# Gauge face swap



## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

I have stock gauges in my car, and I'm about to purchase an aftermarket gauge face. There is no tach currently. Would a face with a tach,such as this one fit in my dash and how would I get the tach to work? How would I even take the stock guages out... so many newbie questions Im sorry.  

O yea also, do the gauges from import intelligence come with bulbs? And this face should fit my car no matter what right?


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## sentratuner (Aug 6, 2005)

actually don't quote me on this because I'v never done it before. But I talked to a guy who said changing your gauges is actually a hard project. He was some red neck in a civic though so take that for what it's worth lol it was in kentucky so lol


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

sentratuner said:


> actually don't quote me on this because I'v never done it before. But I talked to a guy who said changing your gauges is actually a hard project. He was some red neck in a civic though so take that for what it's worth lol it was in kentucky so lol


It seems like it would be a difficult task, I mean it looks as if you would have take the whole dash off.


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## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

so you do not have a tach in your car correct? Then you would need to get one tha does not have a tach or you can buy an instrument cluster that has a tach.

And those faces just lay overtop of the old faces. the problem with removing the old ones is that you have to take your needles out which is the hard part. yanking on them can break them and then they won't work anymore.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

xbrandonx said:


> so you do not have a tach in your car correct? Then you would need to get one tha does not have a tach or you can buy an instrument cluster that has a tach.
> 
> And those faces just lay overtop of the old faces. the problem with removing the old ones is that you have to take your needles out which is the hard part. yanking on them can break them and then they won't work anymore.


So the faces sold at Import Intelligence dont come with needles? And if a seperate tach unit would work in my car then why wouldnt it work on the main guages? Ive seen pictures of it done with feedback that it worked.


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## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

stevensol said:


> So the faces sold at Import Intelligence dont come with needles? And if a seperate tach unit would work in my car then why wouldnt it work on the main guages? Ive seen pictures of it done with feedback that it worked.


I'm pretty sure they don't come with needles. Also the one with a tach wouldn't work because it is just the faceplate. Where would you put the faceplate for the tach? overtop of what? If you don't have a tach on your cluster, you cannot just put the faceplate there to make a tach.

Now, you could find a cluster with a tach and swap it into your car and THEN get the faces.

I'm not sure what car you have however I'm sure whatever it is its been done before and someone can help you. hell if you have a b14 I can sell you a cluster with white faces already in it with a tach.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

xbrandonx said:


> I'm pretty sure they don't come with needles. Also the one with a tach wouldn't work because it is just the faceplate. Where would you put the faceplate for the tach? overtop of what? If you don't have a tach on your cluster, you cannot just put the faceplate there to make a tach.
> 
> Now, you could find a cluster with a tach and swap it into your car and THEN get the faces.
> 
> I'm not sure what car you have however I'm sure whatever it is its been done before and someone can help you. hell if you have a b14 I can sell you a cluster with white faces already in it with a tach.


I have a b13 Sentra, but thanks. And thanks for the help and info. I guess Ill jus get the face without a tach.


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## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

if you're really wanting a tach search around for the info how how to do the swap.

Or you could always install an aftermarket tach if you really want one.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

xbrandonx said:


> if you're really wanting a tach search around for the info how how to do the swap.
> 
> Or you could always install an aftermarket tach if you really want one.


Replacing the cluster is not something Im wanting to do right now, possibly down the road. A tach is actually unneccesary for me right now.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I had import intelligence faces (metallic silver) in my last car, I think I sold the cluster to mike young.

Get the one that fits your car, unless you plan to do the swap to a tach (more info here: http://tech.ninety-9.com )

They are basically vinyl overlays (stickers), they are cut to shape and you stick them onto your existing faces. This way the lighting doesn't get screwed up. No, they don't include needles, however, you can buy their intelliglo needle kit which makes the needles look cool.

