White Dials Fitted

[Stickers]

Just a few images of my newly fitted white dials:

Old:




New:

[ZesPak]

Is that a chrome steering wheel??

The dials look nice tough

[Stickers]

ZesPak said:

Is that a chrome steering wheel??

The dials look nice tough

Yup, its a chrome/leather 'T' horn steering wheel.

[tuttle]

Dials certainly brighten up the dash, quite like them indeed. Easy to read at a glance in poor light I imagine.
Which pedal covers are those?

[Stickers]

tuttle said:

Dials certainly brighten up the dash, quite like them indeed. Easy to read at a glance in poor light I imagine.
Which pedal covers are those?

They are 'Razo' ally covers.

[MrV]

Stickers said:

ZesPak said:

Is that a chrome steering wheel??

The dials look nice tough

Yup, its a chrome/leather 'T' horn steering wheel.

Do you get any probs with the sun reflecting back into your eyes with that? I added the chrome dial covers then took them off because of the reflections

[Stickers]

MrV said:

Stickers said:

ZesPak said:

Is that a chrome steering wheel??

The dials look nice tough

Yup, its a chrome/leather 'T' horn steering wheel.

Do you get any probs with the sun reflecting back into your eyes with that? I added the chrome dial covers then took them off because of the reflections

I've not had any probs as yet...........I reccon for the sun to refect into my eyes I'd have to pretty much squat down level with the bottom of the steering wheel & when the sun is low/behind me, my head shadows it out anyway.

[phil200]

Dials look superb, did you paint the needles by hand?

[Stickers]

phil200 said:

Dials look superb, did you paint the needles by hand?

Well spotted that man !

As you know, the original needles are painted white on the underside - I used a modeling knife (stanley blade) to remove all traces of white, the very carefully painted the red using a 'touch up paint pen' from Motorworld.

The result is well beyond my expectations & illuminates perfectly at night. I'm well chuffed with the results as it was hit & miss whether or not I used the right colour etc.

Edited by Stickers on Thursday 2nd July 00:13

[phil200]

So do your numbers illuminate red? Most I've seen the numbers were in blue thats all

Same bulbs behind for illumination?

Can you tell its on my to-do list

[Stickers]

phil200 said:

So do your numbers illuminate red? Most I've seen the numbers were in blue thats all

Same bulbs behind for illumination?

Can you tell its on my to-do list

The numbers illuminate red - all that has to be done is to remove the green condom that covers the original bulbs. Full instructions are given with the dial kit that I bought from www.jagspares.co.uk after a tip from 'Oldandslow & MX5 LAZZA.

Jagspares are £13 cheaper than MX5Parts & the tacho red lines @ 7,250rpm as the original (unlike MX5Parts @ 6,500rpm).

This is the original thread: http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0... cluster re-vamp

[phil200]

Thanks for the info

I cant see the ones you have though, only the cream, coloured and silver faced dials. But what a cr*p website, I guess cheap parts dont buy fancy websites

[Stickers]

phil200 said:

Thanks for the info

I cant see the ones you have though, only the cream, coloured and silver faced dials. But what a cr*p website, I guess cheap parts dont buy fancy websites

Yeah, I had difficulty finding the parts & had to ask for further assistance from MX5 LAZZA - this is the direct link to the red/white dial kit: http://www.jagspares.co.uk/mx5/partdetail.asp?part...

[DennisTheMenace]

Im after OE white on black style dials but illuminate clear rather than green , anyone seen any ?

[Stickers]

DennisTheMenace said:

Im after OE white on black style dials but illuminate clear rather than green , anyone seen any ?

Do you mean like the std dials as in my first pic? or white background with black numbers?

The green backlight is just a regular clear bulb with a green condom over it - the green condom can easily be removed to illuminate your dials in white.

These are the options: http://www.jagspares.co.uk/mx5/PartView.asp?partno...

[DennisTheMenace]

The dials also have aa layer of green on the back also . i have removed the bulb covers already.

[Stickers]

DennisTheMenace said:

The dials also have aa layer of green on the back also . i have removed the bulb covers already.

fk me, you're right.........I just took a look at the ones I removed & noticed that the red area on the tacho still illuminates red, even though it has the green backing.

Red is the negative to green & I'd bet that a red condom or paint on the bulbs would cancel out the green backing & give you white ullumination.

Tis a tad late now, I'll give it a try for you in the morning & post the results on here.

[DennisTheMenace]

I think You will need red and blue to get the white , its been a few years since school , but you mix all 3 to get white .

[Stickers]

DennisTheMenace said:

I think You will need red and blue to get the white , its been a few years since school , but you mix all 3 to get white .

Nah - the neg of green is red, if you have any 35mm film rolls kicking about, check them against the photo's.

Anyway, I tried the red backlight & got red numbers. The red light was too deep in colour & I realised I could be there all year trying different shades etc, so I investigated the dial itself & found that there is a greenbacking laminated to the rear of the dial.

I then attacked it with my trusty pocket knife & scraped off an area to the rear of a number & it lit white! - a time consuming job but one that will work with a little patience. You will need to make sure that the dial face remains grease free so avoid touching it with your fingers & care will have to be taken not to snap off the end stops.

Nail varnish remover works also as long as you don't go beserk & get it all over the shop!

Email me your address & I'll post my old dials on to you to experiment with.