Mad Chemist

Well, finally got around to installing my white face gauges. I bought them from Procarparts.com for a whopping 24.00 off ebay. I used Bob_SR5's instructions off yotatech, with minor variations. These gauges are overlays, and I ran into the same problem Bob did with trying to get them to fit over the OEM bolts, but after some slight enlargement everything went pretty smoothly. I love the look of the bright blue, although I turned the intensity down quite a bit- full strength can be annoying when driving. I left the control tucked under the dash to avoid drilling more holes in the console, figuring that once they were at a comfortable level of brightness I wouldn't be changing them again. Anyways, check out the pick below. Its an easy and relatively inexpensive mod, and I love the new look! Plus, my seat-of-the-pants meter tells me I get an extra 7 HP when driving at night

delboy

Lookin good! I like the reverse indiglos. Might consider chaging in a few years when i gete bored with mine!

keisur

Hey Mad, you can get some Blue 194 bulbs at walmart so the mileage shoes up in sort of indiglo to. here's mine with just the blue bulbs installed. I not that happy because I only gained about 1.57674 hp after installing the blue bulbs.

gauges before console completed

blue gauges

Bob_98SR5

Mad,

Looks great. I like those style overlays better than the ones I installed on my old 99.

What minor variations? I'd love to include some of your practical experience in my write up. Can you send me some more pics to my email too?

Keisur: HP gains from bulbs---I've heard of that. Amazing. Hey, looks like you might have missed the center bulb as your center is still white. On my 99, there were 3 bulbs. Is it the same for the 98s too?

Thanks,
Bob

keisur

I know, I can't figure it out. I think it was the bulb I put in there. there are 3 and I replaced all three but I think that one of the blue bulbs was a dud or something. I'm going to crack it open to check it out again tomorrow. of course I didn't notice until I put everything back together. I also have to find some different blue plastic opaque sheeting to make the little discs for the turn signals, the ones I used are too light and you can see the bulb through them when they light up. luckily those blue bulbs came in packs of two so I have an extra since I bought two packs.

Now that I think of it the light would show up greenish if I missed on because they have those green prophylactics on them. ya know?

Mad Chemist

Thanks for the compliments! I didn't think to even look for the bulbs for mileage, and will change those out next, seeing as I'm an expert on dismantling my dash now!

As far as changes to the write-up- I ran into the same issues as you with getting the overlays over the bolt heads. I used a normal drill bit to enlarge the holes. Even then, the new gauge still bubbled a bit, and retarded the movement of the needle. This is what took me the most time, trying to get the gauge to lie flat enough not to impede the needle. For the kit I got, there were four wires that needed to be run out of the cluster. Since that white plastic is so soft, I ended up cutting a channel into the plastic for each wire. I could have just drilled a hole for each one. Anyways, I made the channel deep enough for the wire to extend out of the cluster and still keep the face of the gauge flat. I used some clear tape to tape the edges of the new gauge to the old gauge to help hold the new down, although this may have been unecessary, since the black face plate probably puts enough pressure on the gauges to hold everything in place. For power, I used the old jam the wire into the accs. fuse slot technique- it was getting dark, and I wanted to finish up. I've decided not to mount the controller, and leave it under the console now that I've got the intensity adjusted. I couldn't find a good place to mount it so I avoided the problem altogether. So, no huge differences from what you did. The pictures in the write-up were helpful for dismantling the dash, and once you've done it, its easy to go back and do it again, so I'm definitely going to switch the other lights over to blue as well. The only complaints I have with this kit is that the Green setting doesn't look much different than the blue, but I liked the blue better anyways. I'll take some daylight pictures today and send tomorrow.

TDiddy

Hey David, looks great! Its one mod I'd like to do one of these days....

Bob_98SR5

David,

Yeah, sounds like we had the same issues, esp the problem w/ the gauges not laying flat b/c of the top corner of the gauges not having enough room to lay flat.

As I wrote, I believe a step bit would have worked better, but since I've never used one or didnt use it on my 99 gauges, I'm not 100% sure. When I used a regular drill bit to enlarge the hole, there were tiny bubbles caused by the separation of the clear film and the overlay backing. Nobody ever commented on it but I knew it was there. You know what I'm saying.

