not everybody is as **** as you about details. I mean look at your car! lol I for one don't bother myself with the little stuff like that. Overall it looks great and I'm happy
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From: California
Car: Z28
Engine: L98
Transmission: T56
Blackened (or anyone else who knows) -
Is it possible to simply remove the "yellow" from the factory gauge appearance (in order to achieve white print on black faced gauges?)
Is it possible to simply remove the "yellow" from the factory gauge appearance (in order to achieve white print on black faced gauges?)
no reason to get offended.....just ask what your reasoning was.
91l98z28....what look are you trying to achieve?
when you put the overlays on, in the day they will look clear. at night it's only the bulb that will make the difference of wether or not the yellow truly shows.
91l98z28....what look are you trying to achieve?
when you put the overlays on, in the day they will look clear. at night it's only the bulb that will make the difference of wether or not the yellow truly shows.
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From: Mass
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: A4
Axle/Gears: 3.23
what would it looklike if you just added the white face gauges and put in any different color replacement bulbs? which is the best looking bulb to use
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From: California
Car: Z28
Engine: L98
Transmission: T56
kandied,
the look i was trying to achieve is the look the older camaros had....white print on a black gauge face. during day or night, the 90-92 gauges are yellow...
the look i was trying to achieve is the look the older camaros had....white print on a black gauge face. during day or night, the 90-92 gauges are yellow...
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I found an old Cadillac Eldorado cluster today in the junkyard. I got two big needles out of and they're white! I put them on my cluster and they look awesome. Instead of a ****ty yellow color now they look blue/purple. If you're gonna do this, might as well get some white or red needles. Next I'm gonna look for a some red needles.
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From: Charleston, SC
Car: 1988 Pontiac Firebird, flat black
Engine: Stock 305 LO3
Transmission: Five speed
I fell a little left out, I have a Bird. The dash is totaly different. I am going to do some searching on the web to see if I can find the site with the guages for my car. Do you think it would be much different? If I can't find the guages I may just have to try to mod the bulbs them selfs. By the way how long did it take you to do this? If we get all of the parts first, needles and all, about how long? What about the other colored buttons in your car, I know my bird has them, are you going to do the same to them? It looks great, one of the best int. mods I have seen yet.
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From: Baltimore Maryland U.S.A
Car: 92Z28,98LegacyGT,ZX9R,91 Z28,02 Z71
Engine: 350,307,2.5,900cc,5.0
Transmission: 700r4,4spd auto,700r4,4L80
Axle/Gears: 323,?,323,?,373
I've got to do mine to.That
is the sweetest i've seen
If I sent you my Cluster
how much would you charge
to do mine?You can make some
real money doing this.:rockon:
:rockon:
is the sweetest i've seen
If I sent you my Cluster
how much would you charge
to do mine?You can make some
real money doing this.:rockon:
:rockon: Thread Starter
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Well not really. The parts are REALLY expensive. Around 80 bucks just for the LEDs. It takes me the better part of a day to do it. Plus you have to add the cost of the white overlays which is another 60-70 bucks. So if I charged 50 dollars for my time... that would be about 200 bucks. Would you pay THAT much just to get that look ? Now that I think about it... I cant believe I did! lol
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Nah... not really. UNLESS you're willing to replace your metal gauge faces with plastic that's transparent. That would have to be done professionally but I can do it. I have a 145 mph dash here. I think I might convert it to backlit gauges and put blue LEDs in it. Would anyone be interested ?!
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 319
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From: Baltimore Maryland U.S.A
Car: 92Z28,98LegacyGT,ZX9R,91 Z28,02 Z71
Engine: 350,307,2.5,900cc,5.0
Transmission: 700r4,4spd auto,700r4,4L80
Axle/Gears: 323,?,323,?,373
I have 145mph cluster from an 87 Iroc-Z
$75 shiped
$75 shiped
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