DIY Custom Gauge Faces (03-04 civic coupe)
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 579
Likes: 0
Rep Power: 0 
DIY Custom Gauge Faces (03-04 civic coupe)
aight i read this article on team-integra.net about some guy takin his stock gauge clusters on his GSR, scanning them onto a computer, and inverting them for the black number/white background scheme with the stock-ish look. seemed interesting, decided to give a wack at it...
after a bit of figuring out, heres my first version (second version in the works...) of my custom ghetto-fabuolous gauge faces for 2003-2004 civic coupes.
note: i love the stock gauges, 'cept for the font. that was the main thing i changed with these new ones. i had a pic of the TL and TSX gauges while workin on them.
comments appreciated!
second note: this is just the first version, the black ink in some parts is still not dark enough and the uneven lighting behind the 03-04 gauges makes it look kinda bad at night. eh, ill work on it
ohyeah, the gauge needles dont have the support of the little stem so they rest pointing downwards. they bounce right back up when the ignition is on. needles were also painted red.
after a bit of figuring out, heres my first version (second version in the works...) of my custom ghetto-fabuolous gauge faces for 2003-2004 civic coupes.
note: i love the stock gauges, 'cept for the font. that was the main thing i changed with these new ones. i had a pic of the TL and TSX gauges while workin on them.
comments appreciated!
second note: this is just the first version, the black ink in some parts is still not dark enough and the uneven lighting behind the 03-04 gauges makes it look kinda bad at night. eh, ill work on it
ohyeah, the gauge needles dont have the support of the little stem so they rest pointing downwards. they bounce right back up when the ignition is on. needles were also painted red.
Last edited by skarteez; Aug 12, 2004 at 12:11 AM.
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 579
Likes: 0
Rep Power: 0 aight you guys, heres the DIY
first off, you need to take out your gauge cluster. to remove the bezel, locate and remove the two screws (should be on the upper portion of the bezel). for the gauge cluster, take out the 3 screws (two on each side, one on the top end) and unplug the harness.
then disassemble the cluster by depressing the tabs on the sides to take off the covers and cluster bezels. then CAREFULLY, remove the needles and cluster faces (the tach and fuel/coolant faces have some adhesive. just pry them off).
it should look like this now:
note: stock clusters should have some white LED light diffusers (mine are those orange things cause i had the numbers light up yellow-ish).
after this, take your gauge faces and scan them into your computer. to get over the problem with the little thing sticking out that the needle rests on, you can remove that by depressing the two tab things on the back side.
if you dont got a scanner, do what i did: go to a glass-top table, put a light under it, and trace the gauge faces onto paper.
then you can take THOSE and go to kinkos and scan them there (for convience, you could always scan your faces at kinkos instead of tracing them.)
using a high-end graphics editing proggie (ie adobe photoshop, macromedia fireworks, jasc paintshop pro), add/takeout lines/hashmarks, add/remove misc things, and edit numbers/add numbers to whatever you scanned. this is the fun part because you can just do whatever you want with them. you could try carbonfiber backgrounds, more numbers on the tach, re-do redlines for those of you with valvetrain upgrades/swaps, display in KPHinstead of MPH, add 7thgen logos (i added an SOHC VTEC emblem thingy
)
afteryou are finished with that part, print them out on transparencies, have about 4-5 copies of each (ill explain later). whatever is white on the actual image file will be clear on the transparencies and other colors will be what they are.
the reason whyyou want 4-5 copies is so that yo udont get the indiglo kind of look. the light will show right through the black ink print with 1, 2 even 3 copies. also, especially on the fuel/coolant gauge, the little inidcator lights dont have the white LED backlit light coming through, so those are completely black. you want the surrounding backlit light for the hashmarks and needles to not show through the black ink on those parts so it all blends in together.
in this pic, you can see the darker middle and lighter surrounding part. baaaad. the extra layers of black ink will help make everything (backgrounds) look like one light level.
after you have your multiple copies, use your stock gauge faces as templates to determine where to cut around the gauge faces and where the holes are. after that, stack the layers on top of one another, securing them with some tape (invisible doubleside sticky is recommended).
make some cutting adjustments and trim off excess so that they fit good and you are happy with them. then simply place them back into the cluster, assemble it, recalibrate needles and yerrr done!
