Help needed fitting Gauge Rings

[MistaSmiff]

Yesteday I ordered Gauge Rings/ Black Kidney Grille / Silver bulb kit from Teddy and they arrived today, first of many mods. [banana

I just wanted some advice on what to be wary of when fitting the Gauge rings. Teddy very kindly sent me a link explaining how to remove the gauge cluster and it seems stratight forward, i'm just worried about replacing the gauge back and it not lining up correctly and more importantly not working, I'm just not confident with cars :o

..any advice appreciated.

[Tin]

not got 1st hand experience of adding the gauge rings, but the first step to any DIY mod, is to relax, and read and then re-read the instructions whilst sitting in the car, looking at the console, working out in your head what needs to be done etc...

Have Patients!! and lots of them too, if something doesn't quite come apart, when you've taken off most of the obvious screws/bolts etc, stand back and look it again.. don't force/rip anypart open.. it'll only cause more additional headaches!

Try and leave ample time to! nothing worse, trying to rush a install to finish intime for something!!

just my 2p's worth.. and may the force be with you! [ok

[Shuriken]

Only thing I can add is that you want to be careful with using additional adhesive. It will squeeze out and I think it can go all white and obvious when it dries. Not sure if that helps at all as I haven't done the mod myself, but I heard something about being careful with extra glue.

Hope that helps,

Shuriken.

[h4pry]

not got 1st hand experience of adding the gauge rings, but the first step to any DIY mod, is to relax, and read and then re-read the instructions whilst sitting in the car, looking at the console, working out in your head what needs to be done etc...

Have Patients!! and lots of them too, if something doesn't quite come apart, when you've taken off most of the obvious screws/bolts etc, stand back and look it again.. don't force/rip anypart open.. it'll only cause more additional headaches!

Try and leave ample time to! nothing worse, trying to rush a install to finish intime for something!!

just my 2p's worth.. and may the force be with you! [ok

Very good advice [cool

[mysticm3]

hi mate basically you will need a set of torx screw driver, can't remember the size of the driver but they are quite small ones. Two screws securing the cluster, unto them and slide the cluster out a bit, disconnect the 2 plugs at the back so you can take it out completely. On the back of the cluster there are few more torx screws to undo. Once you have done that you can take it apart - the black back cover, the middle bit (circuit board and needles), and the front clear plastic cover. You don't need to touch the middle part at all as the rings sits inside the front clear plastic cover. Slide the rings through the holes and press them down firmly. Wipe off any fingerprints and reassemble the cluster. Reverse the steps to fit the cluster back onto the car. should not take more than 25 minutes in total. :D

May the force be with you [bow

[adood84]

I don't think there is a need to sqweez adhisvie as it should have them on , could you confirm or unconfirm teddy?

[Chaos]

Good advice above, and yes Ted's rings are self-adhesive.

Ooerrr... :o

[Shuriken]

Ooeer indeed, you get to seem them after his man-hugs..

Meanwhile, back on topic..

Good luck matey! :)

Shuriken.

[Stock323iSaloon]

there you go matey. My personal advice is to make sure you have clean hands (can even wear latex gloves) and to avoid touching the inner lens.

http://www.e46fanatics.com/howto/howtodetail.php?howto_id=26

[mysticm3]

that's the link I sent him, yes the rings are self adhesive

[MistaSmiff]

Ok, I will attempt this tommorow morning bright and early, need to go out and by a set of torq screwdrivers first :rolleyes: . I have plenty of latex gloves (my miss's is a nurse :D ), and the bit about reading the instructions [read beleive me this is something that i'm used to.

I hope to god the force will be with me, tommorow ........and always.. :o [hiya

..If all goes well i will take some pics of my car this weekend as i've yet to post any of my ride.

cheers chaps.

[MistaSmiff]

:mad: I've got the wrong gauge rings!!..and they don't sit flush anyway.!!

I've pulled various DIY gauge installs and they all illustrate that the gauge shoiuld be about to fit through the cluster aperture, well they don't! and even if they did they wouldn't sit flush. :mad:

I then thought hang on, maybe these stick onto the actual dials themselves, so i tried it but then when refitting the cluster back they were obvliously in the way. :mad:

...on a good note though guys removing the instrument cluster is very easy, took me 5 mins to get it out and 3 mins to put it back. :o

[Estoril Sport]

:mad: I've got the wrong gauge rings!!..and they don't sit flush anyway.!!Hi mistasmiff, Flush to what? where you wanting them to nearly touch the actual dial inlay<O:p

I originally bought metal dial rings first and I found this so I bought some plastic ones which are sprayed silver. The only problem with these is that you have to glue them in yourself with epoxy glue. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carlton.langton/images/IMG_2744_600.jpg

I they look like OEM.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carlton.langton/rings.jpg

[MistaSmiff]

Estoril - How did you fit them?, what do your dials fit onto?, the actual dials themselves or the gauge surrond?
[hmm

..oh and where did you get yours from?

[Estoril Sport]

Hi mistasmiffI will PM you.