I love my Cockpit Chrono Pack. But, ever since I upgraded my speedo and tach to the OutMotoring faces, the Chrono Pack doesn't quite fit.



It's too silver... and it's got the ugly zits where the indicator lights are... problem is, the face is a complex 3D molded part, so no one has attempted to make an aftermarket face for it yet.

Well, recently I saw that Lyle Beckwith - Lyle's Vinyl Styles - started doing some interesting "overlays" for MINI gauges. I also admired a lot of the high quality vinyl "wrap" work he is doing with emblems, door handles, headlight rings, etc. Then it hits me... I wonder if he could WRAP part of the Chrono face... so I send him some pics, we discuss it, I ship him my face, he does some experimentation, and a couple weeks later, VOILA!







This is fantastic - it’s exactly what I think the face should have looked like from the factory. The outer flat parts are wrapped in satin black vinyl, with holes plotter-cut for the gauges and the indicator lights - which blend in so well you don’t even notice them. The vinyl is wrapped down the sides into the gauge areas so only the gauge faces are silver. The satin black color matches the surround of that area of the dash, as well as the hazard and panel light buttons - it works VERY well visually. And it’s a MUCH better match for my OutMotoring gauges.

Lyle was incredibly patient and flexible in working through several iterations of this design until we ended up with exactly what I wanted. He did a very meticulous job of wrapping the vinyl into the nooks and crannies like I wanted.

Along the way he worked up some other templates that some folks with a more radical design scheme will probably like. If he doesn't post them, and you're interested, contact him and ask what he can do. He's not cheap, but he's darn good.

By the way - the Chrono Pack disassembles pretty much just like the center speedo...

 

Fantastic result! Two thumbs up!!

 

It looks great! That Lyle is one amazing guy. It's great news that this can be done. I haven't event considered doing my tach and speedo because I thought it would look odd without doing the chrono pack too. Now I'm thinking about doing it. Maybe checkers....

 

Lyle is Thee Wrap Mastah! Bow down before his awesome power!

 

Looks nice! Very classic British dash

 

That is an incredibly awesome mod. It looks great, and I suspect it will remain unique unless someone ends up selling something similar (without requiring sending your gauge face away for a week). In fact, how you managed without your chrono gauge face for a week or two is beyond me.

So, were you in the middle of this when we discussed your gauges a couple weeks ago, or did that conversation inspire this genious. Either way I can't emphasize strongly enough how fantastic your gauges look. Would you post a pic of the the dash so we can see the new face with the Outmotoring speedo & tach (deju vu ).

 

Thanks!

I've been working on this for some time... was actually in the middle of working through possibilities when we traded posts - but didn't want to say anything just yet in case it didn't work out...

Yeah, I'll take a better shot of the full dash with the OutMotoring gauges tomorrow and post it - I meant to today, but forgot. It looks MUCH better.

The way you survive for two weeks without... you scan your face before you ship it, then you print it out actual size on some thick photo paper, cut it out and install it as the gauge face temporarily. Looks a little weird at night, but during the day, nobody would ever know. But by doing that, I realized that a flat face would probably work - and then got Aaron working on a possible OutMotoring solution, too. Stay tuned for that...

 

Lyle posted some of his other treatments for the Chrono Pack in this thread. More radical stuff than what I went for... My little Chrono Pack face saw a lot of action while in his shop...

 

OK, that is just plain genious. If you keep that type of crap up enventually your going to have people camping out on your front lawn

 

I'm pretty confident that I have now taken a Chrono Pack apart and put it back together more times than any other human...

Alas, I'm only that smart with things that have no commercial value...

 

Well, one look at Boddington and we knew that.

 

Wow...that looks really really nice.

 

Very cool, Blimey Paul !!! I'm not sure who is more of a genius, you or Lyle.

I'm drooling over the possibility of having mine done with some Chili Red gauges.

 

I can guarantee that I am.
But Lyle definitely has infinitely more skill with vinyl.

The only problem with colors other than black is that the indicator light "zits" will still be black... because they're cut-outs. But this probably bothers me more than most people...

 

Yeah, I wouldn't do the background in CR, just the water temp and fuel gauge circles as he did in one of his examples in the thread that you linked above, genius.... I mean Blimey.

 

That would be hawt.

 

That looks sweet. Very out of the box thinking. Instead of fiddling with the actual gauges it was genius to just minimize the acreage of silver around the face. Can't wait to see a full dash shot.

 

Is it me or is your safety triangle upside down?

 

Congratulations! You win a prize!

Yeah, I just put it that way for the heckuvit. Snaps back on either way. I can change it in 10 seconds...

 

OK, I updated the first post with the "after" shot of the dash showing the tach and speedo. Happy?

 

Yep, now I want it even more. Looks much better than stock. Thanks

 

You're welcome.

Yeah, I think it looks much better than stock, even if you still have the stock tach/speedo faces... the Chrono just had too much silver "acreage" as chpsk8 said.

And the treatment makes it appear much more like a cluster of discrete gauges, IMO, vs. some weird single instrument with several needles on it and a cheezy face...

 

Nice, nice nice. Very nice! Looks really good with just the right mix of silver & black. I still need to do your LED lighting correction on my tach but I feel confident enough of the outcome based on your blog. Blimey - you have just been nominated for "Gage Face Man of the Year". Do I hear a second?

 

I'll second that motion. All in favor ?

 

I'm in favor of of Blimey's being made "Gage Face Man of the Year" or "Gauge Face Man of the Year". (He da man)