indiglo gauges and idiot lights

[ChingoChee]

Im in the process of installing my indiglo gauges, but I hate how they cover the bottom strip with the idiot lights. Can I cut away the strip? If so, do I have to avoid or look out for anything? Any help would be great, like I said im in middle of putting these things in my car right now. Thanks.

 

[dw012]

I cut out the strip at the bottom so that the idiot lights looked stock. I also cut out the top where the blinker lights are. Haven't had any problems with them yet. Remember to put a good amount of double sided tape on the guages before installing them so that the needles won't get stuck.

 

[ChingoChee]

Theres a bunch of outlines and such, on the back of the new gauges. Should I cut around these or simply cut the entire strip? Im nervous that I will cut something and they wont light up.

 

[ChingoChee]

I think the pre-99 gauges are different than the 99+. I know it can be done on the 99+ but I am unsure about my year. Here is a pic of a similar set.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...RK:MEBWN:IT

I need to figure out something tonight because right now my car is without a dash cluster. Thanks

 

[dw012]

I cut straight across the bottom where the idiot lights are and mine still work OK. Just be careful when cutting. I didn't have to cut off any outline on the bottom of the speedo and tach. I used an exacto knife with a new razor. I did cut off some of that outline in the process where the blinker arrows are though. If you think there might be a problem just keep the white arrows instead.

 

[dw012]

By the way, I have a 2003 GT but the guages I have were supposed to work on 99 to 03 GT's. The only difference I could see is that they had a temp idiot light instead of the gas cap light. That was one reason why I chose to cut the bottom off.

 

[mity2]

here is mine. i cut bottom and top where turn sig and high beam indicater is
whity

 

[ChingoChee]

the difference between your gauges and my gauges is with mine ('96-'98 model), the bottom strip glows at night just like the rest of the faces do. Im afraid to cut the bottom strip because even though obviously I wont be getting light from the bottom anymore, I dont wan't to do anything that would cause a problem with the main gauges above.

What I might do is carefully cut around the electrical lines on the back of my gauges, turn em face up and use a Sharpie to draw over the white, so it blends in. Does anyone know if the Sharpie will block out the indiglo light from the remaining lines?

 

[nyuk98gt]

ChingoChee:

I am not sure if yours are like mine (SpeedHut) but mine use two layers, the bottom one is the illuminated part and the top is the printed gauge overlay. Like "dw012", I used an exacto knife and new blade to remove the sections that covered the idiot lights and turn signal indicators. No harm done by cutting it. The electrical 'paths' that I can see in my overlay [when it is uncovered] look like they are just around the holes where the needles poke through with nothing at the bottom where the idiot lights are located.

You can use a Sharpie as "Phase 1" -- I don't have any experience with light blockage like you want -- and if you don't like it, you can cut the overlay ("Phase 2").

Hope this helps.

 

[ChingoChee]

Thanks for the help. In my case, I have electrical paths extending down towards my idiot lights. I was going to carefully cut around these paths, and since they probably illuminate at night (and are white when face up), i was going to use a sharpie so it just looks black. Hopefully it wouldnt look tacky, if i go through with it.

Let me ask you a hypothetical question. My gauges seem to be 2 layers, but they are laminated. Do you think any harm would be done to YOUR set if you were to take a hole puncher and punch it through a random spot of your indiglo? (avoiding electrical paths) If that would cause you no harm, I would go ahead and cut away on my set.

 

[nyuk98gt]

ChingoChee:

The fact that your overlays are laminated makes installation a little easier, imho. It was a bit of a nuisance to get the iniglo portion in place and then put the information overlay on top and try to maintain alignment. As for the hole punch, I have pretty much taken a massive hole punch to mine when I cut off the sections covering the idiot lights and turn signal indicator areas. No harm done. I am not the first person to do this; I read several posts from others who did not like the white face covering the warning light/turn signal areas and they just cut to suit.

In my case, I had three connecting wire leads, one for the left side, one for the right side, and a third for the center gauges. The idiot light & turn signal areas were part of the center section and I just cut them out. FWIW, I noted that there were no major electrical "tracks" before I cut, of course. I do not know whether these tracks are electrical conductors or just reinforcement sections or a combination of the two.

If there are electrical no tracks around the idiot light area and you do not want the white face over the original dash in that area, I cannot see any harm in just cutting out the offending portion. If the electrical wiring runs up through the idiot light section of the indiglo panel, then do not perform surgery!!

Chris

 

[ChingoChee]

Just to clarify, your idiot light section lit up at night right? Because mine does and if so, we have a similar set. Since my electrical wiring interferes with the idiot light section, I was going to carefully cut around this wiring, and color the front side black and hope the black would cover any light it might omit at night.

I took 2 pictures of the backside of my set, but i dont have a way to upload them. Do you mind if I send em to your email? Should make things easier and very helpful to me.

 

[nyuk98gt]

ChingoChee:

Sure, send the pics to me.

On the original overlay, the idiot light area was 'white face' but the idiot lights would shine through (like when starting the car). Otherwise, there was just an indiglo bar across the idiot light area -- very unappealing, imho. So, I cut it out. Same for the turn signal/hi-beam area.

If you paint over the indiglo area (with a Sharpie or with black paint), you won't be able to see any of the warning lights when they come on. You should be able to get a transparent paint (light bulb paint??) at a hobby store to darken up the indiglo overlay. This would allow you to see any warning lights that come on and it would not be too 'offensive' when lit.

Chris

 

[ChingoChee]

I had some computer problems the past couple days, but I managed to get some pics, hopefully they'll load up...
http://www16.brinkster.com/chingocheee/Gauges.htm

Notice how I have the gray or tan color electrical lines running through my indiglo strip. Do you think I would be safe to cut the black? That would at least solve the problem for the turn signal area on top.