Is this Acrylic Paint a good choice for painting my gauge needles for both visibility and longevity ?


The paint linked to is 4-ounces for $14; most I find is half-an-ounce for nearly $10.

I would not have thought finding Flourescent Red would be so nigh impossible.

If Testors makes it (Enamel) they have it well hidden.

If Flourescent Red can be found, is nail polish a good choice ?

Thanks.

 

I used the very small quantity for a high price stuff. Goes on good. Covers well. Looks great.

You only need a few drops to do all your gauges and transmission indicator.

After I painted my truck I gave the rest to someone here since I knew the leftover would eventually dry up in the bottle.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post14720163

Info and photos of needle painting in above link.

I use HP-FLRED pointer paint from HiPo Parts for the factory look.
or
Testors Model Master Fluorescent Red FS28915 for the 'aged' look.
Both come in small bottles

Jim
Edit... More information here...
https://www.garysgaragemahal.com/painting-gauge-needles.html

 

Thank You; I will check out the information you provided; also, thanks for the paint numbers.

 

Go with the HiPo parts one as that is made just for the gauge needles.
I can tell you DO NOT go with the Testers. They look great in day light but at night with the green dash lights I cant see the needles, they are too dark.
I did not know this at the time I did my needles.
Dave ----

 

What a cool project. Anybody got before and after pics?

 

This is the Testers orange and it looks great in day light but with dash lights you cant see them.

With green LED bulbs in my garage lights off. The HiPo paint "glows" where this does not.

Dave ----

 

What I would like to replicate is the night-time look of the instrument panel of the wife's brand-new 2005 Toyota Camry - at least I think it's a Camry.

Her needles are what I guess is flourescent red and the lights clear; everything stands out and looks great.

For the last several years, in my 1985 F-350, I have to shine the flashlight to see anything going on after it begins to get dark.

For several years, I had found these wonderful little adhesive-base LED aim-able "spot-lights", two sets-of-three to a base and several singles; they were tiny and inobtrusive; I hard-wired them into my non-stock dash-light toggle-switch; alas, a few years ago, they finally ceased to work and put me back in the dark and using the flash-light.

 

On modern gauges the needles light up as do the numbers of the gauge face but the rest does not let the light through.
I dont know of anyway we could get our needles to "light up" like modern gauges do?

I have not looked into glowing paint. You know in day light or normal light it "charges" and then when the lights go out the paint glows.
Like emergency exit signs in buildings. When the lights go out they glow so people can find their way out.
This is as close to needles that light up that I can think of.
Dave ----

edit: Did a Google search for Glow in the Dark paint.
https://www.google.com/search?q=glow...client=gws-wiz

 

Modern car dashes are illuminated in the day without the headlights on. That's why I see people driving to work at 0530 without their headlights on. It's a weekly occurrence.

 

Ill have to keep that in mind. Mine are vary hard to see, and the eyes getting older to boot.. I also have the dim cluster lights also, and thats not helping. For the most part I vary rarely drive it in the dark anyways. I dont drive it in the winter, and other then spring and fall, its always daylight when Im out.

 

You must take the cluster out, twist the bulbs out of the cluster, take a pencil and poke down the bulb hole and push the colored bulb lense covers out of the cluster. They will fall out and you can then work them out of the cluster. These cloud up when they are old and won't pass light very well.

After that you will have plenty of light. It will be a yellowish light from the bare bulbs, but it will be plenty bright. It will then be your choice of what you want to do, either change the bulbs to a colored LED, paint the needles, or do like I did, nothing and enjoy the brighter dash at night.

 

Now that I am retired I dont drive the truck much when dark, no need to
As DaveF said pull the old bulbs, knock out the colored dome, get some colored LED's and pop them in.
I replaced all the bulbs with LED's thing to know is you should use the same color LED behind anything that has color like the turn indicators or the waring lights across the top.
I might have used the green LED's I used for the cluster for the turn but think the rest I used white. I can tell you the high beam was way too bright and put scotch tape over the back to dull it down some.
I went with the green LED's because I wanted to stay close to the factory color and to match the radio / wiper lighting.

I will tell you test the cluster lighting before you button it up. Some LED's can only be installed 1 way to work so you would need to turn them 180* and try again.
I got 1 cluster LED that flashes, bad connection? and just the other day a turn one that stopped working but they have been in for 6+ years.
I have not changed any of the outside bulbs to LED's as I am happy with the light out put of the factory lights.
I also have reflective FORD letters on the tail gate to help people see me in the dark.



Dave ----

 

You brought up a good point and reminded me of the color behavior of LED bulbs.

I have a bunch of high-quality "white/clear" LED bulbs, the kind that can be turned either way; however, your comment made me remember that I probably should get some green ones for the turn indicators and a blue one for the high-beam indicator; "clear" LEDs make things that are supposed to be colored look really weird; they make an amber marker light show greenish.

I sort of forget that I have factory supplied turn indicators and bright indicator as I have much larger, better located ones in a dash-mounted gauge pod and never even notice the factory supplied ones.

Seeing as good LED bulbs are quite expensive and come in bags of ten or more, instead of sourcing special green ones for the turns and a blue one for the bright, I may just use ordinary incandescants in those locations.

I have a whole bunch of various red indicators across the top, none of which have been connected to anything in years and do not apply to my truck anymore.

 

No need to worry about the turn indicator lenses, the high beam blue and various other colored lights. They seem to work fine as is from the factory. You will only be modifying the illumination and the colored lens covers that are for the illumination only.