esmith972

Just finished up the water/fuel set for the stock 84-85 gauges.

Before I start cutting the original gauges, is there any way to remove the needles without breaking them on the speedo and tach? I searched around a good bit and checked out the FSM but didn't find anything.

Going to print them on thick photo paper and put it where the old gauges were. I'll be using the white on black style just like the original. The other image is just to compare the accuracy of mine as compared to the stock gauges.

The little dots are the alignment holes. Scanned at 300dpi.

Take a look see.

tigermack

iTrader: (5)

My friend told me that the gauges are just screwed on there, I can be wrong so don't quote me on that.

esmith972

Here's the oil and volts.

Nevermind, I got the needles off. Move the needles gently back and forth and look on the backside for the moving cylinder. Hold that with your thumb as you move the needle back and forth and pull up at the same time.

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

A plastic fork under the needle base will pry them up just fine without the wiggling.

Looks cool. Id like to see the finished product.

~T.J.

esmith972

Two options for the speedo.

1) 0, 20, 40, 60, etc. - one size
2) 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, etc. - alternating sizes

I'm leaning more to #2 since it's closer to the C2 speedo.

mxd

iTrader: (1)

hello,
Are you removing the old guages entirely and replacing with the thick photo paper? or are you removing the paint on the old guage faces and glue'ing the new faces on?

I did something like that on an 82', and had problems with the lighting, mostly fixed now.

Things I learnt hardway:
Photopaper needs to be satin or flat or sunlight from the 6'clock can white em out.
Backlit guages are painted up because the light coming through is uneven, they use light catching material to make the display glow from behind.
Around were the mile displays and other dials showing through, they are ambient lit, so when changed to white guages the light will show through around the dials far brighter than around the edges of the same display guage.
If you sand down the original guage face to remove the paints, becareful not to groove it, that will = darklines.
If you glue the new face onto the original 'sanded' down guage, use very thin photopaper, or the needles might catch when the paper swells from humidity.
Photo paper should not have inking on the back, if you go backlit whiteface you might Kodak showing through
If you glue, use the glue that is used to adhere fabric onto materials, it works well, doesnt stink once its cured, and can be found in aerosol bottle which makes an even coat really easy.
If you paint your needles, i suggest fingernail polish, if you want it perfect get the non gloss so you can sand down imperfections, and then gloss or satin or whatever.

btw, expect to trouble shoot it a lot, so dont screw it all in right away!

gl2ya, I can attach an image of what I did if the OP asks, but I dont want to distract the muse

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

MXD - show some pics.

esmith972

mxd, I plan on just using glossy and running it through the print cycle a few times to make it dark enough. Oh yeah, go ahead and post those pictures, I'd like to see if it's worth it.

mxd

iTrader: (1)

Here it is on initial completion. Bugs are the text around the needles, corrected in the 2nd version, so are the some of the other little things.

esmith972

Last, but certainly not least, the tach!

Bud Scott

Neat! Nice job!

esmith972

Bud Scott, thanks.

mxd, awesome man. The gas gauge is the best part. How did the gauges look lit up? Could you see the fiber strands?

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Very nice work, both of you.

I've often thought about changing the "Unleaded Fuel Only" sticker to something along the lines of "Rocket Fuel Only" or similar playful brag.

With gas costs today, maybe "Liquid Money Only" would be better?

esmith972

Just fixed the tach. Didn't realize I didn't have redline on there.

If a mod wants to, replace the original tach images with these and combine all of the pictures into the first post.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

Would there be any benefit in making these out vinyl? Vinyl would be self sticking and somewhat translucent.

mxd

iTrader: (1)

thanks,

will post a pic, but need some time, and a lense that diffuses well.
removed backlighting, and removed the yellow tint lense from the front lighting. Need to find a heat resistant white lense for the front lighting to improve the saturation. White guages do not match the rest of the orange lighting so it looks out of place, working on that too.

esmith972

Alright, tomorrow is d-day. I'll post pictures once I'm done installing it. My dad was able to print them on his laser printer for test fitting. Found out I made two mistakes. The speedo didn't have the alignment posts and the water/fuel was set to 72dpi (not sure why either, I remember re-saving everything to 300dpi. Good ol' Photochop)

I've also got red LEDs coming from superbrightleds.com. We will see how those turn out though.

esmith972

I actually contacted the guy that makes the carbon fiber "RX-7 Club" stickers to see if he could do that. The local vinyl shops around here are a little pricey.

AsianImage

cant wait to see how it looks when done! Good job!

Hyper4mance2k

iTrader: (40)

You Should make the tach extend past 8k to 9k for ***** and giggles, kinda like the FC FEED gauges. Somoeone used to make faces like that a long time ago, but I have no idea where they went to.

esmith972

Hyper4mance2k, just noticed your name. Creative. :P

I took your advice. They look even more epic now. Below is the "finished" set.

Everyone is more than welcome to use them, modify, whatever. My only requirement is that you post a picture of your complete set. If you want the PSD, PM me. The only problem is I can't send the font considering I spent $34 on it. It's "Serpentine Bold Oblique." And FYI, that is the exact font they used on the C2 gauges. Cool huh?

-xlr8planet-

iTrader: (3)

me?

I can do it if theres enough interest.

Scanned at 300dpi is perfect

those who colaborate will get a discount

esmith972

If anyone can get us a SA, FC and FD scan of the gauge faces without needs, I can design them so you can get some custom gauges.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

This is really cool. How did you get these scaned? Did you disassemble the gauges and lay it on a flatbed scaner?

I have an '83 with the 130 mph speedo. I want to do mine like the Auto meter ES guages.

How did you find out what text they use?

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

One other question I had. Can the speedo be taken apart without loosing the calabration?

Sorry to jack your thread.