i was thinking a clear red paint, like a candy apple type color, that way the light would still shine through. I'll let you know when i get my gauges!

 

Cool, keep us posted.

 

street edition has red needles.

(sorry for the crappy pic)

 

I just bought a reverse indiglo gauge face. It has red and blue numbers which I think will look really nice at night. But as most of you know the needles are orange. Is there a place that sell new needles? I like the cougars (I think they are black/red). Does anyone know if those will fit our needles? Has anyone changed theirs?

 

I've looked for several months (as well as several months of complaining here). Sells? No. Part number? No.

Your only bet is to find a junk yard that is willing to sell them to you without the whole gauge cluster. Thats what everyone would sell me. And those don't come cheap.

Possible parts cars:
Focus ZX3 S2
Focus SVT
Focus Street Ed. ???
Contour SVT
Possibly the cougar like you said.

If you can, see if you can get me a set too. I've pretty much given up on it.

[ 06-20-2002: Message edited by: Egz ]</p>

 

Take out the guage face, take off the black casing, then unscrew the 3 screws and remove the actual guages. You are left with the white backing, there are 3 bulbs on the backing, cover them with red tail lens repair tape.

 

But that only works well at night...

 

What color are the SVT needles? Red or Orange. I might go with the street edition red needles if I can get a hold of them. My dad is a Ford dealer so that shouldn't be too hard. If anyone wants me to get new needles for them let me know, I will hook you up.

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by focus_on_speed:
What color are the SVT needles? Red or Orange. I might go with the street edition red needles if I can get a hold of them. My dad is a Ford dealer so that shouldn't be too hard. If anyone wants me to get new needles for them let me know, I will hook you up.<hr></blockquote>

As far as I know, the street edition/S2 red needles are only available in the entire cluster; you can't buy them seperatly. I forgot exactly how much the whole cluster runs but its somewhere in the $200 range.

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Mtlca401:
They do make indiglo needles which go really good with reverse indiglo gauges. Not many people know about these, and believe it or not they have been around for a good while too. The only thing is they might a little more than what you want to pay. Try this:

http://www.importcarpartsplus.com/Needles.htm

The colors are Sonic Blue, Hyper Red and Super Green. Comes out to about $72 + s&h. It's not really that bad of a price if you saw the needles.

[ 06-22-2002: Message edited by: Mtlca401 ]<hr></blockquote>

but those aren't new needles... it's just a light that goes underneath your stock needle. too pricey in my opinion.

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Rob G:


but those aren't new needles... it's just a light that goes underneath your stock needle. too pricey in my opinion.<hr></blockquote>


Right. I would assume the needles would still look orange during the day which is what a lot of people are trying to get rid of.

 

UPDATE:

i decided to go for it today and paint them. i used red acrylic model paint made by 'testors'. 96 cents at wal-mart. i put on 2 coats to make it look even. good part: looks killer during the daytime. sad part: they don't illuminate very well. i don't do that much night driving anyway, so it's not a big deal. my recommendation now is to use krylon's red stained glass paint instead or perhaps find a more "clear" model paint. i may remove the acrylic paint sometime and spray them.

here's some pics so you can see what i did:

oh... if you're wondering about the odometer, i did the blue electrical tape mod a few months ago, but was unhappy with it and decided to use this oppurtunity to try red taillight tape instead. i would have done it, but the tape was messed up and had black specs in it and the color wasn't even

.

 

They do make indiglo needles which go really good with reverse indiglo gauges. Not many people know about these, and believe it or not they have been around for a good while too. The only thing is they might a little more than what you want to pay. Try this:

http://www.importcarpartsplus.com/Needles.htm

The colors are Sonic Blue, Hyper Red and Super Green. Comes out to about $72 + s&h. It's not really that bad of a price if you saw the needles.

[ 06-22-2002: Message edited by: Mtlca401 ]</p>

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by focus_on_speed:
What color are the SVT needles? Red or Orange. I might go with the street edition red needles if I can get a hold of them. My dad is a Ford dealer so that shouldn't be too hard. If anyone wants me to get new needles for them let me know, I will hook you up.<hr></blockquote>

SVT are red. If he can sneak out a couple of sets, I'll buy some from you.

Rob G: Thanks for the results. Yea, thats what I was afraid of. I still have time before my other project is done, so I can wait to see what I will do.

Thanks guys/gals!

 

Has anybody used transparent model paint? It'd be called "transparent blue" or "transparent red" etc. You're supposed to put a layer of silver or something on, then paint the transparent stuff over it to get a reflective look. It looks really good on a model, but I'm not gonna paint my needles until I get some new guages. I think that would solve the poor illumination problem.

 

I've got an extra guage cluster around. I'm gonna take out the needles and see if there's something I can do to change the colors. I'll give you an update when I'm finished. I've got 4 needles to work with, so I'm gonna try out the best suggestions, and one of my own.

 

Egz, keep us posted.

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Topher352:
Egz, keep us posted.<hr></blockquote>

Mean ShockZTS? I'm waiting on results too!

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by focus_on_speed:
What color are the SVT needles? Red or Orange. I might go with the street edition red needles if I can get a hold of them. My dad is a Ford dealer so that shouldn't be too hard. If anyone wants me to get new needles for them let me know, I will hook you up.<hr></blockquote>

Egz.. Umm.. actually I guess I meant 'focus_on_speed'... I saw your post where you quoted him and apparently had a "brain fart."

I was refering to him being able to get the svt needles.

 

As I was installing the guages I took out the 3 bulbs that illuminate the stock gauges. Those are the lights that light up the needles so during the day I don't mind the orange, but at night you can't even tell the color. So I think I am gonna stick with that. I might try and get the SVT/Street needles but that isn't a high priority now.

 

ummm correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe those three bulbs also illuminte the numbers on your gauge display. if you take the bulbs out, you will not have any gauges at night...

 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Rob G:
ummm correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe those three bulbs also illuminte the numbers on your gauge display. if you take the bulbs out, you will not have any gauges at night...<hr></blockquote>


They do illuminate the gauge display, but the indiglo face doesn't use the bulbs, and like I said I just got them.

 

Anyone have any progress with this?

 

This place has 8 different combinations of colors.
http://www.wooddashexperts.com/customer/product.php?productid=61452&cat=5030&page=1

 

please fix pics dont work