Jrp210

Hi Everyone,

Sorry if this is already posted but i tried the search and couldnt find anything. What im wanting to do is take apart my dials and put the LED's behind the needles like some of you on here. What i need some help on is the best way to put the needles back on so that they match up with everything like fuel amount speedo etc.

Thanks

newbie.gif Joe

daafisch

For the RPM I personally used my OBD-II scanner and laptop to see where my rpms were and placed it according to that.
Fuel: I went to the gas station with my dash apart; filled my tank, waited the f***ing 15 minutes it takes to get back up to the full position and put the needle back on. During this time my car was warmed up so I placed the coolant back to where I remember it being.

As far as the speedo, I don't really remember but I want to say I placed it then drove around with my OBD-II scanner hooked up and adjusted it as needed. Probably not the safest way but i think that' what I did.

Other members probably have a better way of doing it

radu_rd2

I used GPS for speedo, it took a couple of tries till I could do it right, as ^ said not the safest. Put the rpm needle slightly under 1k while at idle. Filled up, gas at full. Engine warm, temperature right in the middle.

Jrp210

Hi thanks for the quick reply, Sounds like a lot of trouble to me. Plus i dont have access to a scanner. Hope they is an easier way. Can you get behind the dials without taking the needles off?

daafisch

Its been a while since I had mine off but Im pretty sure no. In order to get behind and do the led needle mod you have to take out the plastic reflector that the faces sit on and in order to do that the needles must come off. Plus the holes in the center of the stock faces are f***ing small

Not sure if you looked at the DIY so here it is: http://www.rdtiburon.com/index.php?showtopic=81

StrikeEagle

It's not that hard, taking things apart is harder than calibrating the needles. First, search for "calibrating needles" or "calibrating speedometer" or something like that, there's a bit of experience with it on here.
You can easily get by without the scanner though. It's a lot easier if you have a gps or something, but not critical. Here's how I did mine:
First thing to do, before changing it, is run your car at a specific speed (say exactly 60mph) and get a tach reading. Mine was exactly 3000rpm. Know exactly where full is on the fuel gauge (or find a place where you want full to be). Also find where exact normal operating temp is. Now make your switch or whatever modifications you want. Once you're finished, then comes the calibration. Have a buddy (or gps, if you have one) drive at exactly a specific speed (60mph) and have someone put the needle on exactly at 60mph. Set your tach at the same spot (3000rpm in my case). Fuel and engine temp are pretty self explanatory, and they're not quite as critical. This way may be a little dangerous? Maybe illegal too, but it's worked...
The other way to do it (now that I think about it, I think I did this way too, I didn't like how the previous one turned out... lol) is to do it while stopped. Start the car (again, let it run for awhile) and put the tach at 800rpm. Put the speedo on exactly at 0mph (either resting on the needle stop or over top of it). Give it a test drive and see if your speed matches with your buddy and that your tach matches your speed. Remove and do-over (adjust) as necessary.
If you push the needles on too far, they may get stuck, so just pull them a little looser and you should be fine.
Sorry, I'm pretty tired, so this may not make a lot of sense, but let me know and I can try to re-explain something.

radu_rd2

with no gps or buddies, you could also record the car's speed at like 6000 rpm in 1st beforehand; then put the rpm needle slightly under 1000 at idle, then go to 6000rpm in 1st and set the speedo. This should be pretty accurate (the initial error in placing the needle at idle is reduced 6-fold by the higher RPM, and a few times by the gearing)

REDZMAN

Don't spoon feed the new members folks, this has been covered in depth. You said you searched, but your searching skills must be lacking.

I just did a search for 'needles' and found a ton of info. Bet you could for 'gauge', and more.