Im trying to change the color of the cluster but when i pulled the bulbs they are white.
i searched for an answer and seen someone changed them to white but he did not explain how he did... ne1 know nething on this?
They have a red film on them so you will have to scrape them off at your own risk. That is what i am going to try and do this summer. But many argue that you should just buy a gague from Black Cat Custom.
The gauge cluster overlay is actually more than one layer the color that you see at night is the first layer kindof like a screen print, scraping it off will have bad results, I did remove mine and have a custome overlay designed and made. if you go this route be extremely careful while removing the needles, the mechanisims they are attatched to are very delicate. I will post you a pic up here of my cluster. I started by removing the cluster assembly from the car also being cautious when unplugging the wires I've read on here of people cracking the circuit board.Once I got it out I removed the needles, once agian being very careful. After you get the needles off you can start at one end and slowly peel off the factory overlay, revealing a clear plastic piece to which the needle assemblies are attached to. I first layed a sheet of translucent white overlay onto the plastic, working it so you don't get any bubbles. after that my brother sat at his computer and actually took a particular font and tweeked it to my liking the numbers were custom designed by him. We used a piece of gunmetal Vinyl to cut out the gauge cluster on. we took the factory cluster and scanned it to proportion so we would have an exact duplicate for the plotter. then end result turned out great. below is the result if you like I may be able to have one made up for you but I would need your factory overlay since Sunflowers are different than Cavaliers I will check and see what the cost would be to make them, keep in mind the vinyl colors and fonts are endless.
Is the red film on the inside of the cluster? I took apart the cluster to install glo-gauges(ebay ones suck no fit @ all) decided id change the bulbs but when i had it apart it didnt look like there was a film, so thats why i think its inside the cluster.....
there is no "film" to scrape off. what color do you want to change it too? i put blue leds in mine and it lights up blue not purple. i think you can get good result with green leds i think. if you want i can take pictures of mine to show you what it looks like.
The sheet the the numbers are printed on is dyed the overlayed with black and white for the letters and numbers (screenprinted) . Scraping is not an option. I am speaking from a cavalier standpoint but I'm sure the process is the same for any GM but don't hold me to that. Changing the bulbs would work too I have seen alot on here that have done that. Let BC Fire 70 post up a few pics of his before you break out the razorblade
the thing is the cavalier lights up white in the first place, so you simply swap the bulbs- the sunfire lights orange, the stock bulbs are white. There is something in the cluster in a sunfire (95-99) that makes it orange. Id like it to light up blue, but im gonna hafto get rid of the orange first. Btw this is a cavalier with a sunfire dash/door swap. And yes BC Fire pleeeeez post pics this is driving me nuts. Thanks
As I Stated previously..... Once you remove the clear bezel exposing the cluster, and after removing the needles, you can peel off the factory overlay it is stuck to a clear plastic piece. if you hold up the cavalier cluster overlay you will see that it has a blue tint on the backside behind the numbers, I'm sure if you do the same to yours you will see an orange tint instead. True the front appears white but at night it has a somewhat bluish tint, these factory overlays are done in steps like silk screening or screen printing the black is on the front with the numbers and letters already cut out, then translucent white is applied to give the numbers and letters their white appearance then in yor case orange is screened onto the whole backside making the white appear orange at night then glue to hold it to the clear plastice assembly. I can take a pic of my old factory overlay to give you an idea of what your looking at if you want?
yes please post pics, bc fire and dmoose
This is what it looks like now . I will take a pic of the fasctory cluster when i get home from work, I'll hold it up to the light and show you what i'm talking about with the blue tint on the back where the numbers and writing are. At night mine kind of have an indiglo look to them but this was the first trial for this mod, I know now to cut out a black piece first and the sandwich the translucent sheet between the black and the gun metal. I will be making a new one this weekend hopefully out of some carbonfiber vinyl I have. This vinyl I have is metalized and it looks no different from the real thing! I've used it to accent smaller pieces already it look great.
Hey BC Fire, not to thread jack but do you have a coupe or sedan???? because I am looking to get a pod pillar like that...
I think the red looks nice every thing matches so I dont worry about it...
