Monday, I got a rear view mirror with the lights in it finally, well it needed bulbs, so I decided to take the bulbs out of the factory warning lights I did not need. Well as I pulling the gray trim piece off, I hear a crack, and I cracked the clear instrument panel piece that covers the guages. Well today I found a complete instrument panel out of a 91 bird v6 for 10$. Its faded and scratched, so I plan to tear it apart, clean and paint everything, white gauge inlays, blue bulb covers. Got it tore down tonight and cleaned, the clear plastic piece sanded (I plan to smoke this to get it darker, never liked them clear) and all the orange off the needles. Also pulled all the orange bulb covers off. This is going to be a slow but steady build as this is not a major priority but I am going to finish.
Here is the bulb covers: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/atm-3207/overview/
Here is the guage overlay: http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/pr...2C--WHITE.html
Here is the progress so far:

 

I should only have about 60 dollars total in this

 

Actually going to get the gauge inlays, hvac inlay, and shifter inlay form whitegauges for 34 dollars total, 10 for the cluster, 20 for the blue covers, free clear (I will clear it when I do my friends bumper) so hopefully I can keep everything under 70$

 

question about inlays, do they just stick over your factory pieces or do they actually replace the piece?

 

got the white overlays ordered. now just have to get the bulb covers. Plan on painting the bumper tuesday so I will clear the lense then also

 

After much debating and price comparing, I'm going to order blue leds instead. The 194 4 led wide angle (90 degree) from superbrightleds, its like 7 dollars more than the light covers, plus it will look alot better.

 

Here is the thing I made to hold the clear gauge cover so I can clear it

 

Got the white gauge overlays installed! super easy with the install kit they (whitegauges.net, $25 shipped total for the overlays and install kit) sell.

Kit:

Whole cluster:

Left Side:

Right Side:

 

Got 9 blue 4 led wide angle bulbs from superbrightleds.com and got 5% off with discount code RE419. Said they would be here friday!! Its coming along alot faster than expected. I'm about a week and 1/2 away from being done with this project! Cant wait to see the end result!

 

Got the needles painted and installed

 

I like the final result.... I always thought the Trans-Am / Firebird gauges looked superior compared to the Camaro's. More of a cockpit look.

 

Very nice!

 

Thanks! Yes it does. I am not done yet still got the plastic piece and leds left. So about 3 days left before its 100% done

 

Got the leds installed and they look great!! Love the blue color, makes the tips of the needles look black at night, very awesome looking. Tried taking pics but I couldn't get a good picture with my phone.

 

very interested in seeing the final product

 

Thanks me 2, clearing that piece on wednesday, then gotta swap the speedometer assemblies on the 2 clusters and install the "new" one

 

Ok i got the cluster in and everything works except the speedometer, I put the one in from the old cluster and swapped the board it plugs in to. But It still doesn't work, HELP

 

What happened with this? You get it together? What was the paint you used for the needles?

 

Yes I have in and completed and will have pictures up tonight. I honestly dont know what paint it was. My uncle has that paint mixing thing at his shop and i just grabbed a blue and put a few drops in the bottom of a paint cup, put some reducer, clear, and hardener in it and just brushed it onto the needles after scraping the orange off with a razor blade. Then i tinted the front plastic piece with some black paint in some clear, then wetsanded and buffed that out so it was as clear as the factory piece.

 

Pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Looks cool!

 

Thanks!

 

Nice. Looks really good man. Can we get a few night shots? What's with the 8000rpm tacho? Mine only goes to 6000.

p.s if anyone is interested , just search gauge needle paint on ebay, I found some so I can do this mod too

 

Thanks! The instrument cluster is from a 1990 bird haha. Yes i gotta find the battery for it first, but I will post some up. Can you post up the link for the paint?

 

Is this it? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Fluorescent-Blue-Speedo-Gauge-Needle-Paint-/151065480331?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item232c344c8b&vxp=mtr#ht_3543wt_1206

 

Link to needle paint : http://www.ebay.com/itm/190208702689...U:3160&vxp=mtr

 

Green would look awesome!

 

Yeah I reckon so. Ill put up some pics once I've done it.

 

Awesome, make sure to get all the paint off the needles, most of it is sandable but there is some places where only a razor blade will get, or just use a razor blade on the whole needle, be careful on the long needles, they break easy. And mark on the cluster where the needle was to get it in the same place.

 

Yeah already broke the big needle for the tacho, and had to glue it. Cant get those sort of parts here in Australia without buying a whole cluster. Never find American cars in our junkyards!

 

well how bad would shipping be? I've got an extra one or 2 you can have if shipping can be arranged

 

Should be ok bud, once painted again wont even notice. Shipping is the killer for me and other aussies I guess, I mean those white gauges are like 30 bucks on ebay but to ship them here it costs $60! I told the guy put em in a friggin 5 x5 envelope with a few pieces of cardboard!

 

haha alright. Holy crap! Did you check out www.whitegauges.net

 

Look great! I've been contemplating white faces for my '91 as I have Phantom fuel pressure & AEM AFR gauges I want to install in a pillar pod. This overlays will tie it all together nicely I think.

 

Thanks! I'd sell you mine but i sold the car last week:/

 

That's a shame, hope you're getting another?

Any tricks to installing the v6 tach? I did a search on here but couldn't find anything but would like to put in the 8k tach when doing the white overlays....

 

Yea, im saving up to buy a 98 up for a daily driver, nothing is different with the v6 tach, i swapped the whole cluster, built the v6 one like it is than swapped it in. Shouldve gotten brighter leds, they were hard to see at night cause i smoked the plastic lens

 

No calibration or wiring mods for the v6 tach to function properly?

 

There is no wiring mods, im not 100% sure on calibration, i wasnt worried about be dead on accurate as i usually push it past the redline anyway, all the other guages worked good