Celica Forums General Discussion Interior RJ Gauges?

I just got my RJ Autowork gauge faces (white face/black #'s) and I've be hearing that people are having problems with re-setting the needles. I stop by a couple of import shops here and they all told me to just cut a bigger whole in the RJ faces and over lay them without taking off the needles. I was wondering what would be a good process from doing this. Maybe use a math compass and a razer blade? I was wondering with overlaying the stock faces will the RJ faces light up bad? I have Blue LED's. Also how should I go about cleaning the needle if I want blue- a Qtip? whats the best paint to use to clean and to re-color the needles?


I was wondering with overlaying the stock faces will the RJ faces light up bad with Blue LED? I heard blue is pretty bight

Also how should I go about cleaning the needle if I want blue?

I likes Carbonblue2005GT Idea. could it help me out in anyway?

Carbonblue2005GT:
"Last weekend I spent most of Saturday and Sunday mounting and fine tuning the gauges on my Celica. I got a Silver gauge face from RJ Autoworks with blue and red leds. However, I did not like the look of the gauges when the red leds where installed on the rev gauge. And I didn't like the gauge needles to be almost invisible when driving in the dark.

So I put the red LEDs to use in a different location - right beneath the gauge needles, now I got red glowing needles...

And I replaced the headlight indicator lamp with a blue LED, and the turn signal lamps with green LEDs.

Here is the result..."

hey buddy. Are you trying to get them blue or still orange?? If you are getting them blue you need ot order the leds fomr RJ as well and sodder them in. after there he is what you need to do:

1st of all you cant jsut stick rj's overtop ur current gauges with blue leds. the stock orange wont let the light through. you need to tkae off the needles and the old gauges. As it is you need to take off the neeldes and gauges to get to the leds to resodder them.

So jsut pop off the neeldes using liek 2 spoons to pop it off, take off face and sodder in ur new blue leds inplace of the old orange ones. Now put RJ's gauges on with ur old gauges off.

For the neeldes, if you want red needles do liek carbonblue said with putting 1 red near the neeldes. To get the paint of the neeldes all you need to do is use some rubbing alchohol and papertowel. it will come off with soem rubbing. Then use the red model piaint and paint the back of the needle.

Now put it all back with neeldes off and the clear plastic cover over the bezeell off. tunr the car to ACC. Now put both rpm and speed needle on 0.. Turn ur car, drive around, pace urself with someoen else ot see if its right. you will probably be off by 5 mph and 300rps. If you are off by allot then take off the speedo needles, drive next to someone doign 30, and put ur needle on 30.

If oyua hve more questions feel free to pm me and i can go in greater detail. That and i am at work with a crappy keyboard so i am sure i have allot of typos

The only problem is there's no shop in utah that will mess at all with needles. So if I fuck up i'm shit out of luck . I hope this isn't the case. How diffcult is re-setting the needles 1-10scale?

The only problem is there's no shop in utah that will mess at all with needles. So if I fuck up i'm shit out of luck . I hope this isn't the case. How diffcult is re-setting the needles 1-10scale? Thanks though for the imput . I'm
probbarly gonna pm ya hombredelassrtas

its a 1 on the sacale. jsut plug it in, tunr to acc, and put them on 0. you really cant f it up to bad i ahve done it on 2 cars prob 5 times between the. wort thign ur goign to do is be off by liek 5 mph. if its off by more then that or the 5 mph bugs u, jsut pace urself with a friend going liek 30 and put the needle on 30 now if you tunr it on and the needles jump all the way around, tun off, push the neeldes all the way around, then all the way back. had this happen, no big deal. dont worry you wont f it up. and if you do you can find a celi in a junkyard and get their bezel

For taking out the gauge unit, go to the installs page here at ecelica and look at the different threads for how to install gauge face, replace LEDs etc. And follow the advice of hombredelassrtas above when removing needles.

When I added the red LEDs beneath the gauge needles, I had to modify the clear plastic shield/plate the gauge face is resting on in order to get space for the LED. I will post a picture later (when I get home) of how I did it.

Also make sure you handle the circuitboard carefully, and avoid static electricity that can fry the board.

Resetting the needles aren't that bad, so don't be afraid of doing it. Just follow the advice from other people here on the board, and you will be OK. It sounds more scary than it is.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

ya it's very easy just take 2 spoons place them under the needle and push down and the come right off, but it is ture about the speedo being off by 5 mph but hey shit happens when you party naked [/color]