Red instrument panels? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

aBsOlUt · 12-09-2006, 10:16 AM

Hey guys,

I am looking to change my white instrument panels with red. I was wondering where I can find some online besides the OPC?

Anyone else has done it before? How easy is it?

Just like these http://www.bumperplugs.com/background07.jpg.

Thanks in advance!

04' 986S.

RandallNeighbour · 12-09-2006, 11:25 AM

Its not hard to do. Here's a link for swapping them out:

http://www.iwantaporsche.net/cluster.htm

You might check performance products. They have most everything one could imagine for our cars.

Plus, your white gauges are actually valuable and can probably fetch a few bucks on eBay... lots of Non-S guys want white gauges. I did and bought techart silver ones for my base boxster.

98Boxster98 · 12-09-2006, 11:31 AM

www.nrauto.com and www.fvd-usa.com come to mind.

aBsOlUt · 12-09-2006, 12:47 PM

Thanks for the responses!

Unfortunately, I did not find anything regarding the red instrument panels in any of the sites recommended.

Don't mean to sound lazy but anyone with a direct link?

Also if I was to sell mine on eBay how much would it be a good price? I am unaware how much it goes for OEM thanks.

drburton · 12-09-2006, 01:30 PM

Are you sure you want to do this? Red gauges make it very difficult to read and they look a bit odd to me.

Allen K. Littlefield · 12-09-2006, 01:40 PM

keep your white gauges as it will make the car a lot easier to sell someday in the future. Not many are into Red gauges so You may consider keeping them for greater resale value. Anything I do to my Boxster I will save the original pieces for a future sale date as stock means best prices on resale.

986geezer

RandallNeighbour · 12-09-2006, 01:42 PM

I found all sorts of red gauge faces on the FVD site. You need to first put in your car's model and year, then go down the right side and find "interior" and look there.

The way their site is setup, I cannot give you a direct link.

You might get a hundred bucks for the white gauges on eBay, providing you transfer them to the backing stuff that comes with your new gauges. New white gauge faces run $125-400 if that helps.

aBsOlUt · 12-09-2006, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen K. Littlefield

keep your white gauges as it will make the car a lot easier to sell someday in the future. Not many are into Red gauges so You may consider keeping them for greater resale value. Anything I do to my Boxster I will save the original pieces for a future sale date as stock means best prices on resale.

986geezer

Thanks for the tip, good idea. Maybe I wont like the red gauges installed after sometime!

ukchris · 12-10-2006, 01:03 PM

I'm experimenting with making gauge faces, my first test run should be done this week which are based on the cluster design up to 2000 but, if they work, I should be able to make them to fit any cluster.

Here is an example...

Chris.

12-10-2006, 05:48 PM

Here is an example of the yellow gauges:

ukchris · 12-12-2006, 04:13 PM

I made these...

Sadly the idea isn't so hot with the lights on, I think I need an opaque layer in there to manage the back lighting better:

I have some other colors I've made up too so I'll experiment a bit and see how it breaks up the lighting.

Chris.

super66 · 12-12-2006, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Here is an example of the yellow gages:

b, do you have yellow or white faces? I am considering switching to white(silver I'm told) if I can get them, if yours are white, how are they when lit?

Grizzly · 12-12-2006, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by super66

b, do you have yellow or white faces? I am considering switching to white(silver I'm told) if I can get them, if yours are white, how are they when lit?

What do you have now, black?

super66 · 12-12-2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grizzly

What do you have now, black?

yeah, I got the standad faces on the base.....I wanted to switch to white on the spot but the parts "expert" didn't know if he could order them....so I have the base black faces

ukchris · 12-13-2006, 04:38 AM

Try these:

Blue
http://i11.tinypic.com/2hppy52.jpg
http://i11.tinypic.com/2u7bmlh.jpg

Brushed
http://i16.tinypic.com/2n1cnpz.jpg
http://i14.tinypic.com/453czsw.jpg

Carbon
http://i12.tinypic.com/44jftao.jpg
http://i12.tinypic.com/47ni14g.jpg

Red
http://i14.tinypic.com/470ki2x.jpg
http://i16.tinypic.com/43e99o6.jpg

Yellow
http://i12.tinypic.com/3ymey5x.jpg
http://i13.tinypic.com/43yq0zc.jpg

These were my test run.

Dr. Kill · 12-13-2006, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

http://www.iwantaporsche.net/cluster.htm

For some reason, I find this site very annoying.

12-13-2006, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by super66

b, do you have yellow or white faces? I am considering switching to white(silver I'm told) if I can get them, if yours are white, how are they when lit?

Hey Super66, I have the standard white/silver gauges on the Boxster S. At night-time, depending on the ambient lighting conditions, they kind of vacillate from being back-lit to front-lit. Very are very easy to read. Sorry I can't give a better description, I really don't drive the Boxster much at night.

ukchris · 12-13-2006, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by super66

yeah, I got the standad faces on the base.....I wanted to switch to white on the spot but the parts "expert" didn't know if he could order them....so I have the base black faces

I have the white/silver faces too, at night they look quite different, the gauge face is essentially opaque so when it is illuminated it's only really lighting up the numbers and other indicator marks, the face doesn't light up as such. I would assume standard colored gauges probably work in the same way in that you don't see the color much at night, just the numbers.

Chris.

super66 · 12-13-2006, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Sorry I can't give a better description, I really don't drive the Boxster much at night.

B! when do you drive this thing! you store it for the wniter and don't drive it at night, you've seriously got a great looking ride, I don't know how you can deal with not driving it....I would go nuts

I know I'm asking a lot, but if you have any pics of it with the top up, I'd be curious to see it with the cocoa top......

12-13-2006, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by super66

B! when do you drive this thing! you store it for the wniter and don't drive it at night, you've seriously got a great looking ride, I don't know how you can deal with not driving it....I would go nuts

I know I'm asking a lot, but if you have any pics of it with the top up, I'd be curious to see it with the cocoa top......

Super, I did put over 7,500 miles on the car in less than 7 months! That's more than a lot of P-car owners. When I drive, I do about 300-500 miles in a day. I take a day off on a Friday for example, and hit the back roads.

I don't drive it for work. I would like to drive it more (not in the winter) but like a lot of people, the daily pressures of work, family children and etc do present limitations on my time. No complaints...just the reality.

I really thought I would drive it about 5,000 miles/year. Looks like 8-10,000 is more like it.

The cocoa top is great, and looks a lot like black. Just a subtle difference. Cocao is a very dark chocolate brown.