Okay I changed my dials today, couple of issues!

[CrippsCorner]

Firstly I noticed when I turn off the car now there's a 'kick' when the needles go down... they seem to go slightly too far, and the 'kick' brings them back into line, this isn't normal is it? I swear it wasn't doing it before! Then I also noticed the temperature gauge was going too far down, and it has continued to do so. Now it's gone as far as it can go by hitting the plastic below :S

More worryingly, my trip computer is completely dead now! There's no light even coming on, whereas everything else on the dials is showing up fine... argh what have I done!

 

[barker22]

The needle 'kick' thing I also have on my blue dash conversion. It just drops about 5mm below when the ignition is cut then kicks back to normal.
It seems like your temperature needle isnt on properly in the right position. I think the trick is to line the needle up first then press it on because if you put it on then twist it round to the correct position it tries to reset itself. And as for the trip is there nothing showing up at all even slightly dim. The smd lights may not be soldered on properly or its been damaged beyond repair.

 

[JackJack]

The needle 'kick' is normal.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Okay thanks barker, I ended up twisting the needles a bit when taking them off again, now they all seem to be out a bit :S is it just a case of trial and error to get them into the correct position?

As for the trip computer I noticed by pressing on the back of the dial unit it comes back! Let go and it disappears again... must just be a loose connection. In the process of taking it off and making it more secure.

 

[CrippsCorner]

The needle 'kick' thing I also have on my blue dash conversion. It just drops about 5mm below when the ignition is cut then kicks back to normal.

See this isn't what's happening to me! It doesn't go back to it's normal position... it goes too far up, and every time I turn the car off it goes another millimetre or two, thus I eventually end up with them well out.

I've put the dash back together for the time being as I need to use it, but I've had to resort to leaving the clear plastic off the dials so I can nudge them back into place manually! I hope I'm not going to make it even worse.

 

[barker22]

I've put the dash back together for the time being as I need to use it, but I've had to resort to leaving the clear plastic off the dials so I can nudge them back into place manually! I hope I'm not going to make it even worse.

Have you taken the needle off using a fork or similar. Take the troubled needles off, engine on then off to let the needles settle in the correct position. Line up the needle with where it should sit without spinning it then just push it on. It is just the water temp isn't it.

 

[CrippsCorner]

To be honest I think it's all them a little bit... will the above method work with the other dials as well?

 

[CrippsCorner]

So regarding the needle positions I had a little play today, and tbh I've made them a lot better. They're now sitting okay and the 'kick' puts them back to the same position rather than increasing them each time. This is how they're currently sitting when idle...

Firstly excuse the state they're in, work in progress! The dip you get after switching the car off brings them to the following, and then back to the original positions...

Next up I thought I'd try the needle test, and I found the results to be somewhat out...

Now after looking at these you would probably say it best to lower it a bit to get the results into line, the thing is, when I do that the needle sits well below 0 for idle, would you still say that's better?

Here we see the needle is slightly off at center point, but sits pretty damn perfect at the top value. Finally the speedo which is actually the most annoying because as you can see it sits perfectly on 40 but then goes more and more out, annoying to adjust as if I bring 80/120/160 into line it's then out on 0 & 40. Am I just going to find this because obviously the dials are not standard ones? The thing is after measuring the difference is distance between these ones and standard ones there seems to be less than a mm in it, and the pictures here are more out than that!

My method of adjusting was as mentioned above... taking the needle off, allowing the car to reset the position and then putting it back on again, had to do this a few times on each to get it right. Thanks for reading as long post is long! Any advice muchly appreciated.