Blue Gauges

[RXREY]

Blue Acetate: $2.49

Time spent: 5 Minutes

Satisfaction: Priceless

By the way everyone, "Lemon" took much better pictures of his new,blue gauges. Look on page two of this post.....

Added note: Through the brilliant skills of our very own cduluk, as you will see on page 4 of this post, the gauge bezel is very easy to pop off! Amazingly, after viewing his addition to this post I tried to take it off using his instructions...and voila, it came off. So now I am replacing my blue acetate sheets with a single sheet covering the plastic gauge window.

[RX400h]

Hey, Rey,

It took you 5 minutes to do that? That's incredible!

[lemon]

Don't keep us in the dark. What is blue acetate, and how did you do this?

Thanks.

[RXREY]

sorry,read the next post, I posted it twice and didn't know how to delete the duplicate post...hence, you can see why I would not be able nor desire to do the blue gauges the way cduluk did!...

[RXREY]

I know it wasn't as high tech as what member "cduluk" did but it was REALLY EASY to do it this way. I found out that the gauge rings and the clear plastic that lies behind the rings but in FRONT of the gauges (it's one piece of plastic) are totally separate...meaning that if you go right now and sit in your car and you took a business card and put it in the smaller gauge you would see it pop into the large center gauge. So all that I did was cut three pieces of blue acetate (from a hobby store, sold in roughly 8X10" sheets) and slipped them on top of the clear plastic. They were cut roughly the shape of each gauge but bigger. They really were roughly cut, no need to be accurate since they slip under the unseen portion of the rings. I suppose they could be done in one piece but you may not be able to avoid crimping this way. I used very small pieces of Scotch double stick tape to hold them up. The tape is easily hidden under each gauge ring. 5 minutes that's it, including a few sips from my coffee! No taking anything apart, no fancy stuff necessary. OH, I graduated and teach at the school that Chip Foose graduated from( his name pops in in this forum often), Art Center College of Design in Pasadena! He was in the Transportation Design dept. and I was in the Illustration Design....I didn't know him though. Anyway, this was just an alternative and VERY simple alternative to what cduluk did. I know I for one would not take apart my dash. I have too many other things that are more pressing...like making a living.

[lemon]

Since I'm laying in bed, and the car is in the garage, how do you get the gauge rings out?

[cduluk]

Ah! i tried a similar method first by putting blue permanent marker over the SMT's, but this combo proved to be too dim. The white SMT's with any type of blue filter reduce the intensity by a LOT, that's why i had to replace the white ones with blue LED's.. and even those are barely bright enough. <_<

This method works, but you won't get a lot of intensity, especially with ambient daylight. The only way to do it right is to replace the white SMT's with blue SMT's or preferably blue LED's. <_<

And you've really gotta turn the white areas between the integer marks blue so it doesn't look washed out in daylight ;)

[RXREY]

Actually the blue acetate worked great. Bright enough even in the daytime...maybe the acetate that I bought was just the right opacity or whatever. It is so beautiful. No one would know it wasn't this way when I bought the car. Oh, to answer the last question, you don't take anything off, the acetate(thin plastic) is an overlay. Do this next time that you are in your car: Take a small piece of paper or business card and put it on one of the gauges, lets say the small gas gauge at the right of the center large gauge...you'll see that the card actually can be slid UNDER the ring and will go over to the other gauge and be seen....get it? I am not the best writer so I am trying to describe something that is really easy to do. With all due respect to cduluk, I simply cannot see myself doing some of the projects that he has done. One, I don't think I could figure it out and secondly, it would scare me to death!

I am a tiger at what I do and am successful at it, top in my profession....but.......but it's not doing these kind of laborious and technical mods on my car.

I say this with respect.

[cduluk]

It's hard to tell by the pic, but what's white and what's now blue?

Is everything white except for the rings which are now blue?

Did you put the blue filter material over the "leg" areas of the blue rings? Or did you cut out pieces that are the same sizes as the rings themselves?

[lemon]

I'm sort of getting it. So there's a big piece of blue acetate behind the clear plastic on each of your gauges? So the acetate is basically right behind the round clear plastic circles in each gauge pod?

*edit* I mean...there's a piece of blue acetate IN FRONT of each of the round plastic circles?

