Parden my noobness as im sure this has been coverd, and searched it but didnt find anything, but can any other X-Type gauge clusters be swapped out or am i stuck with the one i have?

 

beardedjag, you are not stuck with your instrument cluster, but at the same time, you may find that it will disable your car if you get something too different from what you currently have. It seems to be a hit and miss thing. So, to get another instrument cluster with a build date near what yours is would be best, but it still won't garantee that you will avoid a trip to the dealership to get it properly programmed.

I wish the answer was more black and white, but that is what we are finding out.

 

okay, so my best option that i can se then would be to find a company that does overlays instead. just seeing if i can change the color of it. was thinking of doing LED lights as well. i saw a few people did it but havent looked into how they did it yet.

 

beardedjag, to the best of my knowledge, all X-Types came with the same instrument cluster. They are all black faced gauges. So, I guess that is going to eliminate that option (atleast the OEM option). That leaves you with the overlay option.

As for doing LEDs, you need to know what MCD rating LED they used. THe problem with LEDs is you have 20 million different light intensity ratings for the LEDs and not getting the correct rating LED can lead to spot lighting of the instrument cluster or lack of light even with the dimmer dialed all the way up. LEDs have a few ratings that you are going to need to know. THe one that will give you a little bit of variance with is the wavelength of the LED. This is in short the color of the LED. THe problem comes in that if you ever have to replace the LED or you are needing to buy LEDs from multiple places, you need to make sure you get the same wavelength. Otherwise you are going to have different colored lights. The second value you need to know is the MCD rating. This is essentially a measure of how much light the LED is putting out. Higher the number, the more light. To play in with the MCD rating is the angular viewing of an LED (also written as theta over 2). A lot of your very bright LEDs are very bright, but over a very limited angle. In the case of your instrument cluster, you are going to need something with a very wide angular light distribution (atleast 120 degrees, if not more). Get too small of an angle and you are going to have bright spots in your instrument cluster and places where there is no light.

If you need to know more about LEDs, let me know. I work with electronics and do a lot with LEDs.

 

well that is very useful information as i am just getting into and researching electronics and LEDs. so you my friend may come in handy. thanks a lot!

 

Well my friends took a little surfing but look what I found



Jaguar X-Type KMH to MPH Speedo meter clocks. Dials


Looks like I am taking the wife out to dinner tonight and a little arm twisting

 

The sport models have green faces. I have one sitting in a box waiting to be installed, but as stated, I have to get the thing programmed after its installed, and the jag dealer wants an hours pay just to program it, that's about 120 bucks haha. A friend of mine that is a manager at another shop said he can do it though.

 

Paul, when you go to do the gas face swap, let me know. There is a procedure for getting the gauge arms back on where they need to be. Easy to do, but if you don't get them on so, your gas gauge may read funny or your speedo may be off by a few MPH.

 

hmmm, for some reason i wanting to say mine have green faces but not a sport model. at least i don think it is....some investigation may have to be done after i get out of work.

 

That looks to be for a diesel model, the rpms only go to 5k...also they are saying its for cars with KMH to convert them to MPH so I'd worry that the numbers might not actually line up with where they would be on a car that already reads in mph. So I'd check with them first. The cream color looks cool though.

 

Nice catch !!!

The numbers will line up I had an MR2 Japanese import that I did this to when I lived in the UK its just a different scale on the gauge (which matches the MPH gauge we have).
I have emailed them and asked if they can do the gauge that has the rev counter going up to 8K in any other color the C307 and C312 which are the ones we would be interested in.
I shall keep you all posted as soon as i get a reply.
I also have my brother in law looking at junk yards in the UK see if he can find me a 2008/09 cluster with the metallic background

 

ok Guys and Gals

I got a reply here is what they said

Hi,
The 8204 is for the diesel model
We can produce them or the (C312) in almost any colour you require.
One off orders are always expensive due to the set up and production costs.
If several of the same colour are needed then the unit price is more realistic as the setup costs are shared.
As a guide, we can supply 10 IDENTICAL dials in the same colour at £75.00 each + postage.
Kind Regards
Clive


so if anyone is interested looks like we have to get a group order

wonder if one of our friends in the UK would be willing to set this up.

 

that doesnt seem bad. but we would all have to decide on a color.

 

Beardedjag, keep in mind that 1) the price is in pounds, not USD, so, you need to do the conversion for how much it is going to run, and 2) how much will the shipping be from England to the US on an odd-ball size package? You may find that the shipping alone may make things unrealistic. Check into it as the acceptable price is what you are willing to spend.

 

yea, i realize i have to convert it. but shipping something internationally, never really know wha they would charge. so i guess ill have to wait and see.

 

update.
Shipping will be 8.45 British Pound. ($14.10)

taken from the website
"Cost of delivery to all other countries in the world
This is determined by the weight or by size.
For dials the delivery cost is always £8.45(gbp)"

so with a rough conversion that is about $140.00 each.

 

Another update.
just asked if they could do this color.

 

^^^That is amazing. i think i would invest $125 + shipping for that.

 

Ok they say they can do the silver or "get very close".
I have requested a quote to get these all shipped to me.
all I need now is to get some pre paid orders
I shall ship these to you guys AT COST, Do not want to make money of you guys as long as I can get enough interest, I am not willing to sit on these at nearly $140 a pop
so........ who wants one
need at least 10 to make this work more would be better.

 

well, im interested.