[W126 Coupe] Dashboard Readout modification

[Eddie]

Due to the time the gauges required on the laser machine, my contracted
laser shop would no longer do these, the price he offered to do them at was
ridiculous, and I have not been able to find another shop with the same
technical ability to do these.  Furthermore, the project was aimed at
creating lighted needles, but it was far too labour intensive to be able to
offer them as kits, as few would be able to replicate it (I broke 2 gauge
clusters to get one set working).  The EL backlighting worked well, however
because Mercedes used at least 3 different methods of securing the needles
and the gauge faces just between 1985 and 1991, it would have been
impossible to sell them as kits, I would have had to open the gauges up and
make the plates as I was installing them.  I made one set with the ASR
cutout, and it looked great.

Currently the most promising solution is the set offered by Speedhut, being
VERY cheap at $130 I believe, however they print their gauges over the EL,
rather than laser engraving them, and the holes around the needles are very
large (to avoid removing the needles and original faces) so it looks pretty
bad.  I don't know if they would be able to do the ASR cutout.

If I find a laser shop willing to do the work at more reasonable cost, I
will post it to the list.

Eddie

-----Original Message-----
From: mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com [mailto:mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com]
On Behalf Of Vance Rowley
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 6:24 PM
To: mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com
Subject: [W126 Coupe] Dashboard Readout modification

Don't know if it's still available, but some years back I think it was Eddie
that organised the laser cut dahboard readout complete replacement for the
560 (speedo,tacho and so on) so not only would the display look a lot
brighter more like the  modern MB's, but a lot easier to read. But my main
reason is also the speedo was calibrated in both KPH and MPH. As my Euro 560
is only calibrated in KPH, being back in the UK is a pain having only KPH on
my speedo.
Back at the time, I remember there was the question if this was available
with the triangle cut-out for the ASR light.
Are these still available? if so where from and how much, and lastly are
they a pain to fit? and were they eventually made to accommodate the ASR
triangle?
Hope someone can help.
Cheers,
Vance.
1991 560SEC
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