The gauges I purchased was from an ebay seller called "initialK". I had exactly the same problem and it sounds like we had the exact same solution.

My controller had two screw holes at the top. Though I didn't show it in the write up, what I did was to mount it on the lower lip of the bottom driver's side panel. If I recall correctly, I mounted it on the left side but after my leg kept on hitting it so much, I moved it to the right side, closer to the center radio console.

Yes, pics are definitely helpful. Glad they came of use. Also, the green on my indiglos were not as green as the pics on their auction. It reminded me of how nice and neat the burgers are on the menu board but when you get it, its a mashed, thrown together POS!

And yes, pics would be great. I may end up getting them too after seeing yours!

Bob

Mad Chemist

F.Y.I

These are the gauges I got:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2416218124


I recieved them promptly, althought there aren't any instructions at all, and no bolts to mount the controller if you decide to do so (another reason why I didn't mount mine).

Bob_98SR5

Hey David,

These guys are 2.5 miles from my office! Too funny.

Daytime pics would be great. Do they look silver? I prefer white.

Bob

Mad Chemist

Yes, they are silver, but I think they might have white face gauges as well.

See:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2416182281


That's probably what you're looking for.

Mad Chemist

Quck question- any advantage to wiring to the headlight power wire instead of the acc.? With the transformer they have on this set-up, am I getting enough/too much juice through that circuit?

Bob_98SR5

David,

Boy, I really don't know. Did you put the voltmeter up to the wire you tapped? I went w/ the headlight wire based on Butnut and the late, great PhilR's (rest in peace, my friend) recommendation.

Bob

WT

I used a nifty little fuse add on tap kit ( Autozone had them $7 bucks ) you can see in the last pic here from when I did my install guages.
http://community.webshots.com/album/68939195UPrzgd
I also tapped into the 15amp ACC fuse opposed to hunting down the wire behind the cluster that gets power when you turn the lights on but this will have them on all the time which was fine by me . It also allows you to use another fuse for your added new needs. I also got my guages from the same place and the only issue was with the lower pieces not matching up exactly the Brake and AT temp I think it was is reveresed. I had no issue with the screws or anything else it was a nice fit, As Bill said just unscrew them and that willl help hold it all in place

Wild_Bill

I'm confused as to why you guys are enlarging the holes that the little screws go through. When I installed my overlays I removed the screws, installed the overlays, then re-installed the screws through the overlays, helped to hold them flat too. Removing those screws in no way affects the needle calibration, it simply holds the needle-gear assembly to the back of the gauge. You can unscrew them, slide the overlays over the needles, then screw them back in, all is good.

Mad Chemist

Just realized yesterday that tapping in the ACC fuse will keep them lit all the time, but I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing. I was afraid to remove the screws due to fear of screwing up the needle calibration, but it sounds like that isn't an issue. The most problems for me were caused by trying to run the wires out the top. Without cutting channels in the plastic I don't know how else it could have been done. I didn't have time to take more pictures last night, but will do so soon.

Bob_98SR5

Wild Bill,

Is that true for all the 4runner speedo and tachs? When I was about to start my 99 install of the indiglos, I went to a speedo shop and they said that removing the screws would release some spring which would screw up the needles themselves.

Maybe the speedo shop was yanking my chain, who knows. But I wasn't going to take that risk so that is why I enlarged the holes.

Bob

pfdaxe

Removing the screws doesn't hurt anything. They just hold the speedo and tach to the cluster. They don't effect the needles.

Bob_98SR5

Wild Bill and PFD,

Thanks. I'm going to modify my write up to reflect that.

Bob

Javin028

First off, i would like to say that this is my first post. Your gauges look great, David. I was wondering if, by changing the bulbs behind the OEM gauges to blue, it would make everything appear blue like keisur's gauges. Also, how hard would they be to replace? do i just follow the instruction on the write-up on how to replace gauges and find the bulbs? Is it hard to replace the bulbs in the center console? 4runners rock! Thanks in advance!