Ok, so my turn signal switch and hazards decided to take a dump on me, so I went to the junkyard getting replacement parts and decided to take a look at a couple other cars while I was there. There happened to be 2 Z32's and I was wondering if the needles from the gauge cluster of those 300's will work on our gauges.
Reason being is that I have LED bulbs lighting up my gauges and at night the needles are near impossible to see unless I paint them with fluorescent orange paint. Since the Z32 needles are already designed as a transcluscent orange, I just want to know if they will attach to our gauge faces without any problems. Other than that, I saw an 81zxt get crushed which sucked because the car still had plenty of parts to spare... And yet those retards won't crush a rusted out ZX with nothing left on it but a few misc interior pieces.

 

grab the needles and see. It can't hurt right. Who knows, you might start the next BIG thing. And since people who find comets get to name em, that mod can be named the lifergaurd mod

 

I've installed needles from a Z32 300ZX into an Acura Legend ... that tells you the flexibility of them. I'd say hit it. I plan on Z32 needles for my Rx7's cluster, once I get an aftermarket tach mounted to a custom face. -Dave-O

 

If the needles base is too big then you can fill it and redrill the hole. If it's too small you can drill it a little bigger. You can make it work even if it's not a direct fit. But I'm guessing it will just swap right in there

 

Hmmmmm, maybe I'll pull the needles off my new Z32 and see if they'll fit in the 280ZX... Nah, maybe not. I just like the sound of "my new Z32" ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Rod.

 

Ok, I figured I'd update on what I've found out so far. The needles do work, but they need some tweaking. The tach needle needs to be filled a bit or else it's a bit lazy when revving, but if you rev slowly, it's fine. The speedo needle needs to be widened to fit on the 280zx's base. The fuel gauge needle needs to be filled as well. The water temp gauge, I didn't bother with it since it's a weird shaped needle attachment and I don't want to risk breaking that thin wire that connects to it.

Anyway, at night it's a little easier to see than my old flourescent painted needles. I haven't driven around town with the needles on yet because I'm chasing a problem with my signals and hazards not working. Stupid things took a dump and I don't know why yet. I've replaced the switch for the hazards, the relay can for the flashers and even got a replacement stalk and new harness for the stalk, but they still don't work so I'm guessing it's gotta be the wiring somewhere under the dash that leads out to the lights... Hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow so I can get this crap solved.

 

Pictures please

 

Check the fuse. I went through everything when my flashers didn't work. I tested and tested but couldn't find the problem. And I swear I checked the fuse, but I must've been looking at the wrong one. I spent a couple weeks trying to figure that out and then gave up. But 7-8 months later I finally got back around to figuring out what was wrong with them and went ahead checked the fuses again. This time I checked all of them and sure enough the fuse was blown. There were wrong size fuses in the block around the flasher fuse so when I compared it's position to the fuse cover I ended up looking at the wrong one

 

Use K.i.s.s. Keep It Simple Stupid. Its Usually The Simple Part That Goes Wrong. Ie The Fuse. I Had An Old Glass Fuse That Disconnected Inside But Didnt Pop. It Gave Me The Strangest Problems Every Time I Hit A Bump

 

That last part describes exactly how I felt too: STUPID

 

Ok, so here are some pics from the installed needles. Also, yeah I did fix the hazard and turn signal issue too. Turned out the switch must have had some bad contacts. I was about to throw in the towel before I decided as a last ditch effort to spray some WD-40 in the switch and see what'd happen. Voila, I got my signals and 4 ways back. Anyways back to pics, they aren't the best quality, but you can at least see how the tach needle compares to the stock painted water temp needle.

 

So are those needles supposed to glow? And will all the Z32 '90- '96 work with our 280zx gauges? I would like to get those needles to glow blue. But recently, I bought the reverse glow gauges, for $3.99 plus shipping. I am going to try, and hook up the wiring, and leave my white gauges where they are. And see if more blue light will penetrate, so I can see them better at night.

 

The needles themselves don't glow, they are just transcluscent and let more light to come through from the gauges than the solid needles that come stock. If you want the needles to let blue light from your gauges to go through the needles, maybe the needles off of the 90's Sentras or something during that time frame might work as they have transcluscent white needles. If you want needles that glow, you'd have to somehow hook up a power source and some tiny lights to the needles. Maybe something like this kit I saw for 240sx's might work: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Intel...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Yeah okay, thanks anyway man. What I meant was, that I wanted the needles to be transluscent. Not actually glow, I think that would be too much for my taste. (kind of ricey to me) Do you think it would be possible to paint the Z32 needles a blue, that would show at night? The red needles would not fit in with my theme I am doing in my interior. Blue and silver of course, and hardly any black. But all aside I am watching a cheap '90 to '96 Z32 instrument cluster on e-bay right now. And if I could somehow change the needles to a blue. I would probably go for it, if I knew I could get them to work for my theme.

 

Looks very nice, and are they noticely brighter. I hate not being able to see gauges at night. Even the Greddy gauges in my GT are very dull and hard to see.

 

That ... is hot. I dig. I should try something like this on one of my cars. Oh yeah, I like that needle glow thingy that was shown for a 240SX ... I thought about that for mine, but in red or something obscure. -Dave-O

 

Hey John the needles look good. Now you need to get us some night shots. :P

Chris

 

^ I second that motion. I may have to steal some Z32 needles for my Rx7. -Dave-O

 

Okay I know this thread is old, but I figured I'd post a pic of my gauge face at night since I never did. You can see the needles for the water and fuel gauges, and that's about as bright as the 300zx speedo and tach needles are. I'll try to get a direct shot of the 300zx needles next time.

 

ooh, that Blitz guage looks ****

 

I'm going to look for some clear needles the next time I'm in a wrecking yard... that'll go well with my indiglo gauges. Apollo just put his gauges in (like what I have) so if this swap works maybe he'll change the needles out too.