Few things you should know:
it comes with really great instructions. You can replace "vinyl fluid" with soapy water, and instead of using a squeegee, the edge of a credit card will do.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> I had import intelligence faces (metallic silver) in my last car, I think I sold the cluster to mike young.
> 
> Get the one that fits your car, unless you plan to do the swap to a tach (more info here: http://tech.ninety-9.com )
> 
> ...


well damn...  If they are just vinyl overlays why do they charge 25 minimum for them? So you dont remove your stock face, you just put a vinyl sticker over it? And on that intelliglow kit, dont you have to take the needles out, and doesn't that fuck up your gauges?


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## xbrandonx (Mar 27, 2004)

stevensol said:


> And on that intelliglow kit, dont you have to take the needles out, and doesn't that fuck up your gauges?


If your not carful and know what your doing yes it will.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

stevensol said:


> well damn...  If they are just vinyl overlays why do they charge 25 minimum for them? So you dont remove your stock face, you just put a vinyl sticker over it? And on that intelliglow kit, dont you have to take the needles out, and doesn't that fuck up your gauges?


no, you still have to take the faces off so you can work on them. This involves removing the needles, but they do have a good writeup on it.

If you think $25 is expensive for some vinyl faces, try getting a Vinyl sticker custom made.

The intelliglo needles are nice, but I will tell you now, you don't want to mess with them, they are SCARY to work with. 32AWG wires, the wires are as thin as sewing thread.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> no, you still have to take the faces off so you can work on them. This involves removing the needles, but they do have a good writeup on it.
> 
> If you think $25 is expensive for some vinyl faces, try getting a Vinyl sticker custom made.
> 
> The intelliglo needles are nice, but I will tell you now, you don't want to mess with them, they are SCARY to work with. 32AWG wires, the wires are as thin as sewing thread.


eeek  

Haha, thanks for lettin me know about that, not something i'm trying to deal with. So I'm going to just get the guage face for my car and seperate tach down the road.

And is changing the cluster bulbs difficult? I want to get hyper white bulbs.


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## Sentrixx (Apr 30, 2002)

stevensol said:


> eeek
> 
> Haha, thanks for lettin me know about that, not something i'm trying to deal with. So I'm going to just get the guage face for my car and seperate tach down the road.
> 
> And is changing the cluster bulbs difficult? I want to get hyper white bulbs.



Well If you want to change the 194 dash bulbs THIS SITE has really good prices on the Polarg B1 Hybrids. $6.99 a pair.


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## damonfong0 (Jul 13, 2005)

Sentrixx said:


> Well If you want to change the 194 dash bulbs THIS SITE has really good prices on the Polarg B1 Hybrids. $6.99 a pair.



lets say i bought blue, or red, would it actually lite up through the guage as blue or red? or will it be faded to whitish because the numbers look white when not lighted...

also anyone find out how to disassemble a B15 to get the light bulb in? i need help on that... I have no idea at all how to even start


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

the LED bulbs are very bright and will make your dash look nice. if you search LED bulbs there are posted pictures.

i cant tell you how happy i am to live 15 minutes from important intellegence and can get them to install them. Matt at important intellegence does very nice work. I haven't had it done, but viprdude had some guages put on. Hell the even relocated his security light to inbetween the gauge and looks really nice and i think it was only like 40 for install. Needles are a pain to work with, so you will have to give it some time just becuase you dont want to rush anything.


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## Sentrixx (Apr 30, 2002)

damonfong0 said:


> lets say i bought blue, or red, would it actually lite up through the guage as blue or red? or will it be faded to whitish because the numbers look white when not lighted...
> 
> also anyone find out how to disassemble a B15 to get the light bulb in? i need help on that... I have no idea at all how to even start



I'm sure the color isn't going to change that much. Esp with an LED. BUt from experence with the led's that I bought. The first set I bought were 5 leds on the 194 bulb. And I didn't like how dull it looked so I went with the 9 led and it was bright but the only issue was that you could actually see where the light source is comming from. 

I don't know anything about the B15 cluster, but with the 9 led 194s that I had, I had to but them in from behind the gauges and then pushed in and turned into the actaually bulb holder. Not putting the bulb in the holder and then turning it in to mack contact. Check in the B15 part of these forums and post and see what other with you car say.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

one thing I'd like to point out, here. If you've ever had the opportunity to look at the back of the gauge faces, you's notice that the back is very unevenly coated. The coating on the back is thicker as it gets closer to the bulb and thinner as you get farther away from the bulb. As you prolly realize, this makes it appear that the lighting is even throughout when you look at it at night. Without this coating, there would be 4 bright spots at the corners of the gauges which looks kinda funny.

