My Gauge Cluster Project, Not What I Expected

more details, pls'...

apkarian100... are your instrument-gauge overlays photostatic repro's on paper/vinyl or on composite/resin-plastic? Just curious. . .

If you can successfully reproduce this 200MPH overlay below , as similar to the USDM OE speedo' as possible along w/ enlarged needle-hole for ease of install (as-per Vancehu's advice), I'm in for one for the speedo' (200 MPH)...


(L: 200MPH repro', R: JDM OE speedo')

{image above courtesy of Sudesh from www.nsxcb.co.uk}

Requirements:
- illumination same as USDM OE speedo'
- fit/finish same as USDM OE speedo'
- appearance same as USDM OE speedo'
- no noticeable/visible difference from other instrument-gauges
- cruise-control opening preserved same as stock speedo'
- individual MPH gradations same as USDM OE speedo' ( |llll|llll| )
- "MPH" & "KM/H" in same location as USDM OE speedo'
- MPH #'s in white (0-200 MPH #'s same color as USDM OE speedo')
- KM/H* #'s in gray & inside the •, opposite of image above (KM/H #'s same color & location as USDM OE speedo')

(* KM/H gradations in: 0/40/80/120/160/200/240/280/320, same font/size/color as KM/H in USDM OE speedo')

For reference, USDM OE speedo'...




For your Int'l brethren (whom I'm sure are keen for their own plug-&-play KM/H setup), see what you can come up w/ these below...




Some stuff I had in my C:\, might be of use to you...




If you really wanna get creative & add some pizzaze/panache:

www.cartype.com/<wbr>pages/738/gauge_clusters


(I take no credit nor assume any responsibility for any of the images above, as all were found on the inter-webz, y0!)
 
Last edited:
freeon said:
How can it cost $750.00 to make these
Click to expand...

That's what I said, but people wanted it after I had my own done and I did a GB.

There were 15 units out there.
 
Osiris, the extension of the speedo gauge sounds like a cool idea, but my purpose in these gauges was not for overlays. I still don't want the nasty red/orange color to shine through. Having said that, an issue you might run into on extending the speedo readings will be to illumination past the 180 mph mark. The gauge faces are black that mark, so no little will go through.

I wonder how whoever made that faces, in the pics you had, took the needles off.

BTW, the faces are made using multiple layers of high temp plastic, originally designed on the computer, then printed out.
 
Last edited:
How much to just change the red lighting to blue? :cool:
 
I'm not sure if you've seen this thread already but if not I hope it is helpful (especially posts by lithimus). I really think changing the look of the gague cluster from red to blue as you are proposing would update the car tremendously and wish you success. I'm not handy at all but would be interested in a kit if you can get it worked out.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52548
 
I love the red/orange light and think it looks great. The blue looks so chintzy to me. To each his own.
 
Yes, that is basically where I got the idea from, but the interior looks a little incomplete with a red cluster and blue stereo lights.
Liquid said:
I'm not sure if you've seen this thread already but if not I hope it is helpful (especially posts by lithimus). I really think changing the look of the gague cluster from red to blue as you are proposing would update the car tremendously and wish you success. I'm not handy at all but would be interested in a kit if you can get it worked out.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52548
Click to expand...
 
awesome job there. If you wouldn't mind could you send me a PM with the speedo and RPM (just a full size pic) I plan on using a NSX cluster in another car but I want to see how close those 2 are to my factory gauge sizes. If not thats cool.
 
I can get possibly get comparison pics in a day or so. The gauge faces I made are the exact same size as the OEM gauge faces. I just took some things out and made them a little more aesthetically pleasing.
GreekPower said:
awesome job there. If you wouldn't mind could you send me a PM with the speedo and RPM (just a full size pic) I plan on using a NSX cluster in another car but I want to see how close those 2 are to my factory gauge sizes. If not thats cool.
Click to expand...
 
Hehe, I was trolling for information about instrument clusters and came across this thread... :wink:

I haven't worked on my cluster for almost 2 years cause my car stayed in storage last year since it didn't make sense to bring it out of storage as we had a new addition to the family and a rear facing car seat is a no-no...

