so I painted my needles

[Facime]

...on my gauges. I very carefully scraped off the yellow/orange paint on the bottom side of each needle and then repainted it with transparent blue (I used model paint). They look awesome against the white backgrounds BUT...I now cant see them at night...lol.

I figured that they would still light up but they dont. I have the reverse EL-Glow gauges, so only the numbers and hash marks glow at night. There is nothing to contrast the needles now when the gauge faces are "dark" . I have colored #168's in the stock bulb locations (168's are brighter than the 158's and 194's) and my odometer lights up nicely and I can see a little "flood" of light coming from the hub of the needle, but the needles themselves are almost completely dark.

anyone have any ideas? Im tempted to paint the top of the needles with glow in the dark paint. At this point I think my needles are basically ruined anyways, so Im not afraid to try anything.

Also, has anyone ever attempted to pull the needles off the hub? I tried a little but was afraid I would break them if I forced to hard, and since I dont currently have a back up set I didnt want to do that right now.

Any ideas are welcome

 

[Brewster]

you think you can get away with not posting a pic?

 

[DaSuprawolf]

/\lol

 

[ValgeKotkas]

:ttiwwp:

 

[Facime]

ok fine...though I have no idea how this will help...lol

I need some way to make them glow again at night....

 

[GotToyota?]

That looks pretty good, now paint the part on the rotator.

-Matt

 

[Facime]

That looks pretty good, now paint the part on the rotator.

-Matt

I started to, but didnt like it...I think Im gonna paint em red though instead of Orange...but not until I have to take them apart again to fix the night glow issue...

So no ideas? glow in the dark paint my only option? someone has to have done this before besides me and figured something out...

 

[Godspeed]

i did this with a set of gauges i had but sold. i had my needles blue also but the hub was white with a blue stripe. mine seemed to light up fine at night. of course my cluster face was white instead of black like yours.
the needles come off fairly easy just pull a little be sure to put the gas hand back where it was though.

 

[Finnon]

my brother put these dials in his ford escort but the needles never went back the same, the speedo reads out now and the other gauges seem to read low aswell

 

[dbsupra90]

you painted both sides?

id use some model paint thinner and take it off the back of the needle and perhaps thin down the top a little.

that should help.

 

[Yellow 13]

I started to, but didnt like it...I think Im gonna paint em red though instead of Orange...but not until I have to take them apart again to fix the night glow issue...

So no ideas? glow in the dark paint my only option? someone has to have done this before besides me and figured something out...

Blue and orange are complimentary colors, leave it as it is. I think it looks great!

 

[Facime]

you painted both sides?

id use some model paint thinner and take it off the back of the needle and perhaps thin down the top a little.

that should help.

no I took it off the top after I discovered that didnt work, and only painted the bottom of the needles...I dont feel like taking the bloody thing back apart AGAIN, so its gonna stay this way for a while.

 

[annoyingrob]

Those look HOT. I painted mine blue as well

Out of curiosity, what color lights are you trying to light them up with? When I replaced my dash lights with blue LEDs, the orange needles really didnt light up. I scraped off the orange, and repainted them blue, and they look great.

Try painting them with a solid color, not the translucent blue. It could be that there is no surface for the light to reflect off of.

 

[Allan_MA70]

paint the gauge face side white

 

[Slow66]

Try painting them with a solid color, not the translucent blue. It could be that there is no surface for the light to reflect off of.

Exactly what i was going to say. If im not mistaken the stock needle is solid (not translucent) on the backside of the needle. A solid blue on the backside and clear on the front should do it i would think.....

 

[dbsupra90]

Exactly what i was going to say. If im not mistaken the stock needle is solid (not translucent) on the backside of the needle. A solid blue on the backside and clear on the front should do it i would think.....

yes it should. thats what i was trying to get at about the painting both sides.

i had thought he wanted them to glow, which is why i suggested the painted top side and clear bottom. but if he wanted the needles to illuminate then ideally should keep to top clear and the bottom blue.

 

[johnathan1]

ooooo...paint the back solid white, and the front translucent blue! That should get the desired effect, right?

 

[Slow66]

yes it should. thats what i was trying to get at about the painting both sides.

i had thought he wanted them to glow, which is why i suggested the painted top side and clear bottom. but if he wanted the needles to illuminate then ideally should keep to top clear and the bottom blue.

great minds think alike

 

[johnathan1]

lol^^^ didn't see that...I guess they do!