Gauges Challenge

[Kuro3]

Hey guys! I am new to this forum, but I've been reading through the posts to look for a photoshopping of the 3's gauges in blue. I have seen a lot of great work with photoshop from you all. I was just always curious as to how it looks.

Thanks guys, u rule.

 

[icspots]

gauges in blue

Well I'd love to help you out with a photoshop, but all I can offer you are actual pictures of blue Mz3 gauges. (bowdown) Here's the link for the walkthrough.

And here are some pics.

 

[ZoomVT]

wow!
that is pretty sweet!
why some of the gauges still display red?

 

[Kuro3]

That's awesome!!! Hey, what does it look like when you turn the lights on and the blue LEDs come on in the gauge cluster??

Really sweet job

 

[icspots]

wow!
that is pretty sweet!
why some of the gauges still display red?

He wasn't trying to completely replace the red, just add more blue. I think he liked the little inverted triangle of red dials on the stereo/AC controls. If he were to change the odo. to blue he would have to pull the polarizer off of the LCD and put a blue film in. That might dim it enough to make it less usable.

Notice the LCD for the stereo. He did a similar mod to that by reversing the polarizer and adding a red film to tint it some.

That's awesome!!! Hey, what does it look like when you turn the lights on and the blue LEDs come on in the gauge cluster??

I'm not really sure, though I started wondering that when I was posting this. I'll PM commie and see if he'll put up some pics of that.

 

[CommieMaster]

Sorry my camera made the colors all weird, but here you go

 

[TheMAN]

the blue looks really good... but functionally it'll suck to look at during night time

 

[TheMAN]

I just looked at the install guide... that's top notch quality! props to the guy who wrote it!

 

[icspots]

Thanks commie.... or should I call you commiemaster now? j/k

Jeez! You've put about 9k miles on your car since you did the walkthrough.

 

[CommieMaster]

the blue looks really good... but functionally it'll suck to look at during night time

Not at all! I think it felt awkward to look at for a few days (simply because I was used to it being all red) but it doesn't strain your eyes at all and is really easy to look at.

 

[CommieMaster]

Thanks commie.... or should I call you commiemaster now? j/k

Jeez! You've put about 9k miles on your car since you did the walkthrough.

Lol thx for noticing, is that a lot of miles?

 

[Kuro3]

Those look pretty cool. I was worried that the tickmarks would get washed out by the LEDs.

Thanks a lot commie. Really great job! and awesome walkthrough. You should get a job on the side writing do-it-yourself manuals...lord knows someone has to do a better job

 

[Kuro3]

Hey CommieMaster, I was driving around in my 3 today and was thinking about my gauges some more and I have a couple questions....

1) When my car is turned off, since I drive an s-model, the gauges "blackout", but you can still see a bit of something like red film or something on the tick marks and numbers. I went back into your tutorial and it didn't mention anything about that. Is it a problem, or do I have to scrape it clear or something??

2) Also, you know how when you turn your lights on, it's like the gauges have another set of blubs or something that make them red, and you can press that button ontop of the gauges that turns them back to like an orangish color, and it helps with reading your gauges when you have your lights on and it's not dark out?? What is that? Does that just change the intensity or soemthing in the blubs? And does that still work with the blue LEDs??


Thanks man

 

[CommieMaster]

Hey CommieMaster, I was driving around in my 3 today and was thinking about my gauges some more and I have a couple questions....

1) When my car is turned off, since I drive an s-model, the gauges "blackout", but you can still see a bit of something like red film or something on the tick marks and numbers. I went back into your tutorial and it didn't mention anything about that. Is it a problem, or do I have to scrape it clear or something??

2) Also, you know how when you turn your lights on, it's like the gauges have another set of blubs or something that make them red, and you can press that button ontop of the gauges that turns them back to like an orangish color, and it helps with reading your gauges when you have your lights on and it's not dark out?? What is that? Does that just change the intensity or soemthing in the blubs? And does that still work with the blue LEDs??


Thanks man

1. You'll have to sand the red film off if you do a white backlighting mod. The film will make the white light look pinkish. If you do blue it won't cause a problem.

2. Yea the button just adjusts the intensity of the backlighting. Since blue LEDs are naturally dimmer than red LEDs, you'll have to keep the intensity on the max setting. If you keep it on a lower setting then you won't be able to see it during daytime and the blue lights shining from the top will wash it out during nighttime.

Hope that helps

 

[MidnightSpeeder]

Damn, if I ever change the cloth to leather or alcantara, then I'm definately doing that mod.

 

[Kuro3]

Awesome. Thanks again commie, you are the man

 

[D-rock240]

Those look great! They look like they could be stock. And that was a great writeup, those closeup pics of the circuit board are the best IMO (2thumbs)