I'm thick headed and don't listen. Against the recommendations of others I'm going ahead with home-brew gauge faces. The faces are not flat, so a single sticker like face will not cover the whole thing. Painting it white then adding a new face probably wouldn't look right. Leaving it black and adding a white face in the center only plus painting the needle bright orange looks surprisingly ok. Thoughts/opinions?

Sorry for the low quality pics, I even took out the clear plastic. My attempt next to a stock face...




That's on plain paper. I have some "Print & Stick" sticker like paper, but I may try to track down some vinyl "bumper sticker" paper. The local stores don't have any.

 

I think yours is a big improvement over original

 

Looks really good

 

It looks awsome. Have you done faces for the other gauges?

You can get Vinyl inkjet bumper sticker paper online

http://www.bumperstickermaker.com/bu..._supplies.html

I would suggest that you also get the UV Protectant Overlaminate at the bottom of the page if you go for the vinyl.

However I'm not sure about Glossy vinyl.

You may want to try a semi gloss or matte photo paper then coat with a UV protectant spray. A can of Super 77 spray glue would stick it on better than the glue on bumper sticker paper.

 

Not yet. For this one I was just kinda screwing around with the laptop during commercials while watching TV. The biggest issue I found is my digital camera doesn't take good pics, and I can't scan the gauges 'cause they are not flat. This means I had to use a digital picture, scale it up, then use it as a guide for placement of the numbers/tick marks only. No big deal, but time consuming when trying to watch tv. I also might try to find a different program for this. I used The Gimp (freeware photoshop like program), but it's bitmapped not vector graphics. I scaled the scan to 1200 pixels then printed it out at 600dpi for slightly under 2 inches across after clipping the border, but vector graphics are more flexible with better tools for this. I think I can get better print quality that way as well. Never heard of a UV protectant spray. I am concerned about the colors fading over time, but if I can UV protect it, it should last much longer. Stupid question, but should I even worry about UV rays anyway? It's in the garage when not being driven, it's an occasional weekend car not a DD, and the gauges are behind the plastic. Not sure about the glossy finish of vinyl. I'll probably order some and see what they look like side by side.

If anyone wants a copy when I'm done just let me know.