Carpokes

Any updates? Anxious!

kwest3904@gmail.com wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:08 am Any updates? Anxious!

I've had a ton of family medical issues to handle lately, so have been trying to make progress when I can. The gauge bezels are done in my opinion, but I've been fussing endlessly with the LED kit. Perfectionism in action (where perfection is the enemy of good enough). I do think it would be worthwhile to ship some of the gauge kits now, without the LED kit, to get some feedback on how they work in the real world. My plan is to sell them with the anti-reflective glass only, which will drive the price up, but I just don't like the amount of glare you get with regular clear acrylic. You still get some reflection with this glass but it's significantly reduced. So, my plan is to do the gauge set for $120 plus shipping ($9 to the 50 states, actual usps priority cost elsewhere). If you or anyone wants to be a beta tester are ready to install them now so I can get some feedback, send me an email at admin@carpokes.com and we'll get it going. I'll do maybe 10 sets this way while I finalize the LED kit and get some feedback on the gauges. You'll need to be patient as well, since I don't have any inventory built up and can only do a set or two a day at given the printing and CNC time involved.

Tom - I’m willing to be a beta tester. Will the original clear front plastic that’s covering the gauge pod need to be destroyed to install your gauge rings? Or is it reversible?

Best wishes to your family on the health front.

Hi Tom, I too would be willing to be a beta tester, but I think without light it would be kind of lost time / effort?
Since the original light (or my kit) would not work for these, would only be good daylight feedback.
I would not need glass, since I got non glare and CNC in house, and could maybe help with illumination ideas.
Hope all is well with health and family by now.

Normally, I’d go for being a beta tester, but I really want the full kit, all done and dusted. I can wait. (And I can’t wait..! Lol)

cp99 wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:42 pm Tom - I’m willing to be a beta tester. Will the original clear front plastic that’s covering the gauge pod need to be destroyed to install your gauge rings? Or is it reversible?

Best wishes to your family on the health front.

So far, I've had luck removing the factory lens without destroying them. They come off in one piece, and can be glued back on if ever needed. Sometimes, a bit of the lens will break off and stick to cluster, but that's typically a few small bits that get hidden behind the dash trim anyway and don't hamper your ability to glue the factory piece back on if ever needed.

Apologies this project has taken so long, but lots of intervening life events and a little perfectionism have gotten in my way. Re the latter, after installing these gauges in my own car, I realized if you position yourself just right, you can see a gap between the instrument cluster and the trim around it, which exposed some of the hardware below. It took me weeks to notice, but once I noticed it I wanted to fix it. And why put a piece of black felt back there when you can spend days over-engineering a custom trim piece. See below. Inching ever closer and still looking for folks to try these out before the LED kit is ready.

WOW!
No need to apologize given this is all being done out of the fondness for the transaxle platform and desire to share and help others without your printing and overall skill and attention to detail.
Hopefully the life events will smooth out for you and all involved.

HI @Tom
Just wondering if this gap part would need to be reversed for RHD cars?

Cyberpunky wrote: Sun Aug 27, 2023 7:53 pm HI @Tom
Just wondering if this gap part would need to be reversed for RHD cars?

Great question. For whatever reason, the side of the cluster near the center of the car has much more of a gap. I could print you the mirror image of this piece, which I suspect would work. Is your instrument cluster the same as a left hand drive car?