I installed the guage overlay today. I have to say though, I am not impressed with the turn out with the color. I orderd the blue lighting with white background. The blue on the overlay piece itself is a very nice darkish blue, but once istalled, the green e.l. lighting causes the color to be a turquoisey teal color. The pic shows it more blue than it actually is in person. I tried to get a pic with it showing the true color, but I couldn't. If it were the color in the pic, I would be very happy, but there is definitely a difference in this and the stock green.
dak.jpg

 

Well, at least the picture looks good. Lol. Thank you for being the test mule. I am half tempted NOT to get the overlays now.

 

it was never a question for me. way too much money for an overlay.

 

I gotta say that I really like my Black Cat face, and definitely like it much better than the green face. The silver face blends with the rest of the interior very well. I know it tough to get a decent night picture of the lighting, but I'm sure you'll like the face once you get used to it.

 

The picture does look good! Do you like it even though it didn't turn out quite how you expected?

If I had the ambition to pick up another project I would get a cluster off eBay and start working some magic...

 

I like it better than the green, but it is not what I was expecting. I think I will now have a hard time matching leds in the a/c controls and other parts of the vehicle.

 

That was the deal breaker for me, because everything else is green as well. Im color blind so the green doesnt bother me ..... it looks like white to me

Blackcat does sell overlays for the headlight switches and HVAC controls. They are the same inlays as the 2004 Dakotas .... with the exception that the 2004 Dakota has an extra button on the HVAC but it wont affect being installed on our control panel.

The issue I would have is with the radio ..... I got a new radio installed when I bought the truck by the dealer because the CD player didnt work and they changed the radio a bit with chrome trim on the ***** and the ***** are also backlit with the EL lighting.

 

What did you, or are you going to do about illuminating the needles?

this is the only thing holding me back from changing the overlay in my truck, I haven't found needles yet, that I can illuminate, though I did just think of a possible solution...

 

Without led lighting, I do not know how the needles could be lit up. I do not know much about this sort of thing though. I have to say though, the gauge is growing on me. It looks much better during the day.

 

The background is illuminated, not the needle, same as stock is.