mix177

just wondering if anyone has replace there stock guages to the white face. If so do you guys know how intense is the labor or is it better for me to have a professional do it.

cjernigan

iTrader: (13)

It's easy. All it takes is time. My car came with the white faces, i removed them to revert back to the OEM faces. I like them more.

brgracer

iTrader: (14)

Like Chad said, it's not a hard job, BUT the most important part is putting the needles back in correct position for fuel/oil pressure/water temp.

What some people do is fill the tank so you know the fuel gauge is at F, and then for the other two, don't attach the plastic cover and hook the panel up and let the car come up to operating temp for a good 10 minutes (important to let it warm up for a bit b/c even though the coolant can come up to temp, it takes a bit longer for the oil) and then your water temp and oil pressure should line up where they usually do for your car when at operating temp.

mix177

wow.. Ian so amazed how fast peeps reply back this forum. But thanks for the advise it does give me encoregement to do it myself let's keep our fingers cross... LOL

miataspeed1point6

iTrader: (1)

Out of curiosity how hard is pulling off the needles? I've heard they break really easily.

mix177

hosetly that was the same question that I have being that the car is atleat 15years old

rleete

iTrader: (21)

Use a fork with wide spaced tines, or take an old one and grind it out. Use slow, even pressure, and they pop right off. If you put any pressure on the needle instead of the boss where it attaches, it can break off.

GTS Miata

iTrader: (1)

I pulled mine by hand with no problems when I changed the back lighting to red from green.

Stripes

iTrader: (8)

It's not a hard job, just time consuming. All you have to do is pull the steering wheel, steering wheel collar cover and gauge cluster hood to access the instrument cluster. Once there, it's very obvious what you need to unscrew and disconnect to removed the gauges. Just be careful and take your time.

I used the finger method to remove my needles. I felt I had more control this way rather than using a tool. When painting your needles, make sure to use a paint that glows in the dark. My red needles are very difficult to see at night.

To be honest, I wish I never removed my original gauge faces. I recently purchased a used instrument cluster to return my gauges faces back to stock.

chriscar

iTrader: (24)

No need to remove the steering wheel, there's plenty of room to pull the cluster out with the wheel still on the car.

C

Trent

iTrader: (11)

i could never seem to get the gauge hood off without first removing the steering wheel and the upper half of the steering column shell. :shrug: I broke my first hood before figuring that out.

chriscar

iTrader: (24)

Once the covers were off the column, I was able to remove the cluster surround, and then the cluster without a problem.

C

cjernigan

iTrader: (13)

Same here. I pull the steering column covers and the hood comes right off.

mix177

thanks guys that realy gave me some ideas. Thanks for the heads up.