Interior/Exterior My New CheckerBoard Guage Faces
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My New CheckerBoard Guage Faces
I'm going to attempt to upload these pics I just took of my new checkerboard guage faces. They were easy to install thanks to the how-to thread here at NAM. The job took me about an hour and a half. The hardest part for me was lining up the needles. These two pics are of the speedo.
Hopefully more to come.
Hopefully more to come.
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That is my only complaint - well not really a complaint. The warning lights don't pop-out at you like they do on the OEM face. I have the gray/black UJ and the warning lights are far less visible, however the new faces look too good to quibble about trivial details. What are the chances of a MINI's warning lights going off.
Love the CB faces, look great!
Love the CB faces, look great!
#10
Otherwise, they look great.
#16
I just did mine today (I ended up going with the black/gray UJ). I am not mechanically inclined in the least and it was very simple and straightforward - use ImagoX's how-to and you'll be fine. If I can do it, anyone can!
Two small sticking points for me that slowed me down:
1) Getting the piece of trim off that has the speedo, vents, and dimmer/hazard buttons on it (the big flat piece) from underneat the dash lip. I was SURE I was going to break something no matter what I tried, and at one point the hazard button went flying -kaching!- into the back seat, causing me to let loose some choice 4-letter words. However, the button just snaps back in, and I just kept wiggling at the piece and it came loose.
2) Getting the needles aligned - getting them off was hard enough, getting them off with no rotation was impossible. I ended up using VERY tiny needle-nosed pliers to grasp the underside base of each needle and pulling straight up, but there was no way to do it without rotating the needles. I just did the thing where you plug each gauge in, let it reset, THEN put the needles back on. I went for a drive and everything seems to be fine.
Random note: make sure the #20 torx you use is actually a screwdriver and not the flip-out key kind. I have a set of the key ones that I keep in the car and I attempted to use them for this but there are a few places they don't reach very well, and they don't get behind the tach at all. So I had to run to Ace to get an actual screwdriver kind.
Thanks to Matt for the how-to and the inspiration!
Two small sticking points for me that slowed me down:
1) Getting the piece of trim off that has the speedo, vents, and dimmer/hazard buttons on it (the big flat piece) from underneat the dash lip. I was SURE I was going to break something no matter what I tried, and at one point the hazard button went flying -kaching!- into the back seat, causing me to let loose some choice 4-letter words. However, the button just snaps back in, and I just kept wiggling at the piece and it came loose.
2) Getting the needles aligned - getting them off was hard enough, getting them off with no rotation was impossible. I ended up using VERY tiny needle-nosed pliers to grasp the underside base of each needle and pulling straight up, but there was no way to do it without rotating the needles. I just did the thing where you plug each gauge in, let it reset, THEN put the needles back on. I went for a drive and everything seems to be fine.
Random note: make sure the #20 torx you use is actually a screwdriver and not the flip-out key kind. I have a set of the key ones that I keep in the car and I attempted to use them for this but there are a few places they don't reach very well, and they don't get behind the tach at all. So I had to run to Ace to get an actual screwdriver kind.
Thanks to Matt for the how-to and the inspiration!
#17
2) Getting the needles aligned - getting them off was hard enough, getting them off with no rotation was impossible. I ended up using VERY tiny needle-nosed pliers to grasp the underside base of each needle and pulling straight up, but there was no way to do it without rotating the needles. I just did the thing where you plug each gauge in, let it reset, THEN put the needles back on. I went for a drive and everything seems to be fine.
ImagoX can be a true inspiration to us all - with his mods on a leased car no less!
#18
In response to the question of how easy it was to installl, I ditto the remark above on following ImagoX's how to post. I also ditto the point that the most difficult task for me was lining up the needles, which I did by connecting the guages in the Mini and reseating the needles as required.
On another note, I noticed that for the tach, when I turned on the headlights it lit up well EXCEPT the area around the number "6" (about 1 oClock on the dial). I reopened my tach and carefully removed the tach face and found the reason this area wasn't getting lit was because the area around the number 6 was obscured from receiving light by part of the white plastic frame behind the guage face. I resolved this by and cutting and removing this inner area of plastic with a wire cutter. The tach dial now lights up fine.
On another note, I noticed that for the tach, when I turned on the headlights it lit up well EXCEPT the area around the number "6" (about 1 oClock on the dial). I reopened my tach and carefully removed the tach face and found the reason this area wasn't getting lit was because the area around the number 6 was obscured from receiving light by part of the white plastic frame behind the guage face. I resolved this by and cutting and removing this inner area of plastic with a wire cutter. The tach dial now lights up fine.
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