despite what everyone said, i found that it was not hard at all. wasnt a pain in the ***. didnt even take lont to get them out. the only thing that was challenging was applying the white gauge faces to the existing guages without breaking the old, brittle, plastic needles. other than that, its just time consuming putting the faces on and preping the surface. such a great looking and cheap mod. plus while you have them out, you can accent the intirior look of your Z by painting the gauge trim ( thanks for the idea newb81280zx ) all in all, i spent about 4 hours. 30 minutes removal and installation and 3 and a half hours or so preping and aplying the overlays and painting the trim. i will post pics as soon as i can borrow the digi cam.

 

See! What did I tell you. It almost takes longer to describe than to actually do it.

Cheers,
lww

 

I don't know if there's something wrong here, but my cluster comes out in 5 minutes, without removing the wheel or combo switches ...

I originally removed my cluster to clean it, and ended up creating my own gauge faces. Right now, they're just a test-fit, using computer printer paper. What I plan to do is purchase sheets of clear Lexan or plastic that are around the same thickness as the stock gauges, have vinyl "stickers" made of the faces, mill the plastic out to the correct shape, lay the sticker, and do some bulb reworking behind the faces for better illumination. Or, I could leave it stock lighting, as it should work.

I also plan on removing the Trip Odometer reset pin on the face, to allow the speedo to continue around the face. I'll mark the speedo face past the 80mph mark (notice my faces are in Km/h). To me, it would be cool to tool down the freeway with a friend riding shotgun, and have him look over and see the speedo turned so far past 80 that it's back at zero!

 

I would be interested in getting a couple from ya. I've seen the white face guages for sale, but not ones for the 130MPH speedo's like mine...

 

Hi Jabo; Are you familiar with e-bay? THere is a seller on there username whitegaugeguy. That sells the overlays BUY IT NOW for $9.98! Just go into search, and type in 280 zx gauge overlays. Or search for the certain seller. They have the 160, 85, 120 gauge overlay, plus all the other gauges for your car. You just cut out the new overlays, and stick them on. Also Carl's Z cannot do anything on this messageboard. I talked to him today. He switched ISP, and now cannot post anything. Just thought I would tell you! Talk to you later!

 

Jabo, I've toyed with the idea of creating custom gauges on the side, but I haven't actually decided to follow it yet ... I suppose I may as well . One problem though ... I don't have a spare ZX gauge cluster laying around that has the 130mph speedo. I suppose I could do that if you sent me your cluster, but then you would have a hole in your dash for a week. I also don't know how much a vinyl print would cost (though there's a vinyl shop around the corner from my house, literally ... )

I'll definitely look into it though. I'd love to make some gauges for you. Also, I can go any color(s), and I've got 400+ fonts on my computer, so there's definitely a choice on that as well.

 

well here is another question the Digital guage pack, will it work in a 1979 280 ZX? if not what do I have to do to get it to work?

 

IF you do decide to go with the stick on ones...
you will have to sand off the old guage paint FRONT AND BACK....if you dont, the lighting will be very low and you will see the old guages fall trough the new ones...

 

finaly got a hold of a digicam. check'm out and tell me what you guys think, different accent colour? i was thinking red, but i wasnt sure. works for now.

 

Lookin' good! I may need to get your help pulling out my cluster when the time comes! ^_~

 

illuminated pick. not very good. i went with a indiglo look. as for now im definately a fan of do it yourself overalys for the ZX. as far as difficulty on a level of 1-10 this would be a 5, maybe 6. . . and with a total cost of 10 bucks for the materials, plenty of left over paint and adhesive paper to make quite a few more if i ever decide to go with something else.

 

Hey apollo that is tight! Those look great! I can't wait to put mine in. I already did the faces, but my dash is brittle and destroyed. I need another one that is restorable. Can you help? Later!

 

thanks wildman. as far as a dash goes, is yours really that bad? i have never replaced a dash on a Z, but i used to work as a mecerdes apprentice and taking out and replacing a dash is a real bitch. you could try sanding it down and filling all the cracks and then painting it. it would look like a million bucks and you wouldnt have spent more than a few bucks for filler and paint, plus your time. or just get a cap. i find that the easy, cheaper route usually seems to suite me better. haha. just like those gauges

 

Apollo,
Did you sand your old guage paint off as Skully suggested or no? Just wondering if not, was there a problem or no? I got the stick on overlays, but haven't installed them yet, and was wondering if that was something I NEEDED to do. I guess it wouldn't hurt though. I bought some from Zspecialties a couple of years ago (non stick on) and had to remove them because the old guage markings showed through at night and they didn't line up very well.

 

yea, i did. but i only sanded the front

 

White gauges are really cool, but I can't find anyone that makes an overlay for my speedo...

 

I thought not long ago on another thread that Jabo, had those in km's I think or he found a website that does them. I am not sure, why don't you PM him, and ask. Hope this helps you out!

 

yep.. i am working on mine now... I am changing all the fonts (don't like that Terminator 2 look ) and I am getting them printed out on vinyl @ my dad's shop... he does political signs/billboards/screen printing. My current plans are to

A. Sand off all paint on all the gauges
B. Print overlays on white vinyl, and have everything on the image that is black (i.e. numbers, lines, ect.) weeded out, so that there is nothing there.
C. replacing the 192/194 bulbs with a few of these LED lights

hopefully, with out there being any vinyl on the numbers and lines, the light will just shine through bright as hell.

Once I get these image finished, and get everything going ... and GET MY FRIGGIN CAR BACK... I can make some more for you guys. I am looking for a working digital clock gauge to replace my not so working analog clock gauge


later,
Jabo