Replaced my dash bulbs this weekend!

[gamefreaks]

First up;

Hello again! I had a Chimaera a few years ago but I changed it for a Jag XKR. I missed the Chimaera though, so I bought another one a few weeks ago.

Anyway, since I got it, I noticed the gauge backlights were super-dim. I could barely read the gauges even when it was really dark.

Turns out it was the bulbs. Someone had swapped in some cheapo LEDS that were pretty dim.



So, I thought I would show what I replaced them with and how they look on the car. Hopefully this will help someone else in the future.

My car is a 1998 car with its original gauges. (Stickers has 1998 date on them) These are the Smiths/Caerbont set. (Which dial, alloy bezel) There have been a few variations over the years. In my case all of the dials used the same bulbs including the clock.

In my case I needed (5x) 233 T4W bulbs. (You'll 7 if you are doing the rev counter too.)

There are plenty of threads about getting the dash top off, hopefully someone has replaced the nuts with wingnuts which makes life easier. The hardest part for me was getting the drivers side stud out. It’s way too long and you really have to be careful not to damage the leather dash surround.

A couple of tips here:

-If you don’t have an assistant to support the passenger side you can cable tie a couple of cloths around the studs so they can’t damage the leather.

-You need to tilt the dash panel forward to get the drivers side stud out. Tilt the whole thing forward, get your fingers in and feel the stud out and guide it so it doesn’t nick the leather.

-Once I had got it out, I shortened the driver’s side stud by about 15mm. This makes it much easier to get the drivers side in and leaves enough to get the wingnut on with plenty of spare thread.



Attempt 1: I wasn't sure it was the bulbs so I bought some normal filament bulbs from our favourite orange and black accessories store. These were about £3 a pack IIRC.



These worked fine and proved that the bulbs were the issue but they have a very yellowish light.



I also bought some of these: 60 lumen LEDS. These are a more expensive at £12.50 per pair.



These worked even better. Pure white light. Much brighter than the ones I took out;





Finally, look my TVR is an autograph edition!

[lancepar]

gamefreaks

I've updated a previous thread on this subject regarding coloured bulb sheaths that can be used.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by lancepar on Sunday 4th April 12:23

[markcoopers]

I used Classiccarleds.co.uk they were perfect. I can not remember all the bulbs needed, but there were 3 types in all. The clock has a different one for the other small gauges and the speed/rev use a capless bulb.

[Zener]

And why do you need bright gauges exactly? its not like you can dim them either , that looks like a distraction right there maybe the pic makes them far brighter than they are

[indigochim]

Zener said:

And why do you need bright gauges exactly? ...

Exactly this. I can see if they're so dull you can't see but I foolishly bought dozens of colour LEDs to try in mine and thought the blue looked great in a blue(ish) car. I wish I'd driven it for a distance in the dark before settling on them. They're very harsh and make night driving a bit of a pain. I'll be swapping them out soon for white or off white and maybe masking off some of them so they're not too bright.

White ones above look nice and clear but looking nice and living with them is different.

[Classic Chim]

I think it’s two trains of thought from Tvr guru.
1 dimmed clock lights evoke classic cars from a classic time.
2 if you want to drive at night it’s a good idea to see where your going.
It’s why they also installed an off button right by your knee.
Just incase you really need to see where your going at night at 165 mph

It’s a throw back to 24 hour racers and the like. A nod to there racing past that put the cars on the map. Tuscans were still being raced at this time of manufacture remember.
The Speedo being dimmer still, most race drivers look at the Rev counter for reference not a speedo, they mostly don’t even exist in racing. it’s a great quirk to me.
You sit so low the clocks are almost in your eye line so it’s not a good idea to brighten them further. Peripheral vision will be lost IMO though it looks cool.

[gamefreaks]

Prior to doing mine, they were so dim that I could barely read the dials.

I don't think mine are as bright as the picture above. The 60 lumen LED's are about the same brightness as the normal filament bulbs as you can see in the picture I posted.

I've been out in the dark a few times and they are about right. Not too hot, not too cold! :-)

[latham91]

I put red led's in. They look great but also not too bright to look at in the dark.

[Penelope Stopit]

gamefreaks said:

Prior to doing mine, they were so dim that I could barely read the dials.

I don't think mine are as bright as the picture above. The 60 lumen LED's are about the same brightness as the normal filament bulbs as you can see in the picture I posted.

I've been out in the dark a few times and they are about right. Not too hot, not too cold! :-)

Look good to me, head-on images won't show light getting past the dial plates

[briantvr350i]

Hi guys,

I replaced the instrument bulbs in my Griff 500 with tasteful green LED's, realised almost immediately that they were to bright at night so built an old school 555 timer based dimmer so I could dim them to the required brightness, the control is mounted on the bottom of the steering wheel shroud (the existing on-off switch had been repurposed to override the cooling fan) works a treat, and much more comfortable to drive at night.

I now gave a prototype "digital" dimmer using a Microchip PIC which needs installing in place of the 555 timer version.

Regards,
Brian and a green Griffith 500