Would anyone on this forum have the capability of making overlays for stock instruments to give them a vintage look?


I'm willing to give it a try myself if someone can tell me what material is used and how to install the overlays without destroying the instruments.


[Edited on 1/10/03 by carcentric]

Have a look here, i'm going to do the same sort of thing.

Guage faces

Good thread on the material for the overlays, very helpful. I've played around with an overlay for my own instruments (corolla GTS), and it looks do-able now that I've seen that overlay thread.

I used Turbocad to draw up the instrument faces, playing around with fonts, positioning and marks until I got what I liked. Then I printed them on regular paper to get a feel for how they would fit. You can get the 2D (learning) version of turbocad for free from www.imsisoft.com.

On the instruments that I've seen (tach and speed), the needles come off with a bit of gentle pulling, and push back on after (make sure you push them on at the zero position). There's plenty of space for the paper overlay, I except so for some of the other choices too.

I used a hollow punch to make the holes for the needle.

HTH.

Lockwood, who make coloured replacement dials for road cars etc. Recommend the use of two teaspoons as levers for needle. Place one on each side with bowl down, tips under needle and press down on handles, works great and no effort.

They make their dials from celluloid but I'm sure you could use OHP Film.