Converting the Blue was definitely difficult due to the fact that the orange / red filters as I mentioned are on opposite sides of the color spectrum. One cancels the other.

Because the orange / brown paint on the rear of gauge faces are not perfectly red when lit, blasting bright blue LED light allows (a little) blue / white illumination through. Most of the Blue color will come from the above LEDs.

After doing more research on light, I realized that using filters should only be a last resort and if you can use the LED color of choice, that is preferable. So my blue filter of the white LEDs for the top lighting was a mistake. Instead, remove the filter completely and just use a Blue LED.

The only real reason I went the direction of Blue was due to the TL Nav system having Blue LED color coming from the knob outline so I decided to match the interior lighting to it. Now that I revisit this, I think I'm going to instead, try to match the interior lighting closer to the 3rd gen or most recent TL is.

The lighting is closer to a light purple instead. The blue color wavelength is difficult to obtain high luminance which is probably why Honda / Acura used it mainly as a "garnish" type light to make things look pretty instead of functional.

You'll notice that the numbers, letters, etc are all brighter and not Blue. So I think I'm going to attempt to use white LED with a very light purple / blue filter and update that thread...

PS. if you are considering making your own face plates, please note the pattern on the rear of the OEM faceplate as you'll need to replicate that if you want the new faceplate (if you are replacing the OEM one) to illuminate evenly. SOS created faceplates a long time ago and discontinued them due to the difficulty in obtaining an even light illumination. It was plaugued with illumination hot spots.
 
BTW, I forgot to mention the "other" little snag when you begin this project...

Making the climate control Blue and swapping the instrument cluster to blue are just a few aspects in converting the interior illumination. Get back into the NSX at night and light everything up... there are a lot more things to convert than just the obvious...

Obvious
- Radio
- Climate Control
- Cluster

Not so Obvious
- Radio button illumination
- Climate Control button illumination
- TCS & Headlight retract buttons
- Headlight switch illumination on steering column
- Cruise button on steering column
- Mirror illumination on door

There might be more but I can't think of any off the top of my head... The most difficult is the climate control button illumination outlined below

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65009

You can't really change one interior illumination part without considering the rest or it will look funny. Every thing is blue except these orange buttons...
 
ENSSEX said:
Im with you Joe


Paul
Click to expand...

Hey Paul,

Don't get me wrong, I was originally considering changing the TL radio to red / orange but because all the LEDs were soldered onto the circuit board, I went the other way... now that I've passed the point of no return, Acura comes out with a TL Type S in 2007 that has a radio with RED illumination!! Jokes on me!
 
I am just trying to conquer a big obstacle in the NSX LED interior conversion process. My original intention was to make the gauge faces shine white. White seems to work with about almost every color for the interior. The point of this thread is to find a way how to successfully remove the needles from the gauge cluster so I can install replacement gauge faces, not overlays. You will not get the nice illumination color from the overlays, just a different looking face.
 
If you want them to shine white, my suggestion given what I have seen is to use bright white LEDs for the overhead bulbs and replace all of the rear bulbs with blue LED or none at all.

90% of the light won't be coming from the rear. Like I was saying about the rear of the gauges, if you didn't recreate the crazy OEM patten on the back, the light will not be evenly distributed and will have hot spots so I'm hoping to save you some of the trouble of getting all the needles off placing the faces on and then finding out that there is a lot more work that needs to be done on the faces to get it to light up evenly...

10487DSCN5859.JPG
 
I found a way to evenly spread the light so there are no hot spots. If I can find a way to take the needles off, I will alter the lighting too to compensate for the new faces. I will reveal how I do it I can get this DIY up and running.
 
apkarian100 said:
I found a way to evenly spread the light so there are no hot spots. If I can find a way to take the needles off, I will alter the lighting too to compensate for the new faces. I will reveal how I do it I can get this DIY up and running.
Click to expand...

Bumping this. I'm very interested in knowing if the problem with removing the needles has been solved?
 

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