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Blue LED Dash Conversion

myberlina

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Its been pretty good for the last few months but recently (the last week or so) the stupid thing has been shitting me beyond belief.

As for the needles, yeah, been planning on them for ages.
I want them to light up red and to do that I think I have to cut out some of that clear plastic prism so I can get closer to the base of the needle.

Those 'red bits' actually light up ok. The camera just doesn't pick it up as good as it should. When I do the needles, I plan to realign the LEDs so that the light has better consistency. At the moment the tacho only has two LEDs while the speedo has 4. Under my future plan the tacho alone won't have any less than 5 and the speedo something like 8?
 

wrx884

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yer that would b a good amount of LEDs needed 4 the tachco and speedo as 4 the prisms u dont have 2 cut them just drill some holes as close 2 the needle mechanisms as u can, big enough so u can fit a 3mm LED in sidways so it shines parrellel with the plastic and then will shine on those prism bits nicely. they work the same way the normal globes do wen they shine on those lil inwards tabs that pretty much sit where the globes were except ur putting them closer still in the same line but this way it wont interfear with the other colours being away from them.
 

myberlina

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Yeah. That sounds like the way to go. I have tried with some Red ones before but the only thing I got was pink! (thats for pooftas!! hahaha)

I ripped the mongrels back out and thats where it has been since on the 'drawing board'.

The reason why that failed is because I thought I could attach the leds to the end tab that previously redirected the light from the old style globes. In doing that there was so much white blasting thru it just simply came out pink.

Doing what you have suggested I think will work. The closer they are the less colour wash I will get.
 

WinterVX

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White LEDs in the trip window looks good man, cheers for the pics :)

Im still thinking the White face with blue backing (like Deserthead) may be the way
to go with my car. Decisions, decisions :p
 

wrx884

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Yeah. That sounds like the way to go. I have tried with some Red ones before but the only thing I got was pink! (thats for pooftas!! hahaha)

I ripped the mongrels back out and thats where it has been since on the 'drawing board'.

The reason why that failed is because I thought I could attach the leds to the end tab that previously redirected the light from the old style globes. In doing that there was so much white blasting thru it just simply came out pink.

Doing what you have suggested I think will work. The closer they are the less colour wash I will get.

lol yer i know wat ya mean bout the pink look tho with ur needles on the backs of them do they have like a white transparent paint on them?? might pay 2 scrap that off also i did mine cept mine had the orange and i just used a sharpe chisole lol (u can use a sharp blade of some sort) and then used wet n dry sand paper so no scratches could b seen through the other side. U do that n im sure u wont get the pink look with those then either. Have a look if u havent already ive got pics in this thread how my red needles turned out.
 

myberlina

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... do they have like a white transparent paint on them?? might pay 2 scrap that off also i did mine cept mine had the orange

Nah. Mine have a white backing on them. A series II thing cause I remember a mate of mine was insanely jeoulous that mine where white by day and his were that crappy orange. Urgh that thought.

I thought about removing the backing like you have suggested but I'll wait until I install the LEDs for the needles correctly and see what eventuates. If the backing does pose any problems after I do it all, then yeah, the backing will go pronto.

I'll take a blast from the past and check out your pics too. :D
 

myberlina

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White LEDs in the trip window looks good man, cheers for the pics :)

Im still thinking the White face with blue backing (like Deserthead) may be the way
to go with my car. Decisions, decisions :p

The trip windows are going to be redone eventually also. Yet something else to add to the expense of LEDs.
 

myberlina

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BTW WinterVX, just thinking about it now... might actually look better with a mix of blue backlit dials and some interior whites? Just a thought. Probably better than going all white.

IF YOU DO go with the fascia like Deserthead, would you still put the white leds in if its going to come thru as blue? Either that or i've got things mixed up a little.
 

myberlina

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finally i finished my cluster n dam it was time consuming lol but worth it in the end i think here r some pics i just took sorry 4 poor quality as i only have my phone 2 take pics

Needles made them red and scraped off the orange backing, then gave them a sand on the back of them and then marked them with a red perminate marker with wat do use think????

Found it... this is just my stupid way of bookmarking it...

and also if no one knows what your talking about... looks good thou ey?
 

WinterVX

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BTW WinterVX, just thinking about it now... might actually look better with a mix of blue backlit dials and some interior whites? Just a thought. Probably better than going all white.

IF YOU DO go with the fascia like Deserthead, would you still put the white leds in if its going to come thru as blue? Either that or i've got things mixed up a little.

Nah if I get the white face for the cluster then I wont change the LEDs at all appart
from the trip window. Just gotta find someone in Melb that sells them without the
green back on them...
 
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