Valandor Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 (edited) Ever wanted to replace those annoying and plain gauges in your corolla. specifically a KE70?.. sorry guys I only have a KE70. here's how. (pics coming later when I get camera) WHAT YOU NEED -------------------- - Flat head and Phillips head Screw Drivers - Sand Paper - PVA Glue - Clear Coat - Computer with Scanner and Printer - Razor Blade - Scissors - Photoshop - fine point biro or other thin but blunt object - (optional) coloured spray paint STEP 1 REMOVING IT ALL ----------------------------- - Well first step is of course to remove the dash. this involves removing the dash surround and the dash itself. - then you'll need to push in the four tabs on the dash once it has been removed. this will give you easy access to the gauges. - if you want you can remove the clear plastic from the black plastic so you can paint the black and make it look a bit better. keep in mind if you do the last step you will break the plastic at the tabs as it is all glued down. - gently pull the needles directly up one by one to pull them form the faces - undo the two screws on either side of the needle on the speedo and tacho. - you should then be able to remove the gauge faces with out any problem. - you may also see green lenses for the light globes. I would recommend that you remove these as it give a brighter and clearer light that doesn't have that green tinge to it STEP 2 MODIFYING THE GAUGES -------------------------------------- - take the gauge faces and scan them into photoshop using at least 600 dpi or greater. - create a new layer in photoshop for the gauge your working on and create the design you want for a background. - change back to the original layer of the scanned image - use the magnetic selection tool to get the shape of the outside edge of the gauge. - change back to the layer of the background - cut the selected area and you would have an outline shape in the clipboard. - delete everything on the current layer and then paste the shape back. - on the original layer use the magic background eraser tool to remove everything except the numbers, markers and words. - change the colours or the marks as needed. - create a new layer for the new words and numbers. - remove the original number and words. - you should be left with a replica of you gauge that looks a lot better. - DO NOT COPY THE GAPS FOR THE ODOMETER TRUST ME - print the new gauges out but do not cut it out yet STEP 3 PUTTING IT ALL BACK TOGETHER AGAIN ------------------------- - Sand the original gauges faces until you cannot see anything except for a white piece of plastic. hold it to a strong light source like the sun to test. - cut out one of the edges of the gauges and the two corners on either end of the edge but leave the rest attached. - cover the now white piece of plastic in a very thin layer of pva glue. - make sure you cover every area and don't put to much on. - line up the two corners of the gauge face and edge to the corresponding parts on the plastic piece. - place under a few heavy books for at least 2 hours preferably over night to get best results. - when its dry get a very sharp razor and cut the edge off the paper and always use downward strokes to avoid damaging the new faces - for the holes for the odometer and screw and such start out with a fine point biro or other thin but blunt object - but you finger over the hole on the display side of the gauge and gently push the biro in the middle of the hole and into your finger . just enough to leave a dent in the paper. - flip the gauge over and push the hole out and using the razor blade cut off the excess being careful not to rip the paper. - give the gauges a few coats of clear coat to give it a nice finish and leave it to dry fully - paint the black plastic that goes over everything now if you want.and leave it to dry fully - put it all together again and there you go.. custom gauges that look like they cost a fortune DONE ------ - pics will be up loaded when i get them Cheers Clint :(( Spelling things correctly would make this much easier to follow. Especially for those not completely familiar with Photoshop Edited June 13, 2005 by Ruts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 can't wait to see these pics.. should be interesting to see the turnout of these gauges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Hey cool, scan gauge in photoshop, who would have ever thought of that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Deere Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 its a grate idea. i did it to my magna about six months ago. i used a sailor moon silowet on all my dials and inverted the colour from black to white. i9 did it a slightly different way. -i scaned the dials on to photo chop -then i inverted the color of the image changeing all the black to white and vice verser -the red parts of the dial goes to a grey color and then i filled them in as a blue colour. (so i changed the red line to blue on my tacho) -i then found an image that i wanted (a silowet of sailormoon) -i placed this on the same layer but faded it in. so the silowet faded out slightly. -then the best trick was i printed it out on photo paper to give it a gloss white look with a faint silowet in the background. - it is then put back in as a replacement of the dials and looks a treat. i also did a set for a mate that had nismo on them and he told everyone that they were real nismo ones. every one belived him because they look realy good. hope this can help. if you need better instructions pm me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruts Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Once I find my old guages (buried somewhere in the garage) I will do a pictorial edition of the steps layed down above - showing which tolls and layers etc to use in photoshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 So did we get some pics? I'd be curious to see how this turned out. I'm going typical old fashion "rip out old gauges, make new face plate and put new school gauges in place" personally, but am willing to see different projects in process.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valandor Posted June 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 sorry I'm still waiting on camera. (times were hard and cash was needed) should have pics up by the weekend tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 Some T18 quick ones. Typical white background. Looks good even with non gloss 'Econo' laser prints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 Tacho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 Wow, it's not round :P I should do this with my Corolla too, then maybe I can get the "correct" speed on the speedo (at the moment it's all out cause my diff ratios are weird) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 (edited) Boring Ke70 tacho... now.. Extreme!!! :P My new T18 dash, all the colors have faded I'm defiantly doing this :) Now to get the little needles off the oil pressure, volt, fuel and temp gauges :D Edited June 17, 2005 by Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 How do you get the needles to come off without breaking them? I keep breaking needles :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 the large speddo ones, i get a flat screwdriver and just pop them up. My smaller needles have problem though, i got 2 out of 4 out. They feel like there gonna break soon :P I'm gonna leave them near a heater, see if they soften up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 (edited) ive got the PDFs but there 14mb each :P but when you print them out, they are perfect size. If they were stickrized, what would happen with the holes? Could they be cut out? What about the different colours? Probably be to much effort. Eh Edited June 17, 2005 by Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 Stickers are cool, maybe mine can even say "AE35" or "Fook is Cool" or "Who da Man" or "I was once a treehouse..." or something stupid on the background... :P Even better, I recall Nick having some of that funky hologram-like sticker material, now THAT would be trippy :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts