New Dials

[andrewl41]

Just ordered a new set of dials for my GT from here:

http://www.speedhut.com/el_detail.asp?cata...mber=349&bhcp=1

They end up coming to around £65 once you convert into UKP and add the postage, I hope they're worth it. I guess I'll see when they arrive! Should be in about a week or so.

[andrewl41]

Ah, I forgot to actually put the question in :D

Does anyone have any advice about actually changing the dials? I've never done it before so are there any things I should know /watch out for before I start.

Thanks

[Leeky]

Make sure you dont knock the odometer or it might look like the car has been clocked in the future.

Also dont get fingerprints on the faces of the dials....very difficult to remove.

Ummmm.....what else.....if you can try not to remove the needles as getting these back on in the exact place is difficult......thats assuming they dont break as you pull them off ;)

Good Luck

[andrewl41]

Thanks Leeky :)

Well these finally arrived yesterday so I'm going to fit them at the weekend. They look pretty good off, hopefully they'll look even better in place!

I have a couple of questions to ask before I put them on though.

Firstly which screws do I need to remove to get this part of the dash out. I've found 2 pointing toward to floor behind the stearing wheel but beyond that I can't see what I need to remove!

Also I will need to pick up a power source from somewhere. I'd like to get this off the lighting circuit so they come on with the lights. Is there an easily accessable live I should be looking for when I get the pannels off?

Lastly any general advice much appreciated.

Thanks all,

Andrew

[JakeLee]

Hi,

I've just fitted similar to my st, to change them I did it my way!

1 Pull of trim BELOW the dials.

2 Remove 4 screws from dial surround and remove

3 Remove 4 black srews holding dials in and remove by tilting forward and out removing the three connectors.

4 Take the dials inside and on the table and remove the two silver screws.

5 Unclip the clear, then the black plastic fronts.

6 Be careful of those dials! The black centre peice of each dial unclips CAREFULLY so you can slide the new dials over the top. I used double sided tape to hold the dials perfectly in place then clip back on the dial centre peices. You want the wires coming out the top.

7 Reassemble the dials making sure they all line up correctly.

8 Get back in the motor and mount the dial controls. I took them off the metal bracket it came with and mounted them on the blanking plate left of the steering wheel.

9 Either use a tester or wiring diagram to find the right power feed which comes on with the lights and ground the earth.

10 Connect everything up and check it all works before putting everything back together.

11 As they say in the Haynes manual re-assembly is a reversal of removal!

Mine look great, but I did have to take it all apart as one dial was a bit crooked and annoyed my, also mine are a different brand and i had to cut a hole out of original dials as they had a different brake symbol.

Should take about an hour and a half!

Good luck!

Lee

[andrewl41]

Thanks Lee

This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. It's always nice to have a good idea of what your getting into before you start. The less surprises the better!

[andrewl41]

Hi,

I've just fitted similar to my st, to change them I did it my way!

1 Pull of trim BELOW the dials.

2 Remove 4 screws from dial surround and remove

3 Remove 4 black srews holding dials in and remove by tilting forward and out removing the three connectors.

4 Take the dials inside and on the table and remove the two silver screws.

5 Unclip the clear, then the black plastic fronts.

6 Be careful of those dials! The black centre peice of each dial unclips CAREFULLY so you can slide the new dials over the top. I used double sided tape to hold the dials perfectly in place then clip back on the dial centre peices. You want the wires coming out the top.

7 Reassemble the dials making sure they all line up correctly.

8 Get back in the motor and mount the dial controls. I took them off the metal bracket it came with and mounted them on the blanking plate left of the steering wheel.

9 Either use a tester or wiring diagram to find the right power feed which comes on with the lights and ground the earth.

10 Connect everything up and check it all works before putting everything back together.

11 As they say in the Haynes manual re-assembly is a reversal of removal!

Mine look great, but I did have to take it all apart as one dial was a bit crooked and annoyed my, also mine are a different brand and i had to cut a hole out of original dials as they had a different brake symbol.

Should take about an hour and a half!

Good luck!

Lee

←

OK, I'm in the middle of doing this now. I have dials out, that part at least was easy! What I can't seem to get is how to get the needles off! It looks like they just pull off but I'm a little reluctant to just tug at them. Anuy help here would go down a treat.

Thanks

[Celica Chris]

well its been a few hours...

you have done one of the following..

1) pulled the needles off through impatience and proceeded to fix the dials in and you are now driving around fixated on your speedo and rev counter... : :D

2) broken the needles of through impatience and proceeded to put everything back together minus needles and are now driving around fixated on the sounds of ur engine reving and guessing ur speed by the number of lamp posts u pass in a second... :ffs:

3) wimped out and put it back together :(

4) wimped out and read the manual (unlikely) :bookworm:

5) wimped out and called ur mate who proceeded to do one of the above..

hope its all ok tho, how they look?

6) no one uses this smiley. soo.. you decided you didnt like cars no more and joined the circus to be a magician :hokus-pokus: (more likely than reading the manual...

[JakeLee]

Probably a bit late but DON'T REMOVE THE NEEDLES!! You only need take the black centre clips off them to lay the new dial over the top!

[andrewl41]

Well, I got them on in my own little way.

