[Polarican90L]

Is it possible to remove all 4 needles from the gauges without damaging them... And if so, what is the best method? I have removed the fuel and Tach, but I'm paranoid about damaging the Speedo and the temp guage...

 

[Polarican90L]

Anyone??

Has anyone successfully taken off all 4 needles on their gauges? I kind of caked up my needles up with some glow paint (Do not try it, it just weighs down the needles) and now want to replace the needles with some new ones from another cluster I have coming in...

I managed to scrape enough off to get them working somewhat better, but they are still off and look like crap...

Any help would be appreciated...

 

[5speed]

paint on needles...

I don't know whether this will work or not, but since they are unuseable as they are, why not try nail polish remover? As far as your other cluster, wouldn't you be better off just using it then transferring the gauge needles?

 

[Polarican90L]

I was thinking the same, but the cluster I picked up was for a manual trans... My sedan is an auto...

 

[digger89L]

Needles will be the same on a standard or auto tranny gauge cluster ...just pull the needles off the posts and transfer them to the other instruments ...noting the position of the old needles before removing them.

 

[IkeRay]

i believe his problem is getting the needles off...

i have always been told that they pop right off when you pull, but dont quote me on it. good luck

 

[Polarican90L]

Thanks Ikeray..

When I yanked out my cluster and tried to take them off, the only one that came off easily was the Tach... I did not want to try to "force" the others off until I knew it was possible without breaking them... My needles look hideous now!! :eek2:

After installing a set of Glow gauges, which do look really nice, I tried to use a metal flake paint to see if I could see them better at night... Looked OK, but not any more visible than before...

Then I bought some glow powder from e-bay (looked promising) and mixed it with clear nailpolish and applied it to the needles... I noticed it was a little thick, but I figured ohh well, I guess it will make them look even brighter...

After reinstalling the cluster, i noticed........ nothing!! And not only could I still not see them (the needles) any better, but the weight of the paint had every needle "off"... My car was now idling at around 150 RPM, and remarkably, it ran for miles with absolutely no gas!! I had to at least get that straightened out...

I ripped out the cluster again, scraped off what I could, and painted the needles red with a Red Sharpie... I can't begin to tell you how hideous it looks, but the 2 things that impressed me were:

1. I did get enough off to have the gauges work well again...

and

2. The Red really did look good and I now "could" see the needles at night!!!!

Pretty frustrating to know that all I had to do was paint them Red the first time...

On top of that, after realizing the red looks good, I picked up a cluster from a 90 Mitsubishi eclipse, hoping the needles were interchangeable.... Not even close!!! ........ You guys have no idea how hard it is to be half Polish and Half Puerto Rican!!

I figured I'd just pick up another G1 cluster, take off the needles without breaking them (if possible), take my time and paint them a nice thin coat of red and install them on my cluster... I am just hoping that it "is" possible to take the needles off the speedo, fuel and temp gauges without damaging the gauges themselves...

PS. I originally wrote that I had successfully taken off the fuel gauge, but i did not... I installed the glow gauge overlay onto that particular gauge by pushing both needles straight down....

Has anyone successfully taken off all 4 without damaging them? Sorry for the long post..

 

[paulo57509]

From what I have read here and on other forums pulling needles off gauges usually results in crazy gauge readings after they're re-installed.

Also, painting the needles effects gauge readings because of the added weight (however minute) the paint adds to the needles.

 

[Polarican90L]

Just wanted to publicly answer my own question...

I picked up a 90 Legend "Manual Trans" cluster for practically nothing from E-Bay... I used 2 butter knives to succesfully pop off the needles... I was surprised how easy it was...

I then painted the needles (Or Colored I guess) with a "Red Sharpie" and was extremely happy with the way they came out!!!! The needles look like they were made that way!! Definitely a plus so far when comparing them to the butcher job I did on my original needles with the glow paint...

Since my car is running great (knock on wood), I took a pic of the position of the needles after a very long warm up (after driving home from work)...

I yanked out my cluster and took it inside...

I carefully used the 2 Butter Knife technique that I used on the other cluster, the only difference was I used a folded paper towel under each butter knife to not scratch the gauge face...

Worked great...

Took the cluster back to car, warmed it up good, then pushed the needles back to the exact spot (Or as close as humanly possible).. It took more than a few shots before I did the final push....

I am very happy with the results!! The cluster looks good, I can finally see my needles with no problem at all at night and the low fuel warning light was even right on...

I will post pics when I get a better camera... Sorry this is long, just wanted to update....