esmith972

RX-7 Chris: yeah, just take the face off and scan.

To be honest, I don't know about the '83.

All you have to do for the '85 is wiggle the needle off and take off the two screws holding the face in. Best part is, there isn't any reason to completely remove the speedometer from the case. I don't see why you would lose calibration. Just mark where the needles resting spot was.

I've loaded the PDF and JPG files onto my foxed.ca account for everyone to use.

http://foxed.ca/eric/gauges

As for the font, I just use "WhatTheFont." Most of the time it can find the exact font, but it only found one similar to the ES series. Looks to be "ITC Blair Bold."

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

Could you make those for an S2?? I would totally be for that, but with the 130 mph speed. Or 140, whatever it is. Also, I am for the 9000 limit, 9500 if you could

esmith972

Jeezus: I'd be more than happy to but I need scans of the gauges.

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

I could scan them for you. What do you need? I can give you everything but the higher MPH gauge, I only have the 85mph cluster right now.

esmith972

Oh sweet. Yeah, I'm up for it.

What you need to do is take the gauge faces off from the cluster and scan those in 300DPI mode. Save them as a super-high quality JPG. Don't attach them here because it will probably be too big. Upload a zip file with every set of gauge faces and PM me a link to the zip.

esmith972

Alright, d-day has come and gone with no results. The printer my dad used doesn't like vinyl or Avery stock.

Moral of the story: only use regular paper in a laser printer. It *will* rub off.

Time for plan B.

esmith972

You know, I honestly don't think I could be any happier right now. They are low quality (you can see the inkjet overlap), and my exacto knife sucks so around the odometer cut-out, it's got paper jaggies, but for a first try, they look incredible.

Since it doesn't take light distribution into affect, it has "hot spots," of course, but it looks a hell of a lot better than the stock gauges.

I may be biased since I made it, so the picture can speak for it's self.

tigermack

iTrader: (5)

That looks good man. Good job.

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

Wow! Sometimes I wish I could fit an S3 cluster in my S2. I love those dash clusters!

Looks damn good too! Should get it uploaded tomorrow. I have to find out how to get it scanned at 300DPI first.

esmith972

Thanks guys.

Jeezus, just scan it with the defaults and I should be able to work with that. It doesn't have to be exactly 300dpi, it's just that if the DPI is higher, it prints more crisp. The beauty of using vectors in Photoshop is that they stay crisp no matter the DPI. The reason for the higher DPI is so I can perfectly align the marks. Just make one scan and I'll see if that works.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

Thanks for the great info. Your guages look great.

Hyper4mance2k

iTrader: (40)

DAmn those look good now all you have to do is extend the speedo to 160mph amybe 180 and print them in vynal or what ever and my check will be in the mail.

Viking War Hammer

iTrader: (8)

I like the black ones.

Hyper4mance2k

iTrader: (40)

lol I just realized on the drive home that the trip meter reset stops the speedo at 140 Mph. lame maybe I can cut it off. I've never pulled mine out but I've heard you can scrape the origional paint off of the guages and cut vinal into the pattern you want the faces then apply the vinal and it will shine through just like the stock gauges. Are the stock gauges just back lit, front lit, or both??? I think that should work if they are backlit.

esmith972

You can either take the whole tripometer assembly off or you can remove the reset button (without cutting it) and just cover the squares with the new faces.

They are back lit on the 84-85. Not sure about the '83 and below. Scraping the old paint off is an option, but that is a last resort thing since you can't put it back to OE. I'm a stickler about that kind of stuff.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

As far as I know the '83 and below are front lit.

john smack

iTrader: (12)

looks real nice!
How does it look at night?
can you make one in KM/h?

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

I would think it would be rear lit, because the far corners of my speedo dont light up. Pictures in a second.

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

Oh and I will be getting those gauge faces off today for you, for the 83 cluster.

Viking War Hammer

iTrader: (8)

So, you're doing the 83 and below also? I'd be interested in some black ones.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

As far as I remember from the last I pulled it all apart. There are 2 lights that are mounted in front of the whole instrument cluster along the top. There may also be a back lighting I can't remember.

mxd

iTrader: (1)

81-83 their are 2 front lights from above, they have a yellow lense on them, and put out a yellowish orange glow for the faces.
They are also backlit by 4 lights , they can be removed and the cluster still works.

I also like the black face guages by esmith, I just like the 84-85 cluster more though.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

That makes sence, thanks for the info.

esmith972

Yeah I'll be more than happy to make the gauges but for me to be able to design them, I have to have scans of the gauge faces so I can align the marks to make a perfect match.

John, the scan thing applies to your situation as well. Eh, it's mediocre at night since I didn't scrape the old paint off. I just replaced the gauge faces with the photo paper, so it doesn't have anything to get rid of the hot spots. It's still really nice though and it should look better now that I have the red LEDs in place.