I couldn't get the black centre bits off but with a bit of shoving I got the dials to go over the top of the needles so all good in the end :D

Thanks for the help guys. I'll get some pictures up in a day or two once I've

a) taken it to bits again and straightened the speedo dial, looks a little slanted

and B) got hold of a digital camera, really must get one of my own :)

btw, they look great!

Thanks again :)

[Bootygrabber]

What colour is the light behind it? just green?

[andrewl41]

They're ElGlow dials so there's no light behind them, the whole face of the dial glows a bright blue. Looks really cool I have to say!

[thiambal]

They're ElGlow dials so there's no light behind them, the whole face of the dial glows a bright blue.  Looks really cool I have to say!

←

Come on then, lets have a piccy

[Ricey155]

They're ElGlow dials so there's no light behind them, the whole face of the dial glows a bright blue.  Looks really cool I have to say!

←

Come on then, lets have a piccy

←

piccy piccy piccy

[SexyCrayola]

Those look like really nice dials!

I know there in now but only thing I can ask is that if you made sure they didnt go on the interior lighting /dimmer -ve because when you turn the lighting up this can burn out your new EL dials.

I put mine on the wrong on initially in my ST. They worked but I rectified it as soon as had traced the wiring diagram and realised.

oh ... and PICS please :D

[andrewl41]

Those look like really nice dials!

I know there in now but only thing I can ask is that if you made sure they didnt go on the interior lighting /dimmer -ve  because when you turn the lighting up this can burn out your new EL dials.

I put mine on the wrong on initially in my ST. They worked but I rectified it as soon as had traced the wiring diagram and realised.

oh ... and PICS please  :D

←

hmm, it seems quite possible that I did :(

I thought I was being clever wiring it up to the circuit that the standard dial lights are on. I'm not quite sure I understand the problem though. Why should this burn them out. Is it because there is too much curent going through them if the dimmer is turned up to full?

What did you connect yours to in the end then?

[Gen5GT]

....

[SexyCrayola]

hmm, it seems quite possible that I did :(

I thought I was being clever wiring it up to the circuit that the standard dial lights are on.  I'm not quite sure I understand the problem though.  Why should this burn them out.  Is it because there is too much curent going through them if the dimmer is turned up to full? 

What did you connect yours to in the end then?

←

I'm only mentioning it as with my set of EL dials it was one thing that was written in as a warning.

I am not absolutely sure that the wires in the GT will be the same as mine in the ST. I think it may vary between import or UK, or simply if its a pre facelift or facelift model.

But anyway, on mine theres two choices- solid green or Green with a white stripe - the striped one is the interior lighting attached to the dimmer system in my car.

I wouldnt worry about it tbh since this wasnt mentioned with the particular dials you have.

Do yours have thier own dimmer/colour change control? Mine does - so I think its the combination of both the interior dimmer and the one on the dials being turned up full whack then there becomes the risk.

The transformer on mine 'buzzes' when turned to green so I tend to leave mine on blue setting unless I cant hear it for the stereo being on.

Sorry - I posted on wrong user name above lol.

[andrewl41]

Sounds like the same wires. I don't have time to take it all to bits again now so I think I'll just leave it turned down a tad until I get a chance to do something about it.

Thanks for the info though! very good to know of any potential problems!

[andrewl41]

I've been thinking about this some more and I can't really see how it can be a problem.

Surely the dimmer is just a variable resister and hence at maximum dilivers the same voltage as would be there all the time on non-dimmed lives. So what I'm saying is that all lines will be ~12v, appart from those which are on the dimer circuit which will be ~12v or less.

Now I'm not saying your wrong, just that I don't understand how a problem can exist. I want to fully understand the problem before I go changing things so any explanation would be greatly apreciated.

Thanks

Andrew

[SexyCrayola]

Dont think there will be a problem. Think its more a case that I got extra cautios (and crap) fitting instructions.

Leave em they should be fine! - was just sharing info

[andrewl41]

Dont think there will be a problem. Think its more a case that I got extra cautios (and crap) fitting instructions.

Leave em they should be fine! - was just sharing info 

←

Thanks, I wasn't meaning to doubt you and I appreciate the help. I'm just one of those people who like to understand things thoroughly for my own piece of mind. I think it's the only way to learn!

Nice car btw. There are a lot of nods I've got planned for mine that you seem to have already done so I'm sure I'll be quizzing you in the future for advice. Got to concentrate on paying for the car it self first though! Slod my old Rover last night so that's going some way to clearing the back log!

Thanks again,

Andrew

[sotal]

I agree with your thoughts andrew, you can't ever get more voltage or current than connecting it directly to the live, so it shouldn't harm anything. The manufactures probably put it on as a warning just incase

a.) something goes wrong with the car one and it breaks the lot (unlikely)

b.) to stop daft people phoning up saying they can't get it to work when they've accidently turned the other knob down

c.) so they can use it as an excuse if it breaks - they say you didn't follow the fitting instructions right so it can't be their fault it broke!

So I would leave it as it is, espicially if yours didn't warn you

[andrewl41]

So I would leave it as it is, espicially if yours didn't warn you

←

Well in fairness I didn't actually read the instructions at all So I don't actually know

[JakeLee]

I think the reason is that if the supply to the dials was lower than -12v it would/could burn out the transformer if you had the indeglo dials on full. Just a thought!