Gauge needle paint?

[Rob Faucett]

Somewhere in the vast and profound epitomes of this place there is a thread or two on painting gauge needles. Had something to do with the LED gauge stuff.

Can't find it. Help?

 

[Spike Strip]

I think it was Testers Fluorescent.

 

[CardinalFJ60]

I did this years ago...I think I got it from an air-cooled VW restoration retailer. I could be wrong. I"ll look around today, I know I got it from somewhere. I used it when I resto'd my 40 gauge cluster.

 

[OSS]

Spike wins be prize!

Testors Enamel Paint Open Stock .25oz-Orange Fluorescent Amazon product ASIN B007KMUM9U

 

[dannyvp]

Spike wins be prize!

Testors Enamel Paint Open Stock .25oz-Orange Fluorescent Amazon product ASIN B007KMUM9U

is it hard to get to the needles?

 

[OSS]

I removed the instrument panel, then removed each gauge separately from the panel. Then it was easy to paint them. I didn't remove the needles. Just carefully painted them on the instrument. I think the speedo needle warped a little (curving outwards) as the paint dried on the front facing side and shrank a bit,

@dannyvp

 

[iCruiser]

If you want to make the newly painted fluorescent orange needles really pop, consider one extra but what I found to be a very significant step. After painting the needles and cleaning the metal face plates on all three gauges, polish both sides of the plastic lens cover. I used the Novus plastic polish system shown below only using the cleaner and fine polish. Available on Amazon.

The before/after photos do no justice. Impressive results! Gone are any light scratches. The slight haze that develops with 37 years of service is now crystal clear. Gauges look very crisp. This is a one banana refresh project that can be completed in less than 2 hours for under $20 including paint, brush and polish. Worth the effort. Now need to consider a SEM paint refresh on the plastic instrument bezel.

 

[dannyvp]

If you want to make the newly painted fluorescent orange needles really pop, consider one extra but what I found to be a very significant step. After painting the needles and cleaning the metal face plates on all three gauges, polish both sides of the plastic lens cover. I used the Novus plastic polish system shown below only using the cleaner and fine polish. Available on Amazon.

The before/after photos do no justice. Impressive results! Gone are any light scratches. The slight haze that develops with 37 years of service is now crystal clear. Gauges look very crisp. This is a one banana refresh project that can be completed in less than 2 hours for under $20 including paint, brush and polish. Worth the effort. Now need to consider a SEM paint refresh on the plastic instrument bezel.
View attachment 2255166

Very nice. Ive been hesitant to remove the instrument panel bc of the plugs in the rear of it.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I was browsing through a few of these gauge-needle painting threads as I have very sun-faded needles on the temp/fuel/charge/oil cluster, but see people are also painting the speedo/tacho needles.

It looks like the cluster of four needles were painted from factory, but the speedo and tacho needles don't look to have been the same colour or finish to me, which makes me wonder if they were the same fluorescent orange from factory.

Has anyone seen a pristine 60 to check what the speedo and tacho needles originally looked like?

Thanks

EO