peterp

I have nearly completed changing my factory interior-matching gauge dial faces (which were bubbling) to stock black faces, but I'm having a problem with light leaking in around the 2000 and 6000 RPM area on the tach.

As you can see in the photo below, the light comes from what looks like a rectangular-shaped "hole" from 1600 to 2000 RPM in between the dial and surround. When I look at the assembly, however there is no hole there for light to come through. I've been trying to solve this for a while and it is driving me crazy because there is no obvious source for the light. If anybody has seen this before and knows where the light is coming from and how to fix it, I will be eternally grateful.

peterp

I found the source of the light. It's not leaking around the bezel as I first thought, it looks like the black dial on the cluster I bought is damaged on the tach face only. The white surface on the back of the dial that keeps the light from bleeding through is chipped off in some sections. The areas that are bright on the dial pictures above are actually the sections where the dial backing is missing.

I'm not sure what I can use to black the light. I tried white paint, but it doesn't look like it is opaque enough to block all the light. I'm either going to have to find a way to cover those sections or find a new tach face.

Paul Waterloo

I would go with a new tach face and be done with it. Don't take the thing apart anymore than once more.

peterp

I'd be happy to buy a new tach face, I'm just not sure how to find one easily. I had to buy an entire gauge cluster just to get OEM black dial faces.

tomcat

IIRC, the white material is a diffuser material to avoid bright spots. It's been a while, but I think you can find it online. This material is used for other purposes. Look for sign printers.

peterp

Thanks for the suggestion John. I'll check it out.

The eBay seller I bought the cluster from is going to see if he can locate another tach face. It's generous of him to do so -- this is really neither of ours' fault. He couldn't know the tach face wouldn't come off cleanly (and he sold it as a cluster and not as dial faces) and I was definitely gentle when I removed it. All the other faces have no issues. It's not clear whether he will be able to find another tach face, but he is looking.

peterp

I was able to use the tachometer face by applying Duplicolor "Bright White" to fill in the missing backing. It took about 4 applications of paint before it was completely opaque. Even from the back, it's difficult to tell where the paint was applied because it's a very close color match.

My original thread seems to have been deleted, but this was part of a project to replace my factory ordered interior-matching dial faces that were bubbling (and I hated the dials being beige anyway).

Here are before and after photos (I did a few other things while I was in there):

peterp

The list of changes is pretty long:

1. Change of dial faces from bubbling beige to OEM black
2. Change of instrument pod from Savannah Beige vinyl to leather (my car has full leather, but a PO had the dealer put in a vinyl pod (I have the receipt for that work), I assume because the original leather had shrunk). Now it is back to leather and matches the rest of the interior.
3. Added brushed aluminum gauge rings (bought red rings then striped paint and used fine sandpaper to make brushed aluminum)
4. Gauge backsplash changed from beige to dark gray lightly pebbled surface (it was too much of a "sea of beige" for my taste)
5. My hazard button surround had two LED's installed for a built-in K40 radar detector, they were installed ok but it just didn't look clean up close -- replaced hazard surround so it is now clean.
6. Fixed hazard button that had worked unreliably. I bought a replacement switch, but it turned out to be those radar detector LED's getting in the way.
7. Replaced the steering wheel surrounds, which were discolored in a couple spots and the beige color seemed darkened overall, the replacements now exactly match the surrounding leather
8. Replaced one of the instrument backlights that would occasionally go out.

Other than the above, I didn't make any changes.

tomcat

Looks great, glad it worked out for you.

peterp

Thanks for your help. I've been staring at those bubbling gauges for a long time. I accumulated all the parts (leather pod, hazard surround, ...) a long time ago but just never could find the time to do it. I didn't have the black dials because I thought the beige was just a skin over the black dials (that's what it looked like as it's bubbled), so it turned out to be a bit of a hassle to get OEM black, but I am very, very happy to finally have it done and I appreciate all the feedback from RL.