I'm thinking about painting the boost gauge pod tan to look like it was factory. Anyone have any suggestions on what type or color of paint? I know Ron did this a while back, but didn't he take down his webpage?
thanks
any help is appreciated..

 

I've done alot of trim panel painting. There is a special paint for interior plastics. The best ones available are for SEM. I haven't found it in too many places, but it is worth the hunt. Good Luck!

 

Yup, I sure did. My brother paints in a body shop, so I made him do it with that special interior paint. I will try to take a picture and post it later. It came out great. I couldn't imagine putting a black pod inside my light oak interior.

 

Yeah. The SEM sprays are made for plastic. Call any upholstery supply joint in your area and ask if they carry it. I think Jason B knows the color name...

 

Contaact Vinyl Pro in Kensington, PA.

www.vinylpro.com

(724) 335-4808 (Thad)
(800) 750-7939

The closest match to the Oak interior is SEM's Castella #15223. I used Pescadero Sand #15283 as a base coat and then misted the Castella over it, but you don't have to do that because on its own, the Castella is a pretty close match. I also used a vinyl primer to give it a light colored base. In order to do it spot-on, you would have to send Vinyl Pro a piece of your interior plastic that has a flat smooth (no texture) surface. They will read it with a spectrophotometer and make a formula for you. You will have to use a Preval sprayer or the the type they recommend if you don't have a paint shop sprayer.

If you decide to have a formula batch made, please list the formula and brand paint used.

 

Here are the pics of the painted boost guage pod, as promissed. While it doesn't seem that way in the pics, the color matches perfectly. The paint reflected the flash differently than the factory plastic.

While I'm at it, let me complain about the boost guage design for a moment...

First, they did not design the pod to well for those of us that have grab ahndles on our pillars. I am eventually going to take mine down and trim the pod. I did not do it yet because it will need to be repainted once I trim it. The pod is black plastic.

Second, My truck (and all new Tacomas as far as I know) has white face guages with orange illumination. The stupid boost guage has a white face with GREEN illumination. It looks kind of silly. Does TRD offer a different face the the matching illuminaiton. The bulbs inside are white, so changing the color of the bulb will not help.

 

It might be an LED...:confused:

 

You can buy the Autometer "Phantom" series boost gauge like I did. It's white faced and then I added blue LED bulbs to match my indiglos. But you could install any color bulb you wanted. Here's a pic of my boost gauge:

http://groups.msn.com/2000SR5ToyotaT...oto&PhotoID=39

Paul

 

That looks hot! Where did you get the emblem that is in the center of your steering wheel, Paul?

I believe that the TRD boost guage is actually an Autometer anyway. I wonder if I could change the bulbs. It just seems to me that the green color is comming from the face, not the bulbs since they are white.

 

Have you guys heard of gaugepods.com?
I am interested in getting the full length pillar with dual pods for the '96-'00 (it's the second pictue on the page)
Here is the link

Is $44.99 a good price for it?

 

They need to make a triple pod for the 3rd Gen. I think 45 is an alright price. Just look what TRD charges for a single.

 

Noel:

Here's a link to an Ebay auction from the guy I bought the emblem I have on my steering wheel:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=1255

Paul

 

I will have to check on this someday or one of you guys can. I am almost positive that Gaugeworks makes the pod for Autometer and TRD. Lotek (Gaugepods) is a competitor and when we were designing the Impala pods, Loteks product was vastly inferior. I think the guy who started Lotek works for IBM, or at least he did when he started the company. Lotek might make a 3-pod cover if you can get a GP together with enough #'s. The only thing I don't like about them is that they do not replace the A-pillar cover, they COVER them. On my Chevy I have a full A-pillar cover with 2x2-1/16 and 1x2-5/8" pod that is installed _not_ as a cover's cover but as the only cover. It looks better with no visible ratchet plugs.

 

I could not find any "gaugeworks" for a 4Runner. Would a full pillar for a Tacoma fit a 4runner?...I saw this at RPMoutlet and was wondering if it would fit my '99 4runner I really want to get a full pillar with dual pods

 

Duke,
This looks like it is the same concept as the Lotek cover. They say that it can be used as a cover-cover or with some modification it can be used to replace the OE cover. I have to look at how long the side piece (finger) is that goes down below the dash along the weatherstripping on the OE cover.

What you do to attach the cover to the A-pillar is use epoxy or super glue to attach a broad head ratchet mushroom clip to the back of the cover so it emulates the mounting system of the OE cover. I don't recall what the mounting points look like but I think there is one top clip and one lower clip that slides into a slot. You probably don't even have to use the bottom one or you can drill holes into the metal substructure of the A-pillar and fabricate your own mounting system clips.

One more thing about my experience with Lotek. The quality plastic that they were using when I dealt with them was inferior to that used by Gauge Works. There's was subject to UV degredation and warping.

I just emailed one large Gauge Works distributor for info and I have Greg's telepone number (old) somewhere if push comes to shove, but I would rather not bother him since I doubt there are that many guys who want the pod/cover.

 

Duke:

Tacos and Runners have different A-post.

Paul

 

Oops! I realize I didn't answer that part of Duke's inquiry. Sorry.
However, I wouldn't have known the answer anyway without looking at a vehicle.

 

This is what matches the door panels, the "lighter" tan color.







As you can see, it's about dead on.

 

The CASTELLA is the best match, but it is lighter. I have a place in PA that you can send a peice of interior trim to and they will mix you a pint of the "dead on" color. However, I went with the Castella on top of another color in hopes of darkening it a bit. It didn't work that well but it was close enough for government work.

 

Thnaks Jason for posting the pics. I just ordered the paint!