Fitting White Guage Face

[ElDubya]

If you, like me, are in on the group buy of a custom white guage face from hcca, and you own a VN, here is a non-illustrated guide to installing it.

Tools you will need :

1 x standard phillips head screwdriver
1 x T15 torx bit screwdriver
1 x flat head jewellers screwdriver
1 x fork (yes, a standard fork)
1 x pliers
Patience

*Sorry, text only as I don't have a camera *

Firstly, there are 4 phillips head screws securing the surround including the 2 switchblocks to the dashboard of your car. 2 in the middle of the guage area and one on either side, underneath the corners. Undo these.

Next, unplug the switchblocks from the back. (Mine had 5 plugs because of cruise.) Remove the surround and place it somewhere out of the way.

Now there are 2 screws holding the actual cluster in. Undo these, and the cluster just "unplugs" from the dashboard. Gently pull it out of the dash, moving the switchblock plugs and wires out of the way.

Take it to a prepared work area (ie : clean and tidy) and place it face down.

Here's where you need your torx screwdriver.

There are 4 torx screws along the bottom of the cluster at the back. Undo these. Remove the 2 thin lamp icon panels from the bottom on the front. Then, release the 2 clips on the top of the cluster and gently prise the top black cover off.

Using your pliers, remove the 2 little pins that stop the needles from dropping past the lowest point of the guage,on the fuel and temp guages and set these aside. Now, grab the fork and place it under the actual needles and gently lever them off and place them aside.

Using the flathead jewellers screwdriver, undo the small black screws securing the old dial faces, and they too will come off.

Underneath you will see clear perspex looking "risers" over the guage mechanisms. Leave these on as it gives a foundation or base for the new guage face to sit on.

Lay the new guage face over the top of the clear perspex risers and start replacing the small black screws to hold it down, taking care not to slip and scratch the new facia.

***NOTE : This is where I had trouble. I could only put one of these screws in over the RPM guage, as the 2 holes there don't line up. The rest of the screwholes are fine. Also, the holes are nowhere near where they need to be for inserting the 2 little pins that stop the needles from falling lower than zero, so I left mine out for now until I can figure out an alternative***

Anyway ...

Then, to re-assemble it just do the above steps, in reverse. Couldn't be simpler. If you find this guide a bit hard to follow, and let's face it, without pictures it probably will be, just take your time and look at things and you can't go wrong. I have never removed a VN cluster before, and hell, if I can do it, anyone can

Enjoy your new look guage cluster, I know I am ...

[markc3012]

Have you told the guy that the holes dont line up???
Alot of people are buying these from him and dont wanna waste their money???
Quality Control is important.
Price is irrelavant if the y dont line up???

[hcca]

Just got e-mailed about this..

I have checked my original design and the holes are exactly positioned according to the original - On the original, the pins actually do not locate zero - they are below it.. no idea why, but I have not moved them from where they are supposed to be.

I will check it against a VN one to see if there is a difference (design was taken from a VS).

As far as the tacho screws are concerned, that's a bit odd - I know they are located correctly - with the size of the screws, it can be that if the screw hole is a millimetre off, the screw won't want to go in easily. Perhaps try moving the plastic part under the face as it does move a bit.

[hakhawk]

mine fit almost perfectly, the screw holes were around half a mm off in one or two spots, and the holes for the pins were fine. but it was nothing worth complaining about. it fits in the guage, it looks great, thats all i care about.

[ElDubya]

Hence why I never complained

[markc3012]

Fitted my white faced dash yesterday, gotta say it fitted perfectly, although very finicky work....I would hate to do that sorta work all the time...
Looks great, also fitted a the HVAC panel..
Looks great at night too.....

[Infus10n]

I fitted mine about 3 weeks back, fitted perfectly, no hassles!

[vyaw2003]

i would not have bothered, maybe if you can get the tacho plates that are in the new XR6's and 8's they look sweet, and yes the ss's. Bright blue, and red is the go!!

[markovr]

I bought some red coloured gauge faces off Sam (hcca)and although a complete hole was not drilled on both sides of each and it took some trimming to get it to fit I thought it all looked good nice and red.
On close inspection I noticed that the face itself was shiny and not matt like the original ones and it reflected light.Where the small screws secured the face to the gauge the top red layer twisted and gave a swirl look around them spoiling the finish.
Next problem was that the top red layer of the face had come away from the background and made some parts of the face look blurred in the daytime.The font of the actual gauge was too small for my liking too...I am probably too finicky.
The final straw was when I switched the lights on at night....the faces were really bright in some places right behind the light bulb and dim towards the top of the gauge and the needles looked nearly the same colour as the graduations making it harder to see at night.
I said to myself that it wasnt really that bad and the red colour looked good in the day from a distance but after driving my other car also equiped with the same dash but not modified ,I took the red faces off and put the original faces back and it looked much better in the day and a million percent better at night.I emailled him about these problems and he didnt respond and seems not to care once the deal is done.
Before buying these gauge faces make sure that you would be happy with these results as I feel that I wasted my money and it would be a shame for someone else to make the same mistake.
It wasnt a lot of money for the faces compared to the other ones but I suppose you get what you pay for.

[hakhawk]

cool, got pics? maybe hes getting lazy

[fu2]

i got mine from ebay. fitted perfect 1st time and i am extremly happy with it.

[markovr]

Can you honestly say that the effect in the second and third pict above is good....see how blotchy the lighting is?...some parts you cant even see properly at night.
Bright in some places and dull in others...your original ones are diffused and the lighting is uniform and sadly much better.
How did the finish end up around the screws when it was all screwed up?
It took me a fair while to admit to myself that the original faces were better overall than the ones that I had paid good money for...I even tried green coloured lamps even and different coloured lenses behind the faces to try to diffuse the lights but that only made it worse.

[hakhawk]

are you using leds fu2? i noticed when i first put mine in with stock globes, it looked even, but when i put leds in, it went patchy, as it relies on sides of globe for light aswell, and the leds didnt go that far.

[fu2]

the night picture doesnt do them any justice. they look alot brighter in real life. im using the stock globes. i wouldnt mind getting the light more even on the speedo. as for the hvac pannel, the light is even and looks sweet.

[fu2]

the finish around the screws is perfect. the only thing i thought was a bit dodgy was the stoper hole for the temperature gauge. i found the hole was slightly to big. apart from that it was all a snug fit.

[brentasaurous]

yeah i fitted mine and the holes were perfect except for one screw hole, but it went in perfectly with a bit of fidgeting.. looks great

[vrbenno]

Where do you get the white guage faces, and roughly how much are they worth?
Cheers.