Painting Gauge Needles

[vstone48]

Hi, I have a question regarding my 1990 nissan 300zx NA gauge cluster needles. Quick story about what happened; so July 20 a drunk driver, with a suspended license who had stolen her husband's '11 F150 which wasn't insured, ran a stop sign and t-boned me in my lifted 05 silverado. Needless to say my truck is now totaled.




Luckily, i got out of it fine. So now that i'm going to be driving my '90 Nissan 300zx NA again and wanted to mess around with it a bit to keep me interested until i buy a new truck. Therefore, I began wanting to do the LED swap to the instrument cluster but also wanted to change the color of the needles. But i read somewhere (Wish i was smart enough to save the link) that the 300zx needles are not painted orange but made out of orange plastic or whatever. So before i start messing with them i was hoping someone could verify that they are actually orange and not painted. And i also read that if i remove the needles they will never work properly again. I was thinking i'd take pictures of the needles locations before i took them out and to put them back on when the car is running but i'm not sure if they will still be messed up.

Sorry about the long, off topic, and poorly worded question. Thanks in advance

[helio300zx]

do not remove the needle, they will not align 100% if you do. try using a small brush or sharpie

[vstone48]

@Helio300zx Ya i was going to just slide a note card underneath and paint over the orange but wasn't sure if it would still be bright at night or if it would just look like crap. I was going to do them in blue so i had a little hesitation.

[twinturbozxtacy]

they are colored plastic, so if you wanted to strip them. i guess you could strip them and leave them clear for the led to color but what a PITA. i def wouldnt paint them, would add weight and throw off accuracy of the needle, prolly not much but im anal like that...

i was going to make a ford vs chevy comment but... glad to see you made it out alive!

Hope you get a good settlement and become oprah rich!

[vstone48]

@twintubozxtacy haha hate to burst you're bubble but im a fan of all manufactures....okay maybe a little less towards Honda lol. And as much as I hope for a good settlement, I think the salvaged title my truck held will throw my Oprah rich fantasy out of the window haha.
As for the needles, i don't mind spending some time to strip the color but if the paint is from the bottom of the needle, and taking them off is highly advised against then im kind of out of options. So as much as i dont want to just paint over it, i might have too. Thanks again

[DCaff300ZX]

I'd be very hesitant to do this to my instrument cluster, especially if I only had one cluster.
I think I'd get a 2nd working unit to play with just in case you do mess it up and need to return to normal, which probably would be tough to un-do on the modified unit...just my .02!

[300ZXttZMAN]

^exactly what I was thinking.

Let us know how it goes. Be careful not to break the needle though.