I'd like to find a set of needles for the gauges as I want to try different colors. I called 3 dealers in my area & was told.. NO way!! gotta buy the entire gauge package.. No seperate needles....
can anyone help?? anyone know of a way to convince Toyota to split up the parts?? or know of a company that makes them??? thanks... jh



ps.. it was over 600 bucks for the gauges....

 

Just out of curiosity, how much did they quote for the entire gauge package?

 

Randode makes clear needles for the XB1. There's a good chance they'll fit the XB2. I'm sure Randy will make a kit with all the needles the same size for the XB2.

http://randode.com/store/product46.html

 

Maybe I'm confused or not thinking about the right thing, or maybe it's different from the tC to the xB... but, my boyfriend and I have swapped out the LEDs for his gauge clusters and other tCs in our club and part of my job was to be the needle painter. I stripped the paint and repainted the underside and in my opinion (of course because I was the one who did it) it didn't look too bad. Not to mention it was cheap cheap cheap.

But again, maybe I'm misunderstanding what it is you want to do. I haven't messed with my xB, so I don't know if it's different.

 

I think you can strip the stock paint off of the needles with acetone... I could be totally wrong, though.

 

I used rubbing alcohol. I'd heard somewhere that acetone could cloud up the acrylic, so I was afraid to use it.

 

I have my Insulin Needles u can have a few!!.....lol.....At Thread Title!

 

That's why I said I could be totally wrong, cause I kinda assumed that acetone would cloud up the acrylic.

How did the rubbing alcohol work?

 

It wasn't hard at all.

 

That's exactily what I intend to do, GoldieBox... BUT I want an extra set just incase this gets meffed up!!! I'd hat e to scrape & paint & not like the results, & wish I had my stock "LOOK" back...... BUT let me ask you goldie.........
have you ever painted them BLUE & how did it turn out???? If it came out good....... then can you say what kind of paint that you used??. thanks........ jh

 

Thanks for the offer, TeeCizzle.... I guess I can super glue them to my existing needles after I paint them blue & wire up a 'plcc' light & stick it inside the filler tubes........ that would look sweet, huh??? Blue MONOJET gauge indicators!!!!... why dont you do yours first & post some pics...... then I'll decide if'n I wanna make mine look like that!! thanks agian for your offer.. jh

 

Yes I've done blue. My boyfriend changed his LEDs to blue and orange and I painted his needles blue. If you go to www.itsmyscion.com/detiber I'm sure there are pictures somewhere. I personally think they turned out good, but again, I'm the one that painted them.

 

can you telll me about the brand of paint you used & how you applied it??? thanks, Goldie.... jh

 

It was nothing special. Pop the needles off, then I use a box cutter to pop off the plastic nubbies on the back so I can get to the whole needle--otherwise there's still a small bit of orange in the needle. Then I use alcohol to wipe off all of the paint. The white layer comes off really easy, it's the color layer that takes a bit of time. Then I tape off the sides of the needle. I learned that trick after the first try when everything was blue--fingers, table, the whole needle. Then using a foam brush (not bristled) I use whatever the Wal-mart acrylic paint is from the craft department (I think the stuff is like a buck, buck-fifty) and let it dry. Then I put on a few more coats, letting it dry between each one. Then put on a final layer of white on top of the color, let that dry. Pull off the tape clean up the sides if you goofed a bit (pull off a lot of the cotton from the Q-tip and get the stick wet with alcohol) and you're done.

You can use a flashlight behind the needle or raise it up to a light to see if you've missed a spot or if the color looks uneven.

To get the needle back on you need to re-assemble it and use an epoxy on the back to keep the pegs in place.

You can do this without disassembling the entire needle, but then you have to get a toothpick to scrape out that paint from the inside and it's kind of a pain to paint inside that teeny hole.

I did Jason's about a year ago and they still look fine.

I'm sure there's a much more "sophisticated" way to do this, and it probably seems stupid that I'm using Wal-mart paint, but it works well and they have a ridiculous number of colors--and have I mentioned I'm poor from having two new cars...

 

wow......... nice wite up, Goldie!! Thanks you!!! when I work up the nerve, I will do this..... UNLESS>>>>.................... I can get a PRO to do it!! Are you interested??? I can mail you my needles & some $$$ & you mail em back to me???? think it over, ok?? thanks agian for the DIY........... jh

 

I'm no pro--but you should definitely try it. It's not hard at all. If you want needles only, I wonder if you could try and see if any junk yards near you have gotten a totaled xB that you can get them from. Don't worry I'm going to go wash my mouth out for speaking such vulgar things like totaled xBs.

 

uhm......just to jump in....my xb2 needles are actually molded orange not just painted like the TC needles..... so painting them wont do anything at all!!

 

That's why I said earlier I didn't know if the xB and tC were the same because I like the way my xB is and haven't fiddled with it.