Gauge Needle Refresh
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Joined: Oct 2005
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From: KENTUCKY
Gauge Needle Refresh
I had the instrument panel exposed on the son's truck; so, I had the wife, who is the more talented artist--actually a real good artist--can paint/draw anything--brighten up the faded needles on his gauges.
As this opportunity sort of presented itself un-awares, and we live in a little fourth-world mud-lick kind of a place, with limited merchandise available, and as I had forgotten to stop at a hobby-shop the last trip to a big city, we sort of improvised.
The ONLY can of suitable paint was a SPRAY can of KRYLON #3101 RED GLOWING ORANGE FLUORESCENT.
Her with paintbrush in hand and sitting in the driver-seat, I aimed the spray inside a cut off empty plastic water bottle and sprayed until a small liquid puddle accumulated in the bottom.
She carefully repainted each needle, giving them about four coats.
After some careful damp-cloth cleaning of the surrounding black areas, it looks good as new.
Cost of the paint was about five bucks and I still have enough to paint a semi load of needles, should the occassion arise.
Here is a link to the article in the stickies:
http://www.dens-site.net/Dodge_CTD/Gauge_Cluster/
If I can come up with a bottle of that Meguiars Mirror Glaze #10 Plastic Polish, before I put it all back together, I will try to polish out the scratches on the clear plastic cover.
Can those clear plastic covers be had NEW ??
His has a couple small cracks.
Thanks.
As this opportunity sort of presented itself un-awares, and we live in a little fourth-world mud-lick kind of a place, with limited merchandise available, and as I had forgotten to stop at a hobby-shop the last trip to a big city, we sort of improvised.
The ONLY can of suitable paint was a SPRAY can of KRYLON #3101 RED GLOWING ORANGE FLUORESCENT.
Her with paintbrush in hand and sitting in the driver-seat, I aimed the spray inside a cut off empty plastic water bottle and sprayed until a small liquid puddle accumulated in the bottom.
She carefully repainted each needle, giving them about four coats.
After some careful damp-cloth cleaning of the surrounding black areas, it looks good as new.
Cost of the paint was about five bucks and I still have enough to paint a semi load of needles, should the occassion arise.
Here is a link to the article in the stickies:
http://www.dens-site.net/Dodge_CTD/Gauge_Cluster/
If I can come up with a bottle of that Meguiars Mirror Glaze #10 Plastic Polish, before I put it all back together, I will try to polish out the scratches on the clear plastic cover.
Can those clear plastic covers be had NEW ??
His has a couple small cracks.
Thanks.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,457
Likes: 95
From: KENTUCKY
Clear Plastic Polish
I just finished polishing the clear plastic lens that covers the factory instrument panel.
I could not find the recommended Meguiars mirror glaze #10 Plastic Polish; but, I did buy a bottle of MEGUIARS PLASTX Clear Plastic Cleaner and Polish.
This is a white plastic bottle with a black cap, about $7.00 at Advance.
I spent about a half-an-hour polishing the clear plastic instrument panel, not in the truck.
The results are AMAZING !!!!
I had already washed and cleaned this piece with soapy water and Windex; it just looked cleaner, but not impressive.
I am tempted to remove the clear panels from the rest of our fleet, and paint the needles and polish the plastic on them.
While I had everything apart, I removed the headlight-switch box and mounted four big toggles in the un-used space.
I pre-wired 30" 12AWG leads to each toggle, labeling and identifying them for future use.
I coiled the leads and tied them out of harm's way.
I also found the 4X4 indicator light wires to be just shy of under tension, when the dash panel is in place, making for a tedious time trying to get it installed.
I clipped the two leads and spliced in eight inches more wire, making re-installation a lot easier.
I could not find the recommended Meguiars mirror glaze #10 Plastic Polish; but, I did buy a bottle of MEGUIARS PLASTX Clear Plastic Cleaner and Polish.
This is a white plastic bottle with a black cap, about $7.00 at Advance.
I spent about a half-an-hour polishing the clear plastic instrument panel, not in the truck.
The results are AMAZING !!!! I had already washed and cleaned this piece with soapy water and Windex; it just looked cleaner, but not impressive.
I am tempted to remove the clear panels from the rest of our fleet, and paint the needles and polish the plastic on them.
While I had everything apart, I removed the headlight-switch box and mounted four big toggles in the un-used space.
I pre-wired 30" 12AWG leads to each toggle, labeling and identifying them for future use.
I coiled the leads and tied them out of harm's way.
I also found the 4X4 indicator light wires to be just shy of under tension, when the dash panel is in place, making for a tedious time trying to get it installed.
I clipped the two leads and spliced in eight inches more wire, making re-installation a lot easier.
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BigBully
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Jul 29, 2008 09:51 AM