Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

[LarryBud Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LarryBud]

I took JDinner's zip files http://www.madmechanics.com/yabbse/i...;threadid=2324
and played around to get some Lambo type overlays. First attempt,,,,,,,They seem a little plain. I think I will play with them some more. Feel free to change them if you like.

[lambobro Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close lambobro]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

Looks good ...are you going to be using the fiero guages or aftermarket..VDO? Either way an overlay like that with the emblems look nice.\Lambobro

[johnjs Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close johnjs]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

what would you print them out on? doesn't it have to be some sort of decal material ? paper?...is this something you can do on a home computer printer?...thanks john

[dcox Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dcox]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

That is AWESOME!
How do you do that?

[LarryBud Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LarryBud]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

??? Ya know,,,, Johnjs,,,,,,,,I was hoping that jdinner would see these and maybe fill us in on what to do with them next! I think I will keep the fiero gauge pod with overlays. I don't see myself spending $500 on gauges and then the headaches of getting them to work. I will build a custom pod around it with a variety of switches and lights to confuse the facts. I am not happy with the size of the bull on the tach. I think the MPH would be better under the needle on the speedo. I'll make these changes later. 8)

[johnjs Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close johnjs]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

yeah I know what you mean Larry ...in Canadian dollars you can drop a grand or over to get aftermarket gauges imported up here ....would be nice but ...I got two teenagers going back to school ...one needs braces ...blah ,blah .you know . sent Jim a cheque for his emblems tho maybe he will help us with this ...john

[Bosuch Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bosuch]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

The trick to installing these is layering. Here's how I make my backlit gauges...

1) Start with the images above (although mine had orange markings), and print them out at 300dpi.

2) Take the same images into photoshop, and replace all the white with black (this is assuming you don't have black markings). Now select all the markings, increase the selection size by a few pixels, and fill in the selection with the same color. The end result should be kind of a "blobby" version of the white faced gauge. Now reverse the image along the vertical axis, so that when you print it, it's backwards.

3) Print this on crack & peel (sticky-backed paper).

4) Now you need to stick them together. Cut the reverse-gauge down till you have about 1" of waste on each side. At the top, in the waste area, cut about 1/8" of the protective paper off, exposing the sticky. This will allow you to slide the white gauge around until perfect. I then taped the sticky one, printed side down, to a sheet of glass with a lamp behind it, so you could see through really well. Position the white gauge so it's markings are in the center of the blobby markings perfectly. Smoosh it onto the small sticky area that's exposed. Take everything off the glass, peel off the protective paper, and carefully stick the rest of the white gauge down.

5) Cover the white gauge with a non-glare clear film - those 8.5x11" sheets you get in office supply stores. You may have to open a couple packages to find out the level of glare. Stick out down, then use a credit card to really rub it down and get rid of any bubbles, etc.

6) Trim everything with an xacto knife and a ruler (to get perfect edges).

7) Remove your old gauge faces, and spray-mount these down. Done!

Bill

Oh yeah, quality wise, these came out looking every bit as nice as the ones from Speedhut, although I eventually replaced them with Speedhut gauges 'cause I wanted EL.

(That's a record for my longest post here!)

[johnjs Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close johnjs]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

hi Bosuch ...I appreciate you taking the time for the long reply ...but you lost me somewhere in step 2... reverse the verticle axis thing ..lol.. does anybody sell these things reasonably??...john

[LarryBud Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LarryBud]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

Here is an alternative Johnjs:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=43952
This is the "step 2": :-\

I'm still working on understanding the rest also! 8)

[jdinner Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jdinner]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

Ok, so now I am learnin' $#!T, that is why I joined this group. Bosuch has it down. I was going to print the gauge faces onto photo paper, cut them out then glue them over my original faces. He has a much better idea. The real trick to make it look good is to make it smooth, no air bubbles.
The best part about doing this type of overlay is that you can make it your own. You can type in 'HANG ON NOW' or anything on the speedo in the area beyond 120MPH.
You can also change it on a weekly basis if you have the energy.

Cheers
Jim

??? Ya know,,,, Johnjs,,,,,,,,I was hoping that jdinner would see these and maybe fill us in on what to do with them next! I think I will keep the fiero gauge pod with overlays. I don't see myself spending $500 on gauges and then the headaches of getting them to work. I will build a custom pod around it with a variety of switches and lights to confuse the facts. I am not happy with the size of the bull on the tach. I think the MPH would be better under the needle on the speedo. I'll make these changes later. 8)

[Bosuch Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bosuch]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

hi Bosuch ...I appreciate you taking the time for the long reply ...but you lost me somewhere in step 2... reverse the verticle axis thing ..lol.. does anybody sell these things reasonably??...john

OK, better explanation of step 2... I can post an example tomorrow when I'm at my own PC again.

LarryBud has it right, you're reversing the image. Then you black out all the white sections. This is assuming you have some other color for the markings than black. What you're doing is sticking this image to the back of the one you'll see, so that the light will only shine through the markings and not through the face of the dial.

I'll post the faces I used tomorrow and all should become clear. Hopefully.

Bill

[Bosuch Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bosuch]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

Ok, here are the image files I used (shrunken of course, originally they were 300dpi).



These give them an orange glow at night. Since they're backlit, I don't know how you'd work with black markings, since you can't really have a black glow...

The marks on the black image are bigger than the front to allow for a little imperfection when sticking the front to the back.

Lessee, what else... you *do* have to remove the old gauge faces, otherwise the light won't be strong enough to shine through the old ones and the new ones.

Clear as mud, right?

Bill

[LarryBud Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LarryBud]

Re:Lambo Speedo and Tach Overlays

:-\ I think the black ones came out better than the white ones. I will work on the white ones again though.