Now that SpeedHut no longer makes gauge overlays for the Fiero, it makes it all the more difficult to customize the dash.

With that in mind, I was bored last night, and started playing around with my scanner, Photoshop and my electronic dye cutter. I was able to print the gauges in reverse onto a transparency using my laser printer. I then laminated the back, to protect the toner from scratches and such. I then ran it through my dye cutter, and the results were fairly impressive (to me at least) for a first attempt / proof of concept.

These are just scans of the stock gauges. Now that I see this could work, the could be done in a multitude of colors, font styles and such. The can also easily be printed in reverse, meaning the faces of the gauges could be white instead of black.

Here is a photo of the 3 main gauges taped to my LED monitor. I opened notepad to get a nice blank white screen. It made a pretty good back light to check them out
There is a slight bleed through of light through the black, as it is a thin toner layer. I do not think using this method that the black could be 100% light blocking.




I do not know if there is any need for something like this, or if anyone would even want something like this. I do strange things when I have some spare time in the evening, and I get bored

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 05-19-2014).]

I have not gotten as far as pricing them. I was posting this thread to see if there was any interest or a need/want for something like this.

The gauges could be customized in just about any way conceivable. Changing the colors of the tick marks, fonts, icons, indicators ect. Fiero Logo's or custom lettering could be applied anywhere someone would want it placed as well.

I have contacted a company online to supply the Electro Luminecent panels. The panels would be white, and pre-cut to the size of the Fiero gauges. White can be used for any combination of gauges, as the color would be in the toner layer of the fonts, tick marks and such.

If I do this, I will probably sell just the overlays at a reasonable price. Whoever purchased them, can then use the stock lighting to illuminate the gauges, or purchase the ePanels from a distributor that I am trying to get a good price from. Other alternatives are replacing the lights behind the gauges with LED's for a brighter back light.

This is just an example of different colors, and such. There are far too many colors in the below image for me, but again, just to show what can be done.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 05-21-2014).]

I received a reply for the Electo Luminicent (Epanel) back lighting. So, at this point, it looks like I could do the complete custom gauge faces including the GT Aux gauges for around roughly $85.

This would include:

• Epanels pre-cut for the faceplates
  
• Customized gauge overlays
  
• The inverter with dimmer control and wiring for all gauge face plates.
  

This is slightly less than Speed Hut is selling theirs for at $89. You can slightly customize the ones from Speed Hut, but most customizations are very limited, and at additional cost. The ones I am thinking on doing would be 100% customizable, and you can supply your own artwork if you so wish.

The other option I am thinking is $25 for just the custom face plates, and you can use the Fiero stock lighting, or use LED's or whatever you wish to do.

This is all preliminary, and based on how interested people are in this. I do not want to spend a lot of time, and purchase materials till I see that there is some sort of need / interest in these.

When I say custom, I mean just about anything can be customized. Here is a speedometer with a large Fiero logo, and a red circle around the numbers.




Here is one with a background of colored blocks:


And lastly, the tachometer done with teal letters and a carbon fiber background.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 05-21-2014).]

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Ethan

1985 Base "The Mongoose" under the knife 472 turbo build

1988 Formula daily driver