I did a search but could not find any exact answers.
How have you upgraded/replaced your factory instrument light bulbs to make them brighter so you can see the damn instruments. I am working on an 88 951 Thank you

 

Higher wattage bulbs melt stuff. You can, however, resilver the conduits that carry the light to the gauge faces. A search should reveal lots of threads.

-Joel.

 

I find that cleaning the contacts and replacing the bulbs will usually go a good way to bringing them back up to acceptable levels. You can get 3watt bulbs that won't melt anything but stay away from the 5 watt stuff.

After cleaning contacts, even with the 2 watt bulbs I do not keep them at full bright. They're easily readable otherwise, and don't get intrusive. Some people like to have them on full bright, regardless of what they're driving, some people turn them off. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle...
Ahmet

 

http://www.9xauto.com/cluster.html

have fun

 

I bought the 9XAuto kit ($25.00). Had local speedo shop put it in along with gauge rings I sourced off Ebay. The light kit made a nice improvement. Much better dash lights now. I recommend it.

 

There's a no-cost fix at www.clarks-garage.com

 

This is what you want http://www.flamingeye.co.uk/ I dont have one yet as my original lighting is still good but have seen them in Blue and they look great. Only downside is the dimmer will not work but brightness can be preset.
Tony

 

I shall take a pic of what my PO did. Basically replaced the lens with LED lights and added a resistor. It looks great, but never measured the voltage to see how much is being generated (too much would melt the gauge face), but after placing my hand on the gauge face after 1+hr of driving, it's barely warm.

 

I cleaned the light tunnels and cover with heavy duty aluminum and even glued some foil to the inside of the light tunnel where the bulb sits (it's painted white).

The foil and new 2.5w bulbs made a big difference. I have red bulbs which are brighter than the old white (with bad tunnels) bulbs).

 

I know 4 people with the Flamingeye kit and they all LOVE it. It isnt cheap but they rave not only about how good the kit is but even how good the packaging and boxing was. If I was in need of it that would be the way I went.
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Pictures are not clear and appear dull, but they are 4x+ brighter than stock and running low voltage:




I shall take more shots but with better camera settings (it's cold outside )

 

Mine.

The exposure is a little long but you get the idea.

 

The biggest change i found was replacing the positive and negative battery cables. You will have the greatest voltage drop across these two cables when they are bad/poor shape!
Iceshark has an excellent set for sale. Do a google for iceshark or there is a link on dannos website (gururacing). iceshark e-mail wraydan@msn.com

I still have the original wattage bulbs as well as the cluster has not been pulled at all. Also, clean all your grounds, especially under the dash.

Jaak Lepson

 

StreckFu, what kit are you using? Or is it your own kit?

 

Go to clarks-garage under his shop manual "instrument panel lights" I put in 194 sylvania bulbs and cleaned up the old reflective surface and covered them with tin foil (you will see in his procedure), and the lights are bright enough to turn down. Takes all of about an hour. I think it uses 3 194 bulbs which i think are about 4 watts.