LEDs are far different from incandescent bulbs as they are very intense but have a poor angle of view. Although very bright to look at, even the brightest of them can not light a room, even in great numbers. 500 white LEDs can maybe do the job of a 40W light bulb. With that said, if you put them in the instrument cluster, you're only going to get small areas to light up while others will appear dark. Very uneven source for light.

The best success I've seen is just using bright 194s, but be careful you do not burn out the dimmer switch, too much wattage will kill it.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> one thing I'd like to point out, here. If you've ever had the opportunity to look at the back of the gauge faces, you's notice that the back is very unevenly coated. The coating on the back is thicker as it gets closer to the bulb and thinner as you get farther away from the bulb. As you prolly realize, this makes it appear that the lighting is even throughout when you look at it at night. Without this coating, there would be 4 bright spots at the corners of the gauges which looks kinda funny.
> 
> LEDs are far different from incandescent bulbs as they are very intense but have a poor angle of view. Although very bright to look at, even the brightest of them can not light a room, even in great numbers. 500 white LEDs can maybe do the job of a 40W light bulb. With that said, if you put them in the instrument cluster, you're only going to get small areas to light up while others will appear dark. Very uneven source for light.
> 
> The best success I've seen is just using bright 194s, but be careful you do not burn out the dimmer switch, too much wattage will kill it.


I thought most of the leds use stock wattage?


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

stevensol said:


> I thought most of the leds use stock wattage?


I meant with traditional 194s. Some manufacturers increase the wattage of bulbs to make them brighter which can lead to other problems.

I was saying to stay away from LEDs b/c they'll make the lighting very uneven.


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## Sentrixx (Apr 30, 2002)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> I meant with traditional 194s. Some manufacturers increase the wattage of bulbs to make them brighter which can lead to other problems.
> 
> I was saying to stay away from LEDs b/c they'll make the lighting very uneven.



This is true.. Like I said above...With the leds I have now, I can see where the lights source is comming form. And I hate it.. BTW.. got my B1 hybrids in the mail today. So those will be going in right after work. I will let you all know how they come out.

Wonder how it will look with some new Import Intel. needles?!?!? MAWAHAHA


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

@ ninety... yea I hear what you're sayin now man.

@sentrixx... hell yea please let me know how those needles and leds turn out, pics would be great. :thumbup:


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

and I would need 4 bulbs for the tach-less cluster in my b13 right?


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## Sentrixx (Apr 30, 2002)

stevensol said:


> and I would need 4 bulbs for the tach-less cluster in my b13 right?


 i'm pretty sure the b13 cluster is 4 tach or not.


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## Sentrixx (Apr 30, 2002)

BTW.. The B1's arn't as white as I would like the gauges to be.. But man! Do those needles light up now.. BooYeah!


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

Sentrixx said:


> BTW.. The B1's arn't as white as I would like the gauges to be.. But man! Do those needles light up now.. BooYeah!


Post some PICS


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## Sentrixx (Apr 30, 2002)

stevensol said:


> Post some PICS



Calm down.....lol I would but I bought an iPod and not a camera this weekend. So it will be a few days.


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## stevensol (Aug 7, 2005)

Sentrixx said:


> Calm down.....lol I would but I bought an iPod and not a camera this weekend. So it will be a few days.



LMAO, I mean I'm not going to kill you if you don't go out and buy a camera and post pics.


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## 2nrguy (Feb 18, 2005)

*gauge swap*

i got some 6 way blue-green overlays from e-bay that are like these
and they are replacement gauges that cover the old ones completely, the problem that i have is that to get them to fit over the speedo and tach needles requires a lot of patience because of the 2 tits that nissan thought was a cool idea to put on the opposing ends of the center needles. so now that i have them on, the speedo needle is off and i was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and knows how to reset the needle right w/o hooking a scan tool up to the car.


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