Indiglo gauges? Get ultra red gauge needles!

[NoSlo]

I have halo gauges and have been annoyed by the white light leaking around the gauge needles and around the dials from the back lighting. I picked up some 194R bulbs, pulled out the instrument panel and replaced the four illumination bulbs across the middle with these red bulbs. These are normal light bulbs, not LED bulbs, that are dipped in a red plastic color - $2.99 for a 2 pack. I pulled out the illumination bulbs at the top and bottom of the speedometer because I didn't want the odometer to be super evil red or still have white light in the needles. Look at those needles glow!

Also, bonus points if you can figure out how I got the 96+ EATC and clock blue!

(answer - I photoshopped the clock and EATC from green to blue, but my order of 100 blue-violet LEDs is in the mail, and all the dash indicator lights (and maybe window switches too) are going to be that color really soon!)

 

[SuperchargedSHOguy]

I am not saying to do this but you can also take a red Sharpie and carefully "paint" the needles. Poor mans way...I did this on a previous car.

 

[NoSlo]

I already used red nail polish to color the needles red - the problem was at night, the red glow you see around the needles was white and annoying. It was very obvious because these are white face gauges.

 

[SuperchargedSHOguy]

I know I have the same problem with my gauges and the bleed through. I was just saying that if you wanted red needles.

 

[shofun93]

That looks great. I have my EL's on the way (I love ebay) and I am going to use the red bulbs for the indicators and the blue ones for the odometer.

I will post pics when it is done.

GREAT JOB.

 

[Justin101]

hey NoSlo how did u do that to your EATC unit and clock, that looks HOT , i need to do that to mine, the green clock and EATC buttons dont go very well with my blue everything else!

 

[Orkin]

That's awesome! I need to do that to mine, it would go oh-so-much better with my new head unit. How'd you do the EATC and clock?

 

[NoSlo]

It says at the bottom of my original post how I did it - Photoshop!

I'll give you guys some updates after I actually change the EATC to blue LED lighting with some LED's in a couple of weeks- the tricky part will be getting the clock digits and temperature digits blue - I'll need to substitute in some deep blue plastic for the green plastic and hopefully that will be enough.

 

[shoteen95]

i have the same problem with the white light bleeding through the guages and around the needles at night.

so far i just turn the dimmer way down so it doesnt annoy me..

but this looks very tricks, if i ever get the will to rip the dash and cluster all apart again, maybe i'll do something similiar..

very nice

P.S. I want a blue EATC and clock!!!

 

[DDakRT]

Just a question, if I won't have indiglo gauges, will it make my whole gauge red? Is it possible to just make the needles glow red without the rest of the gauges being red also?

Also when you took your gauge cluster out, did you have to disconnect the speedo cable?

 

[n8rsk8r]

I posted on here a couple months ago about that, the 194R and got bashed, way to go man! I am doing that to my stangs EL's. they look good!

 

[DDakRT]

Another question, the letters on your gauge look much bluer than the picture in the auctions, did you modified them in anyway or are they adjustable.

Oh and yours doesn't have the red dash and km/h on it either?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Just a question, if I won't have indiglo gauges, will it make my whole gauge red? Is it possible to just make the needles glow red without the rest of the gauges being red also?

Also when you took your gauge cluster out, did you have to disconnect the speedo cable?

Colored bulbs will really only make a difference on the portions of the cluster that have lightpipes -- basically the needles and the OD's. All the other parts are colored by the overlays, so a red bulb for instance will give the blue portions of the cluster a more purple look, and will also not be as bright as the white bulbs. Of course I suppose you could try to remove the coloring from the overlays with some acetone, but I'd be afraid of eradicating the legends in the process.

 

[jelloslug]

To change the VF displays on the clock and the EATC you will need to remove the existing filters and get(make) new ones. You can make the displays almost any color you want with the correct filter (even white).

 

[AutoSHO]

Did you still paint your needles red so that you can see them during the daytime?

 

[NoSlo]

Another question, the letters on your gauge look much bluer than the picture in the auctions, did you modified them in anyway or are they adjustable.

Oh and yours doesn't have the red dash and km/h on it either?

Actually, I didn't notice that the red part wasn't lit up in the picture, and had to do a double take. I went back out and looked at my car and took some pictures at the low and high dimmer settings on the inverter:

It seems like at the lowest dimmer setting (where I normally leave the inverter because they are hella bright) the red parts hardly light up, and as you start to turn the brightness up the red parts light up more. Wierd.

The blue color in the picture gets washed out when it is too bright for the camera, the low dimmer picture is the actual color when you look at them.

If you want to change the color of your gauges with bulbs and you don't have an indiglo-style gauge set, you are going to change the color of both the needles and the gauges. The SLO guide for putting in blue LEDs shows how everything is just blue, including the needles. I can't see how you would avoid that, the same clear plastic that distributes the illumination in the gauges illuminates the needles too. LED lighting is one pure color - even if you light up something with a red lens it will still come through blue. That's why they are good for changing the color of the EATC, even though the lettering is colored green in the plastic the light will come through pure blue.

And yes, I had to disconnect the speedometer cable in the engine compartment, it was a pain getting that little wire U-clip out, I had to bend the hooked ends straight to get the thing to budge. Helms doesn't say anything about how to do it, so thanks to the forum for that one!

Jelloslug - thanks! I've seen pictures of the clock white so I figured I just need to change the color of the plastic lens. I have an extra clock. Just need to improvise now!

 

[jelloslug]

Shoot me a PM, I have lots of info on how and what you need to change VF displays to different colors.

 

[DDakRT]

Can you post them Mitchell? I might not do them now but it'd be cool to know.

Thanks Jay! And one last question (what Chris asked), I know you painted the needles red with nail polish before, is it still on the needles when you took the pic with the red bulbs?

 

[NoSlo]

Can you post them Mitchell? I might not do them now but it'd be cool to know.

Thanks Jay! And one last question (what Chris asked), I know you painted the needles red with nail polish before, is it still on the needles when you took the pic with the red bulbs?

Yep, they still have the nail polish, otherwise they would be white during the day against a white background. The light shines through just fine.
And I second the motion to post that info here! But I'll shoot you that PM...

 

[RJ-92]

I used a red sharpie to color mine. Worked pretty darn good If I do say so myself.