Chrimaera Dash
Discussion
i believe www.classical-dash.co.uk have them - i enquired before carbon vinyl wrapping mine
s p a c e m a n said:
I think it was 4 x 501 bulbs for the speedo and rev counter, 3 x BA9S for the 3 dials and a stupid small one for the clock.... and a few random little led's.
The speedo bulb is rated at 2w, I took the opportunity to replace it with a 4w bulb, this brings the speedo lighting closer to the rest of the dialss p a c e m a n said:
I just bought a load of led ones as they give a whiter light, makes the dials look a lot cleaner.
+1 - It took some time to get decent ones as you need the ones with LEDs on the sides and ends to get a decent light dispersion inside the gauge but *MUCH* better than the feeble incandescent bulbs that were in there ... nice and crisp and white. 
Bassfiend229hp said:
+1 - It took some time to get decent ones as you need the ones with LEDs on the sides and ends to get a decent light dispersion inside the gauge but *MUCH* better than the feeble incandescent bulbs that were in there ... nice and crisp and white.
Where did you get them from? Have you done you dash Phil, wouldn't mind seeing a pic when finished!chris1972 said:
Bassfiend229hp said:
+1 - It took some time to get decent ones as you need the ones with LEDs on the sides and ends to get a decent light dispersion inside the gauge but *MUCH* better than the feeble incandescent bulbs that were in there ... nice and crisp and white.
Where did you get them from? Have you done you dash Phil, wouldn't mind seeing a pic when finished!A bulb link will satisfy
I'm sure I have some pics somewhere on a phone - I'll try to find them - but the difference is not subtle, the original gauge illumination looks p*ss yellow beside the LED bulbs and the LED bulb illumination is lovely!!
The only gauge I couldn't find a replacement bulb for was the clock as that has a poxy tiny thing in it. (Mine are the ETB gauges.)
You can get LED bulbs that look like a normal bulb and at first thoughts they appear the best bet but the problem with LED bulbs is they tend to be very "directional" and whilst that's fine in a torch where you want a beam of light it's not very good when you need something that diffuses light and bounces it around inside the can of a gauge to illuminate the so for the smaller gauges I used something like these...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-10X-233-BA9S-T4W-CAPP...
... and for the speedo and tacho I used something like these...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-LED-Light-Bulbs-T11-...
Now, one issue I had was that these LED bulbs are not the same physical size and shape as incandescent bulbs so they can be a bit of a squeeze to fit in and the bulb holders are pretty wimpy themselves so I managed to get a bulb dropped inside my speedo which I panicked about a bit as I couldn't get it back out.
I ended up actually removing (with a pair of long nosed pliers) the two pressed in bulb holder "tubes" from the back of both the speedo and tacho, the bulbs that I'd dropped inside were then easy to retrieve and I mounted the bulb holders back in with a couple of small dabs of araldite so if I need to they can be extracted again. This was really helpful as it gave me more room behind the dash as it reduced the depth of the gauges *AND* also gave me a much better light dispersion.
The only gauge I couldn't find a replacement bulb for was the clock as that has a poxy tiny thing in it. (Mine are the ETB gauges.)
You can get LED bulbs that look like a normal bulb and at first thoughts they appear the best bet but the problem with LED bulbs is they tend to be very "directional" and whilst that's fine in a torch where you want a beam of light it's not very good when you need something that diffuses light and bounces it around inside the can of a gauge to illuminate the so for the smaller gauges I used something like these...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-10X-233-BA9S-T4W-CAPP...
... and for the speedo and tacho I used something like these...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-LED-Light-Bulbs-T11-...
Now, one issue I had was that these LED bulbs are not the same physical size and shape as incandescent bulbs so they can be a bit of a squeeze to fit in and the bulb holders are pretty wimpy themselves so I managed to get a bulb dropped inside my speedo which I panicked about a bit as I couldn't get it back out.
I ended up actually removing (with a pair of long nosed pliers) the two pressed in bulb holder "tubes" from the back of both the speedo and tacho, the bulbs that I'd dropped inside were then easy to retrieve and I mounted the bulb holders back in with a couple of small dabs of araldite so if I need to they can be extracted again. This was really helpful as it gave me more room behind the dash as it reduced the depth of the gauges *AND* also gave me a much better light dispersion.
chris1972 said:
What a difference!!! Time to replace the clock. Are you still going ahead with the new dash design?
Yup - those Smiths Flight gauges are going in instead so they'll all be nice and consistent - I wish they did an AFR meter in that style but they will do me a "Turbo" gauge with the chavvy "Turbo" label replaced with "Boost" for an extra £30 or thereabouts so I can fit a supercharger and "boost" gauge that matches. The guy who is doing the cutting of the dash has come back to me with a few places where my layout still doesn't comply with his guidelines for how close cut holes should be and I'm wondering whether to rejig stuff a little or whether to just say to go with it and I'll accept the responsibility for any distortion in the panel once everything's bolted in...
Bassfiend229hp said:
Yup - those Smiths Flight gauges are going in instead so they'll all be nice and consistent - I wish they did an AFR meter in that style but they will do me a "Turbo" gauge with the chavvy "Turbo" label replaced with "Boost" for an extra £30 or thereabouts so I can fit a supercharger and "boost" gauge that matches.
The guy who is doing the cutting of the dash has come back to me with a few places where my layout still doesn't comply with his guidelines for how close cut holes should be and I'm wondering whether to rejig stuff a little or whether to just say to go with it and I'll accept the responsibility for any distortion in the panel once everything's bolted in...
Is it not possible to use a stiff piece of polycarbonate for the dash and cut the holes yourself?The guy who is doing the cutting of the dash has come back to me with a few places where my layout still doesn't comply with his guidelines for how close cut holes should be and I'm wondering whether to rejig stuff a little or whether to just say to go with it and I'll accept the responsibility for any distortion in the panel once everything's bolted in...
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