NOTE: to recalibrate needles, place cluster on flat surface with the bottom edge paralell to your body (without needles assembled). take tach needle, position it so it is pointing STRAIGHT down towards you and insert into hole. same with speedo. for fuel/coolant, maintain cluster position and position needles as if they were pointing at empty and cold (for fuel and coolant gauges respectively). done!
sorry for the lack of pictures, its my first DIY
first off, you need to take out your gauge cluster. to remove the bezel, locate and remove the two screws (should be on the upper portion of the bezel). for the gauge cluster, take out the 3 screws (two on each side, one on the top end) and unplug the harness.
then disassemble the cluster by depressing the tabs on the sides to take off the covers and cluster bezels. then CAREFULLY, remove the needles and cluster faces (the tach and fuel/coolant faces have some adhesive. just pry them off).
it should look like this now:
note: stock clusters should have some white LED light diffusers (mine are those orange things cause i had the numbers light up yellow-ish).
after this, take your gauge faces and scan them into your computer. to get over the problem with the little thing sticking out that the needle rests on, you can remove that by depressing the two tab things on the back side.
if you dont got a scanner, do what i did: go to a glass-top table, put a light under it, and trace the gauge faces onto paper.
then you can take THOSE and go to kinkos and scan them there (for convience, you could always scan your faces at kinkos instead of tracing them.)
using a high-end graphics editing proggie (ie adobe photoshop, macromedia fireworks, jasc paintshop pro), add/takeout lines/hashmarks, add/remove misc things, and edit numbers/add numbers to whatever you scanned. this is the fun part because you can just do whatever you want with them. you could try carbonfiber backgrounds, more numbers on the tach, re-do redlines for those of you with valvetrain upgrades/swaps, display in KPHinstead of MPH, add 7thgen logos (i added an SOHC VTEC emblem thingy
)afteryou are finished with that part, print them out on transparencies, have about 4-5 copies of each (ill explain later). whatever is white on the actual image file will be clear on the transparencies and other colors will be what they are.
the reason whyyou want 4-5 copies is so that yo udont get the indiglo kind of look. the light will show right through the black ink print with 1, 2 even 3 copies. also, especially on the fuel/coolant gauge, the little inidcator lights dont have the white LED backlit light coming through, so those are completely black. you want the surrounding backlit light for the hashmarks and needles to not show through the black ink on those parts so it all blends in together.
in this pic, you can see the darker middle and lighter surrounding part. baaaad. the extra layers of black ink will help make everything (backgrounds) look like one light level.
after you have your multiple copies, use your stock gauge faces as templates to determine where to cut around the gauge faces and where the holes are. after that, stack the layers on top of one another, securing them with some tape (invisible doubleside sticky is recommended).
make some cutting adjustments and trim off excess so that they fit good and you are happy with them. then simply place them back into the cluster, assemble it, recalibrate needles and yerrr done!
NOTE: to recalibrate needles, place cluster on flat surface with the bottom edge paralell to your body (without needles assembled). take tach needle, position it so it is pointing STRAIGHT down towards you and insert into hole. same with speedo. for fuel/coolant, maintain cluster position and position needles as if they were pointing at empty and cold (for fuel and coolant gauges respectively). done!
sorry for the lack of pictures, its my first DIY
Last edited by skarteez; Aug 11, 2004 at 11:10 PM.
i like. 
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 579
Likes: 0
Rep Power: 0
Originally Posted by cosmo
Wow, how did you get them to be sized prefectly so when you printed them out they were the same size?
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 579
Likes: 0
Rep Power: 0
Originally Posted by Hwoody77
How long did this whole thing take you?
but the whole editing took me roughly an hour, assembling/dissasemling was tops 20 minutes, cutting/trimming/fitting was 1.5 hours. sitting there lookin at it took the longest: 3 hours all together
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 579
Likes: 0
Rep Power: 0
Originally Posted by Quijano187
Thats looks great, I'm going to do this as soon a get back from vaction. So your telling me kinkos did all of the printing ? A;; i gotta do is bring my gauges?
