I've been working on my gauge cluster

smitdavi

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Decided I wanted something different. This is an actual carbon fiber overlay that I had to use an exacto to trim to my liking so it wouldn't show in places. Still need to permanently adhere the billet rings and get the lens back on. Let me know what you think.

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Tony

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looks sick man, any pics of process? where'd you get the c/f piece? last question lol....how hard was it to separate the lense?
 
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smitdavi

smitdavi

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The carbon fiber overlay came from carbondriven.com ($45 shipped) and the billet rings came from UPR ($65 shipped). I spent a lot of time mocking up and test fitting to see where the cf showed in the gauge window under the billet rings. After I had everything marked up the way I wanted, I carefully went to work with the exacto. Surprisingly it was easier to cut than I had imagined. To clean up the edges I just used 100 grit sandpaper. I still need to adhere the billet rings. I will head to Lowe's tonight to see if I can find the right adhesive. Separating the lens wasn't bad, I actually used my wife's hair dryer to heat the edges and used a small putty knife to gently/slowly/cautiously. This is where I would advise to really take your time and be patient. I had an extra one sitting around and actually put a small crack in the lens. I just got in a hurry was inpatient.
 

ttocs

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$65 shocks me. I know I didn't pay anywhere near that much for the piece I have that I used as the backing on the fender badges. A search on ebay for carbon fiber sheet shows a number of sizes and styles of real cf sheets for much much less.
 

lwarrior1016

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I tried to separate my gauge lenses on two occasions, the first one a cracked a bunch of times and the second one, I left in the oven too long and melted it. I want to try the hair dryer method next time! Good job, I think it came out great. Make sure to take pictures of the finished product and let us know what adhesive you use.
 
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smitdavi

smitdavi

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I guess it's what I was comfortable with spending. I had money in my paypal and an idea, so I went with it. I'm sure there are cheaper ways to accomplish this look. I originally started with carbon fiber like vinyl, and even used Adobe Illustrator to make a perfect template but it was next to impossible to place on the bezel because it just wasn't rigid enough to be able to move into place. I did this 5-6 times before giving up and ordering the actual cf overlay and even that needed modification to fit correctly. You can also find different rings for the gauge openings on eBay for cheap.
 

Ferocious

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I've never really been too fond of the carbon fiber look, let alone it's vinyl wrap counterpart, but that looks pretty stylish. Hopefully you can make more interior trim pieces match the look. That would be sweet.
 
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smitdavi

smitdavi

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I've never really been too fond of the carbon fiber look, let alone it's vinyl wrap counterpart, but that looks pretty stylish. Hopefully you can make more interior trim pieces match the look. That would be sweet.

Yeah, I think subtle is the name of the game with CF in the interior. I did use the vinyl on another little project.

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