i've just installed my dark gray gauge faces and chrome trim in my mini but part of the tach gauge doesn't light up. there are two led's right above the redline led's that aren't lit:

here's a pic with the face gauge on:

does anyone else have this problem? how do i activate them? i've read that there's a little dead area on the large rpm gauge because of the euro-spec something-or-other... any input would be great. thanks.

 

Not sure... but you need gas. Only 58 miles left on that tank.

 

Check with ImagoX, who ran into the same issue when he tested the first gauge face prototypes from Outmotoring. I believe those LEDs only light up for the MINI Diesel, which has a low redline. Of course also check directly with Outmotoring.

 

Sorry for the side note, but I have "tested" the gas range and it was DEAD on for me. It told me I had 1 Mile left and I did, made it to the gas station right in time for the fill up
I don't recommend this though.

 

Hi. Specks here. I'm not familiar with the clock faces you guys are usin but they look COOL. As far as i'm aware the led's in question dont light up. This is my wifes tacho after blu light conversion....

 

Sorry to hijack a little, but Specky, did you do your own guage color change? Or did you use Essential MINI?

 

Oh, and it looks like the outmotoring gauges have lines where the stock ones don't when lit up at night.

 

Yeah. Si came to ours and did my R56 too. He's brill !!!! Soz for the off topic peeps.

 

That blue is AWESOME!

Kinda VW, but I really like it... coolio blue...

 

I believe those two leds are activated for other models (like MC with CVT, or
the Euro Diesel model) that have a lower redline.

 

i might try to dremel out the plastic that shields the other led's so at least that shines though. anyone do this before? or does anyone want to stop me before i try?

 

I like that idea! Mine has been bugging me lately... May take it back apart and see if this looks feasible...

 

What's the point? If the LEDs show you where your redline is now, why do the LEDs that are below your rev limit matter?

 

what's the point of having a tach if everyone knows the redline is around 6700-6800 rpm? it matters to me because the entire tach is lit, save for a few marks. that's kinda distracting because it's obvious something's missing. i'm sure a few others would agree.

 

The fundamental issue is that MINI designed the their dial face and LED placement to match each other. Outmotoring has their own vision of how the dial faces should look; unfortunately they are stuck with the OEM arrangement of LEDs. Notice that on an OEM dial, the unlit hash marks around the 6 look okay. However Outmotoring's design requires those hash marks to be lit for their dial to look right. I am surprised that Outmotoring's instructions do not suggest trimming the plastic to properly illuminate their dial.

 

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03Indigo - do you know what those extra LEDs in there ARE for? Diesel redline sounds potentially correct...

I need to take mine back apart and look at it... but seems like you'd be able to do some selective trimming and keep the red light where it belongs (as long as the "extra" LEDs are never lit, which they aren't...) - may have to use a little piece of tape to "wall off" the end of the redline area...

Personal preference for sure, but I REALLY prefer the look of the Outmotoring design to the CS faces... that's why I got them in the first place... so I think I may do some hacking...

 

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If I totally screw it up a new gauge cluster is only $370

But not the end of the world...

If I do it, I'll take lots of pics to document the carnage.

 

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I have a question about these guage faces. I notice in both pics of the Outmotoring & Cockpit Spec. guages the colors don't look even, a little orange in places, a little more red in others. Is the camera playing tricks, or is that how they look in person?

 

At least with the Outmotoring faces, to me the colors and brightness levels are pretty even - not perfect, but very close - it's pretty much impossible to duplicate what they look like at night in photos, because weird things start to happen with long exposure times... our eyes do things most cameras still can't... the camera tends to amplify differences in brightness and tone.

 

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http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-03...em190194392942
At least a new tach doesn't have to be that expensive.