Torsten 0 Posted December 12, 2008 the car is almost in storage but before im getting it to the winter garage im doing some of the long planned modifications. as some of you already know im running the ddi gauges. but the prob with these gauges are the invisible to the eye needles. the uv lights wont work for me so i tried to find a better way. and thats what my buddy Dirk aka 5dot1 made for me. this guy is a luminary in those things!!! 3 little boards w/ led/smd's to illuminate the needles. this kit is to illuminate the needles from behind. not an easy modification but its worth it !! these little boards have to implemented in the white gauges supports/trays which are underneath the gauges. pasting them with some drops of super-glue the led's have to be flat to the white gauges support/tray so the gauges will lay flat down too. quite easy so far. the hardest part would be the temp / gas gauge. the white support/tray isnt as good as the other two. i used one of the old stock gauges as a support for the small board. first of all the holes for the needles needs to be bigger pasted the board behind the stock gauge the white thingy need some more midifications. the stock and ddi gauges will be too thick and the lil needle arbors for the needles needs to be modified too. bigger holes in the ddi gauges installed the temp / gas gauges first time first try if its all good and working the resulte without the DDI gauges and the final look next time im trying to use some Audi 80 needles Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_leon_ 0 Posted December 12, 2008 interesting! is your friend making these as kits now? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten 0 Posted December 12, 2008 yes, he makes them as you can see in the first pic. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carter711 0 Posted December 12, 2008 That is mighty fly!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbeige 0 Posted December 13, 2008 Awesome work. This was the only thing I found lacking with the DDI gauges. What needles have you used in the pics? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil K 0 Posted December 13, 2008 Looks like the standard later style needles to me! Good work there - really looks spot on! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten 0 Posted December 13, 2008 yes, these are still the later style needles im using. i bought a set of mk4 needles but they dont fit. the gas / temp. needles are a way to short and the rpm is too long. maybe im going with a set of audi 80 needles in the furure. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waynos 0 Posted December 13, 2008 looks good! why didnt the uv lights work for you? they work just fine for me? or was you after a different look Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten 0 Posted December 13, 2008 well, i installed some (3 or 4) uv led's before this modification and it didnt turn out as i first thought. still too dark and you can see a reflection of the uv light on the gauge rings. this is when i installed the uv lights (my camera sucks) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waynos 0 Posted December 13, 2008 ah ok i got ya, i used a uv tube, heres the result i got Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten 0 Posted December 13, 2008 yours are painted early style needles, right ? fluorescing paint ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waynos 0 Posted December 13, 2008 yea, prefer your style of needle but id have to buy a late set of gauges to have them Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten 0 Posted December 14, 2008 yea, no one is selling the needles separatly ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dubrider 0 Posted December 25, 2008 I also have a set of DDI dials,and not being able to see the needles in the dark ,drove me :cuckoo: i found a cold cathod kit from maplins and fitted them in........ five sets later :bad-words: ...perfect!!! :clap: (they kept breakin when i put them in) soooo carefully! I'll try n get sum pic uploaded.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dubrider 0 Posted December 25, 2008 well, i installed some (3 or 4) uv led's before this modification and it didnt turn out as i first thought. still too dark and you can see a reflection of the uv light on the gauge rings. this is when i installed the uv lights (my camera sucks) can i ask why your KPH/MPH needle is sitting far lower then standard?? if im not mistaken the needle should be sitting on the 10/20.. the reason i ask is that i have noticed ,when i had a tomtom, that my speedo was incorrect to what the tomtom was sayin..so iadjusted it accordingly..and it end roughly where yours is... jus wondering? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waynos 0 Posted December 25, 2008 usually there is a rest that the needle sits on. when you fit the ddi gauges you have to take it off as there is no hole in the new ones Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten 0 Posted December 25, 2008 yep, thats right. when she is back on the streets in spring im going to check the speedo with my navigation system to see how correct it is.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ozy 0 Posted January 5, 2009 hi could you tell me wat i would need to convert my gauges and where i could get them from? cheerz Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ozy 0 Posted January 5, 2009 oh and i no its a forum for carrado's but ive got a mk3 golf 1.4 coudl i still convert my gauges? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten 0 Posted January 5, 2009 you can buy those gauges from DDI Dub Design Industries in Canada. They do them also for mk3's but just VR6... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
