While at an import auto show, I noticed a car with a semi-frosted instrument panel. About a month later, I saw an ad for the same items and was surprised that the were selling the pieces for about $200 each. I admit, I was a bit impressed with the look. I never really did prefer the glowing dash kits that were actually popular at the time.

Then one day, I decided to see if I can make something similar. Upon completion, I kept it as my dash for the next 5 years.

Watch the video I made showcasing my clear dash kit on: YouTube.

Below is a step-by-step guide on what I did:

1. The dash panel is surrounded by a piece of plastic:

2. Unscrew the top two areas. Then pull off the cover:

3. Once exposed, remove the two bottom screws:

4. Pull out the entire instrument cluster:

5. Unplug the four connectors holding it to the dash:

6. This will leave a hole in the dash:

7. This is the instrument panel as a whole:

8. You will need to pop off ONLY the black/white clips (Do not touch the clear/black clips):

9. Remove the cover piece:

10. The dash guages come as individual face plates:

11. After removing the guage needles, unscrew each item to be removed:

12. I chose to modify those four pieces:

13. Unplug the light bulbs that will be changed:

14. The main bulbs have a green cover:

15. For reference, I made notes on the cover (speed and rpm):

16. Scanned each gauge item at high resolution and inverted the colors:

17. Printed each item onto color transparency, then laminated for glossiness:

18. This is the finished product:

19. On the rpm side, I removed the stock colors and safety info:

20. On the mph side, I removed the speed info located within the inner ring:

More images of this dash kit can be seen here: 2/14/02, 2/25/02, 3/05/02.