- Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:41 am
#182424
Here is how to paint your gauge needles and get your cluster to glow orangy red.
1. Gather your materials. Neon Orange Krylon paint, painters tape, paper, flat head screwdriver.
(The Krylon paint was in a munchkin spray bottle)
2. Remove dash. There are two screws on the top by the gauge cluster. The third one is underneath the hazard button. Disconnect the hazard and clock (if you have one).
I pulled from left to right but it probably doesn't matter, JUST DON'T PULL TOO HARD OR YOU WILL BREAK IT!!.
3. Remove the gauge cluster. There are four screws holding it in, two on either side. Unplug the 3 connecters, SRS and the side ones. If you have cruise control, there will be another plug to unplug.
(This is what a civic also looks like when you recover it from a theft )
4. Open the gauge cluster. Pull the rubber stopper to the trip resetter, be gentle.
There are 6 clips to undo, 3 on top and 3 on bottom. Start from one side and work your way across to open the cluster.
5. Mask off. Tape up the black part around the needle. Make sure you keep extra around it so it will catch any over spray.
Place a piece of paper with a whole on it over the rest of the gauge so as to protect the gauge and parts around it.
(You could probably skip this step if you feel like removing the gauge from the housing and removing the needle. I didn't do that because I don't trust myself to not break the needle)
6. Prep. Use a cleaner of some kind and prep the surface, no need for sanding.
6.5. Spray the needle with the paint. I did one coat and let it dry and then went over any of the sides that still had some white showing through. Try not to spray too heavy.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the rest of the needles.
(unpainted on left, painted on right)
8. Put housing back together and admire.
While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I pulled the bulbs that illuminate the cluster (they are the brown bottomed ones). I took off the blue plastic and painted them with some testors model paint.
Once you have it all back together, it should look like this when the lights are on.
Doesn't it look awesome?!?
1. Gather your materials. Neon Orange Krylon paint, painters tape, paper, flat head screwdriver.
(The Krylon paint was in a munchkin spray bottle)
2. Remove dash. There are two screws on the top by the gauge cluster. The third one is underneath the hazard button. Disconnect the hazard and clock (if you have one).
I pulled from left to right but it probably doesn't matter, JUST DON'T PULL TOO HARD OR YOU WILL BREAK IT!!.
3. Remove the gauge cluster. There are four screws holding it in, two on either side. Unplug the 3 connecters, SRS and the side ones. If you have cruise control, there will be another plug to unplug.
(This is what a civic also looks like when you recover it from a theft )
4. Open the gauge cluster. Pull the rubber stopper to the trip resetter, be gentle.
There are 6 clips to undo, 3 on top and 3 on bottom. Start from one side and work your way across to open the cluster.
5. Mask off. Tape up the black part around the needle. Make sure you keep extra around it so it will catch any over spray.
Place a piece of paper with a whole on it over the rest of the gauge so as to protect the gauge and parts around it.
(You could probably skip this step if you feel like removing the gauge from the housing and removing the needle. I didn't do that because I don't trust myself to not break the needle)
6. Prep. Use a cleaner of some kind and prep the surface, no need for sanding.
6.5. Spray the needle with the paint. I did one coat and let it dry and then went over any of the sides that still had some white showing through. Try not to spray too heavy.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the rest of the needles.
(unpainted on left, painted on right)
8. Put housing back together and admire.
While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I pulled the bulbs that illuminate the cluster (they are the brown bottomed ones). I took off the blue plastic and painted them with some testors model paint.
Once you have it all back together, it should look like this when the lights are on.
Doesn't it look awesome?!?
Last edited by Trang on Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
. I'll be filling up soon so that will check the fuel gauge.
