Is there any way to get a sheet of one of the "regular" color gel sheets? What dimensions are they available in and how much? I want to change the color of my instrument panel illumination and think this would be a good way to go. If there is a way, are they subject to fading or are they more or less fade proof?

Stu

If you are able to do this let us know. I have a friend who has wanted to change the colors of his, but looking into it, the plastic that is illuminated is dyed in different layers, that is how they get the different colors on one panel using just white light bulbs.

Email me.

In my case, the speedo, tach, etc, has a translucent white plastic with an orange coating (paint?) on the back side that filters out everything but the orange spectrum from the bulb. My plan is to remove this coating according to instructions on the net and use a different colored sheet of the gel to replace the stock orange with some shade of blue.

In some cases, the color does not come from multi-layered dyes and in some cases it does. What is sometimes done is to put a colored rubber sleeve over the bulb to filter and shine through white translucent plastic. Other times there are multi-layered dyes that impart the color you are seeing. I imagine if you are careful, you could remove the dyes down to the base white dye and use some small pieces of gel sheet or locate the rubber sleeves in your color choice. Excluding the gauges in my car, an Eclipse, everything orange is that way because of the rubber sleeves. I plan to remove those and place small pieces of the gel sheet behind the dash to make them light blue.

I'll post the results when I get around to doing it. I have some other things going on right now, and can't tackle that right now.

Stu

Yeah that sounds exactly like what my friend wants to do. He has a Pontiac Transam, and wants to make the gauges blue as well. VW has got everyone hooked! Im excited to see how yours turns out. Good luck!

My friend found something that you may want to try! Pro Car Parts has new gauge overlays. My friends went over top of his existing gauge cluster, it is a thin layer. But it is an electric component. That is how it changes colors. I may get one myself!

edit: Upon looking further, if you go to the home page, select the make, then model, it has more of a selection. Check here

The six color gauge overlay for the Eclipse looks cool, but they don't show any pictures of it lit up. I really only want one color anyway. Wouldn't it look kind of strange to have that overlay sitting on top of the old gauges? I would think it would look a little out of place since it wouldn't be flush. Maybe I'm missing something?

Stu

My friends lined up pretty good. There was a slight misallignment, but not major. His only problem he said was that it bubbled up where the needle is preventing it from moving. But his is just one large piece, for a Firebird. I took my dash apart today, to see how it would be, and I will probably try just replacing the gauge faces. I'll try to get some pictures of my friends so you can see how it turned out.

How exactly do those gauges work? Do you remove the old faces or do the new ones somehow sit on top of the old ones?

Stu

I really wish I could say. When I go to get pictures from my friend I will find out for sure. I know he did have to wire it in. My guess is that is is kind of like indiglow... it requires electricity, and has a switch to change colors... hence 2 colors, or 6 colors. Now my friends sits on top of the old ones... but for my gauges, which I bet are simiilar to yours, it is easy to pull off the gauge face itself, so straight up replacing it shouldn't be hard. But of course, my tach no longer works... doh!... in pulling the needle off I messed up the spring, and no longer have one...