Does anyone know where I can get a set of white guage faces for my 98 RS?

Thanks in advance for the help! John

from what i have heard (from others and the parts dept at my local dealership) is that the white faces for 99 and 00 are not direct swaps.
someone was trying to do it and had gotten stuck in the process... and i cant find the web page.
so if anyone has some info on this please post. did you check the archives?

boomer
98RS

JC Sports makes them for the 98 RS.
www.jcsports.net (http://www.jcsports.net)

MJ

I believe that the ones from JC Sports are just paper stick ons plus they say JC Sports on them so they won't look factory direct if this is an issue
Chris
ATX

Hi,

Judging from the previous posts, I think the JC options is a little sketchy.

Anyway I did this on my '98. Here's what they looked like before I put them in:

http://www.thebestisp.com/~squadra/subaru/images/dash.JPG

I copied the JC method and just used a paper face. It took my 4.5 hours to complete. Taking the gauges apart, removing the original faces, scanning them, Using Photoshop and changing them, Printed it on high quality non-fade/yellowing paper, Trimmed, replaced. The hardest part of the whole process was the removal and replacement of the needles. I had to have my Fiance' drive so I could recalibrate the Speedo (puting on the needle at speed)

I have other photo's of them in, just not on my website. Other notes, at night the original gauges glow through the paper and have a nice shadow effect. I think I'm going to redo them though with a different color background, White is nice, but it's so ordinary. I think Yellow!

Later,
Shane Kullman
'98 RS Red

I went through this ordeal. Ugh. The MY99 gauges are not very expensive, so I bought the gauges off of Dale Teague. I sat on them for a while after I realized that they were NOT going to be a direct swap (which is what I originally thought of doing). I then got the bright idea of just swapping the white faces for the black faces. Easier said than done. As I was trying to removed the needles from the pin on the stock tach, the whole needle and pin pulled out of the drive motor. After putting everything back together it wouldn't work correctly. Luckily for me the drive motor on both the MY98 and MY99 tach are the same, so I swapped the drive motors. Whew, it worked. Then I had to recalibrate the speedo and tach. I think the tach is off by about 1K RPM, but that's livable. Both my gas gauge and temp gauge read a little high, but I'm afraid to mess with them since they are working.

BTW, the speedo setup between the MY98 and MY99 is totally different. The speedo + tach set is sized slightly differently -- I had to trim the white face a little. Finally, the MY99 shows redline lower than it actually is on a MY98.

All in all, a real PITA for soemthing I thought was going to be pretty easy!

Here's how it looks now (the gauges are a little washed out).
http://www.lagging.com/subaru/impreza_images/dash_a.jpg

Shane:

That is a very nice job. I like the STi markings. You should make up some and sell them to other list members http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smile.gif

Mark
99' RS T

[This message has been edited by mjos (edited May 03, 2000).]

Nice work on the guages Shane! I know some of the CRX guys scanned in and printed their own faces as well. I really don't want faces that say JC Sports on them. I got interested after seeing the Project Impreza that SCC was doing. The article said the guages/faces had been replaced with white ones. I wasn't sure if they just replaced the faces or the guages...

Thanks for all the feedback! John

Really cool Shane and Steve!
Shane... just so I completely understand, you just stuck (using ds tape or something) your white ones on top of the black ones. And to do this you have to remove the needle assy and there is no good reference point to put it back on in the right location? Ugh, that sounds like a nightmare but this is a mod I really want to do.
I have no experience with this... did you remove the whole face thing and put the white faces on outside of the car and reinstall?

Boomer
98RS

You actually don't even need any adhesive. Just remove the needles and lay the paper faces over the existing ones. When you put the plastic cover back overs the actual gauges, it holds the edges down by sandwiching them underneath.

Mark

So basically, take off all the trim, remove the clear plastic cover, remove the needles, put the white faces on and then replace the plastic etc. No need to remove the whole assembly from the car? Actually you prob need to do remove them to get the needles off.
How do the needles come off?
Hey Shane... the white faces that you posted, are they the correct size and can we (I) use them http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smile.gif.
Thanks everyone, I am a little new to all of this.

Boomer
98RS

Just to let you guys know I have the speedo cluter out of the 99 RS that I am parting out. It of course has the white face gauges and should plug right up in the 98 RS. I am selling it for $400 plus shipping. If you are interested just drop me a email.

Dale Teague (Teague's Auto)
http://www.teaguesauto.com

Speedo says it won't fit directly fit to 98 RS. What about the STi ones? I really need the whole housing, cuz my needles are way off. I broke it while I was putting the paper gauges. I would stay at 0 mph at stop, but they are way off at other speed. Has anyone bought the STi gagues.

Can somebody make a kilometer / hour version of the speedo? http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smile.gif

Dale ~~ How can you say it will "plug right up in the 98 RS"? You remember the crap that I went through believing this?

It is not just the gauges. It is the whole cluster housing and gauges. Not just the gauges by themselves. The gauges alone will not work without modifying them like you did. But the cluster should sit right in and plug up.

Dale Teague (Teague's Auto)
http://www.teaguesauto.com

The STi gauge cluster will work in the 99+ 2.5RS with alittle modification. I haven't attempted putting it into a '98. Any volunteers?

Here's the link to a picture of the STi instruments installed in a US-spec MY99.
http://www.cobbtuning.com/images/int-sti-gauges1.jpg

[This message has been edited by Trey (edited May 05, 2000).]

Dale ~~ I disagree, at least from the experience I had on my April 98 production MY98. I pulled apart Dave Anton's (of RalliSpec fame) dash on his MY99. (Thanks again Dave!) The white housing for the gauges is slightly different (screw locations, which leads to wiring differences) and the housing itself uses different connectors as far as the wiring harness. It's NOT a direct swap any way you look at it.

I am just stating that it is the best chance at the white face gauges. I do not have access to a 98 to try it. It is not taking up much room so it really does not matter if I sell it or not. I may end up using it in my 95 if it does not sell anyway. Just thought I would offer it.

Dale Teague (Teague's Auto)
http://www.teaguesauto.com

Oh forgot to add it does depend on the production date of the 98 whether it will work or not.

[This message has been edited by Teague's Auto (edited May 05, 2000).]