funxman

I just ordered the gage overlay for my car from speedhut. I just could not handle the factory setup anymore. I went with the reverse black with white text and euro font to keep it looking as stock as I can. And I went with the controller upgrade (whatever that is??).

The only problem I can foresee is my upshift light above the tack needle, but I should be able to do some micro surgery on the overlay..

Any tips on installation, pics or issues anyone would care to share? Or any WYAIT stuff.

animal8526

how much? and upshift light... is that stock on the newer cars? or is it something you added?

funxman

the kit was a little under $100. I am not sure about when the light came along-some call it a gas saver light.

RicerSchnitzzle

I would just cover up the upshift light rather than cut the EL film. You most likely don't use the light any way.
It took me just under an hour to remove the pod and install the films, pretty straight forward. Hardest part is being carefull when you manipulate the film over the needle on each gauge.

Fabio421

How in the heck did you get it OVER the needles? I had to remove my needles when I did my guage overlays.

Mike Frye

The 'upshift' light is the CASIS light.
I imagine you should be able to cut out an arrow in the overlay where that goes, or you could just put a round hole smaller than the stock arrow shaped cutout, so that the light shines through. You might have a better chance of lining it up. You may not use it, but if it's functional, why not let it show through?

Cutting it out won't add anything to the future resale, but covering it up might detract (very slightly).

funxman

Well, I got them installed. The lighting effect is exactly what I was looking for. The fit however leaves a little to be desired.

Good points for the optimist - Looks like a normal gause cluster with "good" back lighting. I can switch mine between green or blue. Can adjust to very bright if you like that, or very dim. Wire the controller to a ground point and your stock dimmer and control them from there. The needles can be seen by leaving the stock lights on place.

Bad points for the critics. Installation is relatively easy, but where they put the bus bar exit on the tach runs across the blinker indicator-a small dremel will make clearance but it still blocks out a small part of the green light when you turn on the blinker. Secondly, there is no shift light hole for manual. I had to cut a tiny arrow-this worked out ok. Third, the geometry is a little off. With the Euro text I selected, the fuel, temp, oil and voltage is a little wider than stock-for example I ran zero bars oil with ignition on and five bars over 1500 rpms. Now it shows at 1 bar ignition-and 4.5 bars at 1500 rpms. Third and worst problem is the needle holes are way off. See pics. I am trying to get a hold of them and find out what happened because I have seen pics and they don't look like this.

Fabio421

I installed these about 6 months ago and I didn't have either of these problems.

Heres a link to my installation thread

rcoble

I had a few probs when I did this on my 80. The warning lights were blocked out. (the lights at the end of the sweep of gas,oil,temp,batt) They had been printing a solid black band where these lights were. I don't know why no one else noticed or complained. Then they sent them with the gas/temp printed so the wire came out the bottom! both times they were VERY nice on the phone and got everything taken care of quick! Really rare to have such good service for somthing like this.

rcoble

PS. The result was nice but I've decided not to do this with my 83. rather like the look of stock.

RicerSchnitzzle

I just slide the overlay over the long end of the needle, then moved it down a little to rest against the center pin, then the back smaller half of the needle fit in. Kinda like getting a sofa through a doorway..

Also my holes for the oil and battery are centered, not sure why his were cut wrong. Mine came out real nice. Also my power lines were in a different location and only required a slight bend on one of them to fit in.

funxman

My bad, its the speedometer wire that cuts aross the center blinker light, not the tach.. But still!! I looked at all the install post.. that why I got these. It would figure that if there is a bad batch, I would get it... I'll' leave it for now, because it really does look nice at night. And the offset holes are not that noticeable. Hopefully they'll send me replacements for the two end overlays. FWIW, it is a great improvement.

Edit: EEK! after a closer look at your other pics, I think my needles are too far out. There was a date of 02/06 and a guys name behind the tack. And the PO said he had the cluster redone and calibrated. Question, maybe it was put together wrong? Different cluster.. OMG... maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me. HELP

Fabio421

Funxman....something is fishy here. Look at my thread and note where my blinker light is located. Its not where yours is located. Mine is between the two leftmost guages. Yours is directly under the ! light. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this. As to the issue with the offset needles on the right hand guages, measure center to center on your needles and I'll do the same.

funxman

The offset problem is on the left and right gages on the cluster. I get ~1 5/8 in from needle centers. The overlays look to be around 1 and 3/8.

EDIT: I just went on an instrument cluster observation mission and it looks like they changed the needle position either in 85 or 86 somehwere and the position of the blinker went to the center. SO, if I am correct, speedhuts advertizment for 78-88 fitment seems to be innacurate.


This is what it looks like at twilight.

rstallworth

So what do we all think on this one? Do we recommend this kit? I have thought about doing the same thing..