North American Turbocoupe Organization



Updated Dash gauges....
Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#1
I posted on here earlier that I always like the 85-86 Mustang orange/red gauges with the orange needles and was wanting to try that for my 88 TC. Well got it all apart thinking I could just change the bulb lenses for the Mustang ones, but both the Tach and the Speedo already have a green overlay built into the gauge itself. So I don't think that would work well with red/orange lighting. But what I did was go ahead and paint the needles with some Testors model paint to match the Autometer gauges I run. What do you all think?


Attached Files Image(s)
   
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
Mikey97D likes this post
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#2
Looks great!
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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fred k Offline
Senior Member
#3
(03-24-2020, 08:32 PM)Kuch Wrote: I posted on here earlier that I always like the 85-86 Mustang orange/red gauges with the orange needles and was wanting to try that for my 88 TC. Well got it all apart thinking I could just change the bulb lenses for the Mustang ones, but both the Tach and the Speedo already have a green overlay built into the gauge itself. So I don't think that would work well with red/orange lighting. But what I did was go ahead and paint the needles with some Testors model paint to match the Autometer gauges I run. What do you all think?
Looks great.  Like you always liked the orange/red gauges and the orange/red needles.  Had an 80's 280z that had that setup and it was super.
fred l kennedy
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84TBirdTurbo42 Offline
Senior Member
#4
id have a hard time not doing this now.... dang! looks awesome.
Chris Perry
1984 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. Dead, NY rot killed her
1986 Thunderbird shell, swapping parts from the 84.
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#5
^^^^ Yup, I likely will do this next time I have to take my cluster out.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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JT Offline
Posting Freak
#6
Did you paint the tops of the speedo and tach needles? When I did this, if I recall correctly, they were transparent with the white on the underside for better illumination. I painted the underside red after scraping the white. That's not the case for the smaller, surrounding gauges.

The picture makes it look like it's painted on both sides but it's actually on the bottom and reflected:
   
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#7
(03-27-2020, 12:07 AM)JT Wrote: Did you paint the tops of the speedo and tach needles? When I did this, if I recall correctly, they were transparent with the white on the underside for better illumination. I painted the underside red after scraping the white. That's not the case for the smaller, surrounding gauges.

The picture makes it look like it's painted on both sides but it's actually on the bottom and reflected:
Yeah, I just painted the tops of them, I did see the white painted undersides and wasn't sure which way would be better. We'll see how it looks with the lights on when I temp install it to see.
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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ABird Offline
Member
#8
Looks very nice. I need to remove the cluster anyway to check the turbo gauge. I don't have Testors model paint, but I do have acrylic paints from my paintings. The Testors website has different types of model paints. What did you use?
AES
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#9
(03-27-2020, 01:08 AM)ABird Wrote: Looks very nice.  I need to remove the cluster anyway to check the turbo gauge.  I don't have Testors model paint, but I do have acrylic paints from my paintings.  The Testors website has different types of model paints.  What did you use?
It's Testors Model Master Fluorescent Red (FS28915) enamel. They sell it at Hobby Lobby in the model section. I use it for most of my gauge needle re-paints


Attached Files Image(s)
   
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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ABird Offline
Member
#10
(03-27-2020, 01:25 AM)Kuch Wrote:
(03-27-2020, 01:08 AM)ABird Wrote: Looks very nice.  I need to remove the cluster anyway to check the turbo gauge.  I don't have Testors model paint, but I do have acrylic paints from my paintings.  The Testors website has different types of model paints.  What did you use?
It's Testors Model Master Fluorescent Red (FS28915) enamel. They sell it at Hobby Lobby in the model section. I use it for most of my gauge needle re-paints
Great, thanks.  I have a Hobby Lobby near me.
AES
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