4th Gen Neon gauge cluster conversion writeup - Honda Prelude Forum

pIOUs · 06-16-2002, 08:44 PM

http://www.insomniamachine.com/pohpr...ojectpage1.htm

This is installment one of a series for my friends 4th gen project. Ceasar and I worked on this project one Saturday. He wanted a Blue indiglo guage cluster, but nobody makes one for the automatic. I also needed a donor car to try out neon.

The write-up details the removal of the instrument panel and other things like clearing out your needles.

Have a look and give me some feedback on how you would do it differently or how you would improve upon the design. Another friend is hosting it on his project website that deals with an arcade cabinet revival mod. Help yourself to a look.

Here's a pic:

fourthgeneration · 06-16-2002, 09:04 PM

I hafta try this sometime

brendon2k · 06-16-2002, 09:12 PM

I like that a lot.

fourthgeneration · 06-16-2002, 09:14 PM

looks kinda difficult now that I read it.

red92si · 06-16-2002, 10:45 PM

I want that... The only things would change is making the numbers at redline show up red color, and have the needles be red instead of blue. Otherwise I totally dig that dash... kudos to you.

pIOUs · 06-16-2002, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by red92si
I want that... The only things would change is making the numbers at redline show up red color, and have the needles be red instead of blue. Otherwise I totally dig that dash... kudos to you.

Exactly the problem. Red filters should filter out the entire emission of blue light. On LEDs this is perfectly the case; with neon, you get some light through. It doesn't show in the pic.

If you want red then you don't need to do anything further. The redline-red filter will allow all the red backlit neon to shine through. In reality you may get a shade of pink but this can be filtered to a darker color like we did with the blue.

For our project it's going to need some white light to shine on it throught the back. That will come in later phases of the project.

Thanks for the comments guys.

KidZero81 · 06-17-2002, 01:36 AM

Damn, that does look sweet. Good job man.

twisted_prelude · 06-17-2002, 02:54 AM

can u also do it to the center gauges? and the clock? so it can match

pIOUs · 06-17-2002, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by twisted_prelude
can u also do it to the center gauges? and the clock? so it can match

That's comming. Not sure how, but we should be able to match it OK.

coil222 · 06-17-2002, 09:47 AM

looks awesome, I'm going to stick this into the 4th gen forum so they can see it too.

genlude · 06-17-2002, 10:08 AM

looks nice, great job but looks kind of hard of do. IMHO I prefer the 94-96 electro gauges.

92 SI Ludester · 06-17-2002, 10:45 AM

i like that a lot...i was thinking about changing the needles to blue ones that glow like and getting the reverse gauges...they look the same but require 1/2 the work...i am not that great with my hands

...good work though

soopaswoze! · 06-17-2002, 11:03 AM

wow.
that matches my blue CF af/nos/egt gauges, AND the color of my car.

but i dont trust myself w/ messing with my cluster.

92 SI Ludester · 06-17-2002, 01:24 PM

i was reading and i am alittle confussed...what exactly did you replace? the little bulbs or those strip things? i want to try it but not sure what i ahve to buy or what i am doing either

thanks

pIOUs · 06-17-2002, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 92 SI Ludester
i was reading and i am alittle confussed...what exactly did you replace? the little bulbs or those strip things? i want to try it but not sure what i ahve to buy or what i am doing either thanks

In the write-up you can see that we got rid of the stock bulbs and installed the 3 neon tubes to backlight the guages. filtered bulbs in the stock locations is not going to get you the light output and the color we ended up with. I think the total cost will be less than or just over $100, which is less than some people are finding the electro guages and the output should be blue rather than blue-green.

Yes the reverse indigloes for the 5 speed will give you a similar look, but you will loose the shift indicators. We will add those later when cash flow allows us to buy the additional parts. If you can live without the shift lights then RI gauges will be less work, but it won't be custom (which is what we wanted

).

Z · 06-17-2002, 04:24 PM

hehe, i love it, if i find an extra set, and ship you a gauge cluster, can you do the work for me? I'll pay for parts and the extra on labor... let me know!

thanks!

Z · 06-17-2002, 04:26 PM

one more question.... if you use ur turn signal, will it still flicker on your gauge cluster there? cause from what i understand you take all the stock bulbs out and put neon tubes in the back... so that'll make every hole light up? Correct...?

pIOUs · 06-17-2002, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Z
one more question.... if you use ur turn signal, will it still flicker on your gauge cluster there? cause from what i understand you take all the stock bulbs out and put neon tubes in the back... so that'll make every hole light up? Correct...?

Me and Ceasar (POH) need to finish that part. Right now the signals shine through masked off acrylic tubes and only light up the area immediately behind the signal windows, but I don't want to stay with that. There are some better ways to do the signals, but we didn't know what parts we would need before going in. Either one of us can do the mod, but I want to finish his up before talking about doing this as a service. Maybe Ceasar might..I don't know.

shadowZZ · 06-17-2002, 05:08 PM

it looks really clean not ricey like indiglo guages, looks like its meant to be there

froggysquasher · 06-17-2002, 08:12 PM

arent electro gauges the same as indiglo? man i love what ya did i'd pay to get that done to my car....