White face gauge overlay

greyghost03 · June 18, 2003

I am thinking of installing a white face gauge overlay on the greyghost.

Click here for pic Scan down in the left hand colum and it is under Chevrolet, 4th one down.

I like the looks of this one- looks OEM not ricey! Not a bad price either!

Anybody installed white face gauges? I heard the needle part of the job could be a PITA- removing and re-installing!

Your opinions / advice?

lrymal · June 18, 2003

Anybody installed white face gauges? I heard the needle part of the job could be a PITA- removing and re-installing!

Its ok. I did this on a '99 Pontiac Grandam a while back and it was a big help having the white faced guages when a shadow would so darken the instrument area during the day that it was difficult to see the blacked faces of the existing guages.

You have to use common sense on the needles. They pull off rather easily. You just curl your fingers under each needle and lift it off. I wouldn't use any pry tool.

Crank the vehicle up when COLD and mark the position of the needles, quickly, before the temperature of the motor increases. The positions MIGHT change when going from ON to RUN, that's why I say have the vehicle running.

Also, if our speedometer has a stop peg in the zero position, you'll need to mark where the speedometer is in that position, because when it gets voltage, the needle will come off of the peg. If there is no peg there, then no worry.

The electronics hookup is rather easy. Just find a voltage source on the cluster, or wherever the FAQ at the site tells you and tap in. A voltmeter certainly helps.

Anyway, that's basically it, just keep the motor COLD and mark the needles quickly, before it warms up. Worked perfectly for me on the little Grand Am.

greyghost03 · June 19, 2003

The electronics hookup is rather easy. Just find a voltage source on the cluster, or wherever the FAQ at the site tells you and tap in. A voltmeter certainly helps.

This is just a white face overlay so I don't think I'll have to mess w/the electronics.

Thanks for the info!

greyghost03 · June 25, 2003

Anybody know if this will affect the warranty. I don't think it will as it is just a gauge face overlay and not a complete gauge cluster- I wouldn't be changing the gauges.

lrymal · June 25, 2003

Anybody know if this will affect the warranty. I don't think it will as it is just a gauge face overlay and not a complete gauge cluster- I wouldn't be changing the gauges.

Unless you are klutzy like my 8 year old nephew, I think your warranty will be safe.

I've been through the white-faced guage route via my Pontiac Grand Am. Don't like 'em. Not at all.

Basically, the idea is great. Our gauges are so buried in the "cave" that sometimes the guages are difficult to see in the shadows. They need to have some sort of reflective or white face. Soooo, all these guys are coming out with these guages and charging a terribly expensive price. Basically, all they did was scan an existing guage, reverse the polarity of the facing, then made a transparency and put adhesive on the other side.

When I had my Grand Am, a bunch of us made our own and they came out pretty good. Our problem was that we had some real problems with lining up the lighting resulting in some "dead zones" for the lighting. Never could get that right.

About six months later, some companies came out with some $100 solutions. I really wanted a white faced overlay so I purchased one, thinking a professional company could solve the problem. NOPE. Not at all. Same problems that we all had. Others tried the company's solution and had similar results. So, we all sold our overlays and recovered some of our investment.

Finally, some companies made some reverse indiglo overlays in which the ENTIRE factory overlay was covered and replaced. PRESTO! The cost was about $50 and the colored lighting was simply wonderful.

So, with that intensive history, that should explain why I'm not particularly wild about mere overlays. I don't think you'll ever get your lighting to perfectly line up.

If you want to see the stages that I went through on the Grand Am, check the URL below. There are two pages. The white overlay is the bottom pictures on page 1, and the indiglo overlay is on page 2. You'll see the dead zones on the night shot picture on the picture toward the bottom on page 1.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/lrymal/lst?.dir...y+Larry&.view=t

greyghost03 · June 25, 2003

lrymal- Thanks for the info and link! I had never thought of it lining up correctly. I think I might try them and if I can't get it to look right- ebay!

BTW- nice lookin Grand Am!

lrymal · June 26, 2003

lrymal- Thanks for the info and link! I had never thought of it lining up correctly. I think I might try them and if I can't get it to look right- ebay!

BTW- nice lookin Grand Am!

Yeah, well... do a lot of homework and searching on the internet and looking in magazine ads from Truckin magazine. Experience on the Grand Am really taught me that there are a lot of wannabees on supplying this sort of modification.

For me, I'd like to find a white-faced reverse indiglo gauge like what I found for that Grand Am (page 2 of the URL in my earlier message). But, haven't really looked.

Thanks for the compliment on the Grand Am. It was really a plain jane until some ideas from a list similar to this one bled my wallet, just like this one.

greyghost03 · June 26, 2003

Yeah, well... do a lot of homework and searching on the internet and looking in magazine ads from Truckin magazine. Experience on the Grand Am really taught me that there are a lot of wannabees on supplying this sort of modification.

I have already done alot of reasearch on this which brought me to decide on the NR Auto product. There are certainly alot out there!

The reason I am looking at NR Auto is because they have been around since 1986 and their products are used on Rousch & Steeda vehicles. Their products are manufactured to OEM specs and it shows.

I do not feel that NR Auto is one of the manuf. that has recently jumped on the bandwagon w/some aftermarket knock-offs to make some money. I think they sell a quality product. Guess I'll find out if/when I buy it!

Again, Thanks!

wonderl33t · July 9, 2003

Yeah, well... do a lot of homework and searching on the internet and looking in magazine ads from Truckin magazine. Experience on the Grand Am really taught me that there are a lot of wannabees on supplying this sort of modification.

I have already done alot of reasearch on this which brought me to decide on the NR Auto product. There are certainly alot out there!

The reason I am looking at NR Auto is because they have been around since 1986 and their products are used on Rousch & Steeda vehicles. Their products are manufactured to OEM specs and it shows.

I do not feel that NR Auto is one of the manuf. that has recently jumped on the bandwagon w/some aftermarket knock-offs to make some money. I think they sell a quality product. Guess I'll find out if/when I buy it!

Again, Thanks!

Yes, NR Auto is the OG of the white gauge face.

Good look, I have been thinking about this mod.

Anyone thinking about getting the El Glo? :-]

hockeyruss · July 22, 2003

I have a connection that I can get the awesome white gauge overlay that lights up blue or green at night for $60 plus shipping. These work great, I use them myself. Email me for pics if your interested.

LarryE · July 22, 2003

I went through the white face overlay phase, and all 4 times I could never get the speedo or fuel back right.

I finally gave up and just went with escalade gauges, best choice I ever made

For your 03 a set of the white ss gauges or hummer gauges would look sweet in there

greyghost03 · July 23, 2003

I went through the white face overlay phase, and all 4 times I could never get the speedo or fuel back right.

I finally gave up and just went with escalade gauges, best choice I ever made

For your 03 a set of the white ss gauges or hummer gauges would look sweet in there

I agree with ya but right now $99 was a lot more do-able than $300! The SS cluster may be in the future for the Grey Ghost.

As far as getting everything lined up correctly, as far a backlighting goes, the 03's don't stick on w/adhesive they snap on posts almost like buttons. Everything lined up perfectly and all gauges and lights light up perfect!

Click here for pics

BTW- the Caddy cluster does look cool in your truck!