WHITE/ “Indiglo” Style dials for the N13 Nissan EXA

 

BEFORE YOU START – Start your car up, allow it to warm up and record your idle speed on your tacho, mine was approx 900rpm.Now switch your car off.

STEP 1 – Unscrew the dash board, there are 6 screws you need to undo, there are 2 more screws which hold the wiper and lights control panels and these need to be removed too. Now disconnect the electrical plugs and remove the dash piece.

 
STEP 2 – The dials case needs to be unscrewed from the dash, there are four screws which hold this in. Once the screws are undone disconnect the electrical plugs behind the gauges there are 2 plugs one for the speedo and one for the tacho.
 
STEP 3 – The clear plastic front piece should pop off fairly easily.
 
STEP 4 – The needles now need to be gently lifted over the “zero stop pin” (needle pin) as shown above. well that’s what we will call it. The position in which the needles stop needs to be marked as this is where the needles need to be replaced to so that the speedo reads correctly
 
STEP 5 – Now for the hardest part, the needles need to be carefully pried off, for this I used a flat head screwdriver, (DIZZY and I spent like an hour trying to make sure we didn’t break the needles but the second time I did it, it took me like 2mins!) To remove the needles the little black plastic things should be popped off 1st, and then the rest of the needle. We just kept levering the underside of the needle till it came off. Keep the speedo and the tacho needles separate because I think it’s the speedo needle which is slightly longer.
 
STEP 6 – Unscrew the two small screws beside where the needles were and remove the black gauge faces. (The pic already has the white face on it cause I took the pic as I was putting the dash back together  same with the one above SORRY!)
 
STEP 7 – Scan both images, we used a resolution of 600dpi and it looks fine!
 
STEP 8 – Once scanned and the image saved, the image can now be personalised using a program like fireworks, paint etc, Invert the colours and add what you like, DIZZY and I added “PREMIUM FUEL ONLY” and www.exaclub.net
 
STEP 9 – Print the new images on high quality photo paper using a high quality printer. Photo paper is fairly think type of cardboard with one shiny glossy side! (DIZZY and I found that the photo paper is fairly thick and this makes the backlights fairly dim so we are gonna try using transparencies and we’ll tell ya how they go when we do it)
 

STEP 10 – Once the images have been printed, use a Stanley knife or similar to cut the image out. Cut out all windows such as indicator arrows, trip distance and odometer etc.

 
STEP 11 – If you want to change the colour at night you can install coloured blubs, you will need 5 of them, DIZZY used red bulbs and I used BLUE ones, they cost us like 30 bucks AUD a pair so we bought 2 sets and left one original bulb. The bulbs are removed from behind and you simple turn it and it comes out, when you take the gauge faces off you will see big blue reflector things, to make the bulbs brighter we removed the reflector things, this was easy to do they just pop off.
 
STEP 12 – Put the original black gauge face back on and install the new photo paper ones over the top in the exact same position, replace the two small screws from beside the needles on both the tacho and speedo.
 
STEP 13 – Putting the speedo needle back on – Position the needle in the position you marked earlier below the “zero stop pin,” gently push the needle back on and then gently lift it over the “zero stop pin” so that it is resting on it and reading zero.
For the TACHO – Leave the clear plastic cover off and take the console thing out to your car, connect the two plugs for the speedo and tacho, then start your car, allow it to warm up and then replace the tacho needle at the rpm you recorded earlier, mine was at approx 900 rpm.
 
STEP 14 – Once the needles are back on, replace the clear plastic front cover and replace the screws that hold it together. Reconnect the wipers and lights (all the plugs are different so you cant stuff this up as they only fit one slot) reassemble your dash and all should now be under control. Make sure your speedo is reading correctly as mine said I was doing 70 when I was doing 60 hahaha but that got fixed easily there ya go =) ENJOY!!!
 

 

 

BIG thank you to MERVIC

By FLANO, MERVIC and DIZZY!!!

and a big Thank you to Exabaybee for forwarding this to warren and howie.. (cos shes really nice LOL sorry had to add that)

www.exaclub.net