Using this method, I suppose I could get a piece of red acetate and make my gauges red. So I could pretend I was driving a BMW, Audi or.....a Pontiac...

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.....I think I might get red and blue acetate...see which one I like better, or maybe the power meter red, the speedometer blue and the fuel/temp red to give me some symmetry. Or maybe, leave the fuel/temp alone...the possibilities are endless...haha. Or maybe I could put clear acetate down and have everything white..... :P

[cduluk]

There's space between the gauge face:

and the plastic rings themselves:

Here's what's below the gauge face:

Is this where you slipped the blue film? How could you have cut it so perfectly to the same shape of the rings?

[lemon]

It's hard to tell by the pic, but what's white and what's now blue?

Is everything white except for the rings which are now blue?

Did you put the blue filter material over the "leg" areas of the blue rings? Or did you cut out pieces that are the same sizes as the rings themselves?

Looks like everything is blue, which makes sense if I understand exactly what was done. That's the difference between your project and this one - everything will be blue as the entire plastic circle face has blue acetate in front of it.

*edit* Looking at your post above cduluk, and I thought he had done something like this as well, but what I 'think' he's done is simple. As he said, go to your vehicle ( I know it's hard for you, but don't take anything apart - ;) ), take a business card, place it in the smaller 'ring' (like the power meter ring) against the clear plastic face, and push it sideways. You should see the business card now appear in the speedometer ring, still in front of the clear plastic face. Now picture doing the same thing with blue acetate. Apparently, as RXREY has found out, there are not three separate round clear plastic faces, but one large piece of clear plastic that appear round because of the faceplate. Pieces of acetate will just slide in there like the business card. The pieces can be oversized because it's one big piece of clear plastic behind the cover plate. The oversize area (and the tape holding up the acetate I think) will be covered by the faceplace.

[RXREY]

I'm sort of getting it. So there's a big piece of blue acetate behind the clear plastic on each of your gauges? So the acetate is basically right behind the round clear plastic circles in each gauge pod?

*edit* I mean...there's a piece of blue acetate IN FRONT of each of the round plastic circles?

Using this method, I suppose I could get a piece of red acetate and make my gauges red. So I could pretend I was driving a BMW, Audi or.....a Pontiac...

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.....I think I might get red and blue acetate...see which one I like better, or maybe the power meter red, the speedometer blue and the fuel/temp red to give me some symmetry. Or maybe, leave the fuel/temp alone...the possibilities are endless...haha. Or maybe I could put clear acetate down and have everything white..... :P

Yes. it's in front so it CAN be red, polka dot...whatever film you put on top of the clear plastic. It's very unsophisticated compared to the genius cduluk method...and yes, EVERYTHING will be whatever the film is. It actually looks great! I was pleasantly surprised.

[RXREY]

It's hard to tell by the pic, but what's white and what's now blue?

Is everything white except for the rings which are now blue?

Did you put the blue filter material over the "leg" areas of the blue rings? Or did you cut out pieces that are the same sizes as the rings themselves?

Looks like everything is blue, which makes sense if I understand exactly what was done. That's the difference between your project and this one - everything will be blue as the entire plastic circle face has blue acetate in front of it.

*edit* Looking at your post above cduluk, and I thought he had done something like this as well, but what I 'think' he's done is simple. As he said, go to your vehicle ( I know it's hard for you, but don't take anything apart - ;) ), take a business card, place it in the smaller 'ring' (like the power meter ring) against the clear plastic face, and push it sideways. You should see the business card now appear in the speedometer ring, still in front of the clear plastic face. Now picture doing the same thing with blue acetate. Apparently, as RXREY has found out, there are not three separate round clear plastic faces, but one large piece of clear plastic that appear round because of the faceplate. Pieces of acetate will just slide in there like the business card. The pieces can be oversized because it's one big piece of clear plastic behind the cover plate. The oversize area (and the tape holding up the acetate I think) will be covered by the faceplace.

Yes, thanks for the clearer explanation. Like I said, it's really unsophisticated...that's why it takes only five minutes...including a coffee break!

[RXREY]

I'm sort of getting it. So there's a big piece of blue acetate behind the clear plastic on each of your gauges? So the acetate is basically right behind the round clear plastic circles in each gauge pod?

