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Any suggestions
I just replaced the face for my gauges and while I am very happy with the new face, I am still not where I want to be. I have enclosed a pic of the new setup. I would like to paint the white part of the needles black, that should be pretty straight forward. I would also like to paint the white part right underneath the lens black. This might be a bit tricky, I just glanced at it as I was taking it apart but it seemed like the white part and the lens where sorta "heat welded" for lack of the proper term, together. This might make trying to mask off the lens to do the painting difficult and I sure dont want to get any overspray on it. I would be open to suggestion for anyone thats done it or has some input. Just to be clear I am talking about the white shroud between the lens and the gauge face plate. I think black needles and the white shroud would look very nice.
Charlie
Charlie
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I see what you're talking about - with that portion of the shrouds still white, it kind of looks a little "unfinished" - like "why would that part be white?" Since the lenses are already fixed in place and to try and remove them could result in damage, if you wanted to repaint the whole shroud black you're going to have to mask somehow. The masking option seems like it would be simple enough, so that leave's you with the overspray problem onto the back side of the lens. Here's a thought to preclude that...
Try putting a very small amount of vaseline around the edges of the lens before you mask. Paint won't stick to it and it cleans up with windex (neither vaseline or windex will harm your plastic lenses). I used this technique some years ago when painting my rotor hubs flat black on a previous car. The hubs were prone to rusting and it made the wheels look bad. Problem was I didn't want to get overspray on my rotors - so I masked as much of the rotors as I could after removing the rust on the hubs, then filled in the unmasked areas with a little vaseline. After everything dried, I used windex to clean the small amount of vaseline off the rotors - which BTW did prevent the overspray from sticking - worked great. Nice lean lines around the painted hubs and the windex took the vaseline completely off the rotors. All you need is barely enough to cover the area you're concerned about overspray that you can't fully mask.
Try putting a very small amount of vaseline around the edges of the lens before you mask. Paint won't stick to it and it cleans up with windex (neither vaseline or windex will harm your plastic lenses). I used this technique some years ago when painting my rotor hubs flat black on a previous car. The hubs were prone to rusting and it made the wheels look bad. Problem was I didn't want to get overspray on my rotors - so I masked as much of the rotors as I could after removing the rust on the hubs, then filled in the unmasked areas with a little vaseline. After everything dried, I used windex to clean the small amount of vaseline off the rotors - which BTW did prevent the overspray from sticking - worked great. Nice lean lines around the painted hubs and the windex took the vaseline completely off the rotors. All you need is barely enough to cover the area you're concerned about overspray that you can't fully mask.
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aren't all of these parts designed to reflect light off the backlit gauges? if you start painting these parts with regular paint, won't they lose their reflective properties. then you won't be able to see anything at night?
you will have a gauge, but won't be able to see the needle.
you will have a gauge, but won't be able to see the needle.
Thanks
Thanks for the compliments and the suggestion. US Speedo does the face, its a custom order though they do have some that are not custom. It took couple months to get them. I purchased from one of the vendors off this forum. Sorry Jason dont remember the company name. The install is pretty simple instructions and a tool to remove the needle are included. Painting the white portion of the needle and the white shroud area wont have anything to do with the light transfer. The speedo face sits on a a thin pad looking thing that back lights it through the overlay. Someone else had suggested vasalene, I was a bit concerned it might damage the plastic lens, Ill have to give that a go.
Thanks for the compliments and the suggestion. US Speedo does the face, its a custom order though they do have some that are not custom. It took couple months to get them. I purchased from one of the vendors off this forum. Sorry Jason dont remember the company name. The install is pretty simple instructions and a tool to remove the needle are included. Painting the white portion of the needle and the white shroud area wont have anything to do with the light transfer. The speedo face sits on a a thin pad looking thing that back lights it through the overlay. Someone else had suggested vasalene, I was a bit concerned it might damage the plastic lens, Ill have to give that a go.
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Would it be possible to cut a black "stick on" piece that could be applied to the unpainted area? Contact paper or striping material of some sort?
You could do it on paper first to get the shape down, then use that as a template for the sticky stuff.
You could do it on paper first to get the shape down, then use that as a template for the sticky stuff.
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