Finished the first (low quality print) prototype on my spare (european) cluster. Since my car is imported from the US I'm not sure this cluster will work in my car. I will know soon!

This prototype doesn't have backlighting yet. I'm gonna print the final version on fotopaper and gonna have it laminated. I think this will let thru enough light.. I hope..

The biggest problem now is how to get the holes for the counter and daycounter right. This keeps getting wrong. Has anyone done this before and has some tips how to do this right (so that it get a professional look) ??



Marco.

 

Not bad; but why does the volt meter already read 8.5 volts? Are you planning on selling these? I would guess the shipping would be almost as much as the parts. I might try and make some myself.

 

The voltmeter is a bit bad. Don't know what to do about it yet. Like I said it's a spare cluster to experiment whit. If it doesn't work I just put the new face in my original cluster..

I'm not planning on selling, at least, not in the US. Maybe if people are interested I will make some for the local RX-7 club.

Marco

 

hey tehre i'm from manitoba... i don't wanna pay no border charges to the company's that sell the face gauges in the state's so.... if ur sellin u wanna let me know a price thanks man

 

What do you print these on? Just plain paper?
And does the backlighting not work because of them?

 

Yes, I did them on plain, but coated, paper. The backlight doesn't work because these are just on top of the original plastic plates to support them. Plain paper is just to flexible to put them in without the original faces. That why I'm gonna get them laminated.

Marco.

 

You're in for a suprise when you get them backlighted!

If you take the stock guage faces off, you'll notice different levels of "blocking" on the back.. different darknesses of translucency. This is because mazda engineers SUCK at making guage clusters, apparantly. The light behind it is VERY uneven. Like, there are bright places... and around the actual guage motor, it's dark.

Right now, i have one of nes98's prototypes on my 88.. it has translucent blue numbers. About half the numbers are visible at night..the other half, you can not even see! Unless you somehow compensate for this, IMO, it won't look good backlit.

I recommend just frontlighting... Not as cool, but i think it would end up looking better..

-Tesla

 

im intorested



thanks
billy

 

I hooked up 12volts last night and noticed what you are saying. I want to make overheadsheets with black circels on them to block of some parts of the gauges. Maybe I get some other color at the back of the numbers (blue or purple) and gonna see what that looks like. I'm gonna make the shift and high beam lights the same way. I that still doesn't look good I'll just go for frontlighting.

Marco.

 

hot dam, those looks nice!!

 

I've done exactly this on my car, i dont have any pics at the moment tho. You will need a backing sheet to stop the orange numbers underneath coming through, backlighting on the guages isnt that important because they are front lit too and that provides enough light for them. The holes in the middle are difficult, on the square ones you can try cutting the sticker and folding it into the holes, this is what i dont and its fiddly but looks nice. The round holes however u gotta b careful with because it can alter the reading on the guage. I coverted my boost guage to PSI so its easier to read.