*edit* I mean...there's a piece of blue acetate IN FRONT of each of the round plastic circles?

Using this method, I suppose I could get a piece of red acetate and make my gauges red. So I could pretend I was driving a BMW, Audi or.....a Pontiac...

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.....I think I might get red and blue acetate...see which one I like better, or maybe the power meter red, the speedometer blue and the fuel/temp red to give me some symmetry. Or maybe, leave the fuel/temp alone...the possibilities are endless...haha. Or maybe I could put clear acetate down and have everything white..... :P

By George, I think you've got it! Try it. The great thing is, if you don't like it, no harm done, no time wasted to speak of. Let us know what you think. As I said, I was really trying to be honest about how easy this was and it does look good. It does make everything blue though but I like it. The amp gauge, or whatever that is that replaced the RPM gauge, has a blue area and a much larger white area...now it has a blue and a light blue. I think it's fine this way... Yes, you can leave the smaller gauges alone...do the smaller ones red the large center one blue...etc....

[RXREY]

By the way, I apologize for the inferior photography. It's late now so I might try to replace the original photo with a new one...if I can make it better.

Rey Bustos in sunny (even in January) L.A.

[lemon]

I'm sort of getting it. So there's a big piece of blue acetate behind the clear plastic on each of your gauges? So the acetate is basically right behind the round clear plastic circles in each gauge pod?

*edit* I mean...there's a piece of blue acetate IN FRONT of each of the round plastic circles?

Using this method, I suppose I could get a piece of red acetate and make my gauges red. So I could pretend I was driving a BMW, Audi or.....a Pontiac...

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.....I think I might get red and blue acetate...see which one I like better, or maybe the power meter red, the speedometer blue and the fuel/temp red to give me some symmetry. Or maybe, leave the fuel/temp alone...the possibilities are endless...haha. Or maybe I could put clear acetate down and have everything white..... :P

By George, I think you've got it! Try it. The great thing is, if you don't like it, no harm done, no time wasted to speak of. Let us know what you think. As I said, I was really trying to be honest about how easy this was and it does look good. It does make everything blue though but I like it. The amp gauge, or whatever that is that replaced the RPM gauge, has a blue area and a much larger white area...now it has a blue and a light blue. No biggie.

So if I go with red acetate, I'll end up with a power meter gauge that is red and......magenta!!!!

[RXREY]

It's hard to tell by the pic, but what's white and what's now blue?

Is everything white except for the rings which are now blue?

Did you put the blue filter material over the "leg" areas of the blue rings? Or did you cut out pieces that are the same sizes as the rings themselves?

Yes cduluk, it's all blue. This post is for a simple solution inspired by seeing your "Blue Ring" post. I work with the entertainment designers at my school so I teach methods of doing things simply and cheaply to simulate more complicated things. I like problem solving but have to think about the bottom line in many cases and also the time it takes to do something. How long did it take you to do what you did? I am not being facetious, I am just curious. Keep doing stuff, it's fun to see what you come up with and I may copy you in my own way! Be well, Rey

[cduluk]

Do you mean you put the blue film under the ring area? Like under the needle? Just over the gauge face? Or did you simply put the film over/under the tinted cove

Wont all the idiot lights be tinted blue now too? So would the yellow gas light now have a blue filter over it (making it.. green?)

[RXREY]

Do you mean you put the blue film under the ring area? Like under the needle? Just over the gauge face? Or did you simply put the film over/under the tinted cove

Wont all the idiot lights be tinted blue now too? So would the yellow gas light now have a blue filter over it (making it.. green?)

Yes. it all has a blue over it...it's like tinting your windows...you are "tinting" the clear plastic that covers your gauges. It's not like you can't tell how much gas you have, the value change still tells you how much gas you have as well as of course the needle! Anything red still reads as red, not purple. The blue just isn't dark enough to change any of the colored lights. You WON'T accidentally run out of gas! What was white is now light blue, what was blue or red, is now a darker red....what is yellow, still reads as a shade of red, not green. The whole effect is nice especially at night and more soothing on your eyes as well. This isn't for you since you don't mind putting a lot of time into things like this and taking things apart, it's for someone like me that wants a nice effect without taking anything apart. If I wanted to, or decide I don't want it any more, I can take it off in seconds, the acetate is merely laying on the slanted clear plastic. The tiny piece of double stick tape just keeps it from slipping down. Happy trails Rey in L.A.

