cb944

Hi,

I know there are several threads on this previously, some with some pretty good information, but I have a question that I can't find a complete answer to when searching the forum.

My dash has the all-yellow instrument clusters, I like the idea of brightening up the instrument illumination with LEDs, however in the photographs I've seen it's mainly blue or white LEDs on white-on-black gauge faces.

I'm wondering if maybe it might be better to get yellow LEDs to illuminate the yellow writing on my gauges, rather than white, which might not look quite right?

Has anyone tried yellow instead of white? I don't want to brighten the instruments up too much.. just improve the readability at night.

Cheers,

Chris.

luftpirate

I just did mine with the "cool white" from superbrightleds.com
It turned out really well, I also added one light to the speedo. Its brighter and doesn't look ricey, the dimmer also still works. I can post pics if you like.

Here is the parent thread for this mod.
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...ly-cars-3.html

cb944

thanks! could you post pics?

luftpirate

This pic shows the added light on the speedo.


This pic shows polarity (+) = red for LEDs on the indicator gauge.


Ill post up nightime pics once I get home.

cb944

thanks, I had a lok at your 944 progress thread.. funny, I have a 1985.1 944 as well - guess I shouldn't think that's too much of a coincidence on a 924/944/968 forum, but still at least I know those pictures are probably going to be pretty much the same as mine!

looks like your making good progress.. did you have to take the steering wheel off to get to the main instrument cluster? I tried to remove the front cover a couple of weeks back.. I removed the plastic casing around the ignition key and indicator/wash/wipe stalks, but I couldn't seem to get enough clearance to get the main cover out of the way.

would be good to see those shots of the dials at night, I'm still kind of toying with the idea of using yellow LEDs, but I don't want to go through it all only to find that I actually like the look of white lights after all.

Thanks,

Chris.

Kevsporsche944

Yellow would look great on the early 944. I loved the orange lights in my bmw. I have thought of going this route in my 944. Id like to have black gauges with the numbers lit in orange or these white gauges. Not sure if they are this bright or its just a long camera exposure.

cb944

wow - that does look bright! I think the camera is overexposing a bit, judging by the temp/oil pressure gauges.

hmm, I'm beginning to think I might end up taking it all apart twice and trying it both ways

luftpirate

Sorry no pics yet I left my cam at work. Try again tonight.

Yes steering wheel needs to come off, its simple though and you can find instructions on Clarks Garage

The black plastic horn cover pops off then you just pull the nut and mark the position on the spline so you get it back on strait.

cb944

thanks for the link! very helpful.

Cheers,

Chris.

krystar

ha, I JUST finished replacing the lights. i just bought some normal replacements. maybe i shoulda splurged for led's... nah

luftpirate

The white glaze around the edge of the gauge is reflection off the plastic cone.

krystar

needs to have more refraction for even lighting. 3-4k on the tach is like barely visible...at least in the pic.

Kevsporsche944

Krystar I agree.

luftpirate

I have a spare broken tach now so I can see what can be done as far as adding another light there. It might not be possible if there is a mechanism between the outside of the can and the gauge face. It is also more visible with the naked eye.

cb944

yeah, that is more of a problem with the dash itself. I'm pretty sure my tach is quite dim around 3/4k with the original lighting. The speedometer looks good though.

Chris.