[RXREY]

I'm sort of getting it. So there's a big piece of blue acetate behind the clear plastic on each of your gauges? So the acetate is basically right behind the round clear plastic circles in each gauge pod?

*edit* I mean...there's a piece of blue acetate IN FRONT of each of the round plastic circles?

Using this method, I suppose I could get a piece of red acetate and make my gauges red. So I could pretend I was driving a BMW, Audi or.....a Pontiac...

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.....I think I might get red and blue acetate...see which one I like better, or maybe the power meter red, the speedometer blue and the fuel/temp red to give me some symmetry. Or maybe, leave the fuel/temp alone...the possibilities are endless...haha. Or maybe I could put clear acetate down and have everything white..... :P

By George, I think you've got it! Try it. The great thing is, if you don't like it, no harm done, no time wasted to speak of. Let us know what you think. As I said, I was really trying to be honest about how easy this was and it does look good. It does make everything blue though but I like it. The amp gauge, or whatever that is that replaced the RPM gauge, has a blue area and a much larger white area...now it has a blue and a light blue. No biggie.

So if I go with red acetate, I'll end up with a power meter gauge that is red and......magenta!!!!

Yep. The nice thing is that you can try whatever you want without messing anything up and if you don;t want to keep it, you haven't invested any time, very little money and you can easily try different colors. At the hobby store where I came across the acetate they only had a few colors but some of the slots where empty so I don;t know what other colors they normally have and I didn't ask since I only wanted the blue. Art supply stores often have packets of colored acetate as well and would work great I imagine. Let us know if you try this.

[lemon]

I'm sort of getting it. So there's a big piece of blue acetate behind the clear plastic on each of your gauges? So the acetate is basically right behind the round clear plastic circles in each gauge pod?

*edit* I mean...there's a piece of blue acetate IN FRONT of each of the round plastic circles?

Using this method, I suppose I could get a piece of red acetate and make my gauges red. So I could pretend I was driving a BMW, Audi or.....a Pontiac...

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.....I think I might get red and blue acetate...see which one I like better, or maybe the power meter red, the speedometer blue and the fuel/temp red to give me some symmetry. Or maybe, leave the fuel/temp alone...the possibilities are endless...haha. Or maybe I could put clear acetate down and have everything white..... :P

By George, I think you've got it! Try it. The great thing is, if you don't like it, no harm done, no time wasted to speak of. Let us know what you think. As I said, I was really trying to be honest about how easy this was and it does look good. It does make everything blue though but I like it. The amp gauge, or whatever that is that replaced the RPM gauge, has a blue area and a much larger white area...now it has a blue and a light blue. No biggie.

So if I go with red acetate, I'll end up with a power meter gauge that is red and......magenta!!!!

Yep. The nice thing is that you can try whatever you want without messing anything up and if you don;t want to keep it, you haven't invested any time, very little money and you can easily try different colors. At the hobby store where I came across the acetate they only had a few colors but some of the slots where empty so I don;t know what other colors they normally have and I didn't ask since I only wanted the blue. Art supply stores often have packets of colored acetate as well and would work great I imagine. Let us know if you try this.

Just checked online at a Curry's art store. They have red, blue, green and yellow.

https://www.currys.com/catalogpc.htm?Catego...p;Source=Search

[lemon]

Do you mean you put the blue film under the ring area? Like under the needle? Just over the gauge face? Or did you simply put the film over/under the tinted cove

Wont all the idiot lights be tinted blue now too? So would the yellow gas light now have a blue filter over it (making it.. green?)

You can see in his pic that the green P light is still green and the red on the coolant gauge is still red.

[cduluk]

Oh i finally get it now :D It takes me a while but i get it now lol

[RXREY]

OK, I just took another picture but it is still a little blurry because I can't use a flash and it is hard to hold the camera steady. You get the idea and this time I left all of the colored display lights on so you can see that the blue acetate doesn't change those all that much. If you really wanted to you could actually cut an arc to allow some of the gauge images stay clear. Or you can just "Blue" the large center gauge...or, well, you get the idea! Rey

Never mind, look at the next post from "lemon". Much better pics than mine......