Brightening dash

sven · 04-06-2006, 10:28 PM

Hey all just chucked blue indicator globes into the dash and just wondering how you all think i should brighten up the needles. i've attached a photo i just took so you can see what it looks like (the numbers are much easier to see in the flesh but the needles are hard to see).

i thought painting them with a fluro yellow or something similar. i was unsure how to actually get into the dials though. any help or opinions would be awsome.

thanks,
steve

DOC · 04-06-2006, 10:33 PM

From memory, what people do is use a blue film / thin plastic or similar and cover behind the bits they want blue, then use the standard white light, this throws of blue on the dials but keeps the needles red, by using the blue globe you turn the red needles into a dark purple black making it hard to see.

there are some tutorials on it somewhere but not sure where.
Pete

Racecraft · 04-06-2006, 10:34 PM

I had a color blind driver a while back and he couldn't see the red needle tip so we just painted the needle ends white for him.. Looking at that pic something similiar might fix your problem

sven · 04-06-2006, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racecraft

I had a color blind driver a while back and he couldn't see the red needle tip so we just painted the needle ends white for him.. Looking at that pic something similiar might fix your problem

haha your probably not gonna believe but im colour blind aswell!! i'm either gonna paint the whole needle or just the end. do you remember how you got the front off to get to the needle?? its the first time i've done any dash work.

XRated · 04-06-2006, 10:54 PM

There should be about 6-8 screws on the back of the cluster to get the front perspex off.

sven · 04-06-2006, 11:17 PM

ahh thanks mate. i'll have a play with that tomorrow after my exam.

BaYa · 05-06-2006, 01:44 AM

i like it, i was thinking of doing it to my eb not sure what colour yet.

sven · 06-06-2006, 03:24 PM

i just pulled it out to have a look (not to do it) and it looks like a few clips aswell. can someone confirm that its only the 6-8 small screws on the back?? is it tricky or stiff to get off?? do i need to use a bit of force??

Thanks everyone,
steve

Ozfords · 06-06-2006, 04:10 PM

So with the EA-ED you can simply put a coloured plastic behind the dials to get a different colour? I thought you couldn't because the dials are yellow.

sven · 06-06-2006, 10:59 PM

what i did was replace the bulbs with blue parker globes i and my friend already had. need 3 of em. i just need to get to the dials now to brighten up the needles. also used the orange side repeater globes. they make the dash glow awsome when on full brightness. only a little distracting at night. surely someone can confirm what X-Rated said.

XRated · 06-06-2006, 11:40 PM

I can't really remember which screws need to come out, if I could see it in person I'd probably remember. They're fairly long. I'm pretty sure it's the ones towards the bottom, and then the perspex should slide off with little force.

sven · 06-06-2006, 11:55 PM

chears mate. i'll be doing it after my exam tomorrow so just thought i'd make sure i knew what i was doing before i started pulling s4it apart.

Ritchie's5spED · 07-06-2006, 09:57 AM

How did you change the yellow/orange colour that is already on the dash?
I really want to change mine but the numbers and lines are yellow so i assumed that it wouldn't work.

I can barely see my needle as is. Not sure how to change that as i'm sure it will get worse like sven said.

sven · 07-06-2006, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ritchie's5spED

How did you change the yellow/orange colour that is already on the dash?
I really want to change mine but the numbers and lines are yellow so i assumed that it wouldn't work.

I can barely see my needle as is. Not sure how to change that as i'm sure it will get worse like sven said.

the numbers are a little bit dull but very easy to see in the dark anyway. you do need to do something to the needle to enable them to be easy to see if you use blue globes. since you have an ED it should come up similar to mine. i've attached a pic of what screws to take out to get to the front of the dash and the globes to replace.

completely removing the dash is the tricky part. 3 visible screws on the dash and two hidden. remove the door lock/unlock button and the boot release button (either side of the wheel) an up in those holes are the hidden ones. then pop off the shroud. then unscrew the dash part (4 screws if i remember correctly). pull it out a bit and unplug all connections. then drop the wheel down as much as possible and slide out the dash. then just follow the attached pic to do what you want.

good luck mate,
steve

sven · 07-06-2006, 10:05 PM

well its done people. attached i've got a pic of my dash blue with the needles now fluro yellow. i'm gonna fire UV led's onto the dash so they glow even more. the only problem is painting them gained weight on the needles thus causing them to hang a little low (eg 1st used to hit limiter bout 60km/h and hit limiter tonight bout 54-55km/h. i know redlining is stupid but i had to experiment). its alright coz my speedo read a little high anyway so i'm pretty much right on the money now.

thanks for they help X-Rated

XRated · 07-06-2006, 10:36 PM

Nice! The needles turned out better than I expected. What can you do about the weight though? :S

sven · 08-06-2006, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XRated

Nice! The needles turned out better than I expected. What can you do about the weight though? :S

Not sure on what to do about the weight. i might go and get another set and start experimenting with different methods (though i dont know really how to replace them).

Other than that i believe that there are some places you can go and get your speedo tuned. not too sure where to get it done or how they do it.

Otherwise just find out how the speedo relates to the speed i'm doing (like it says 45 but i'm really doing 50). can also base it on my revs (can see the tacho on the dash in the pictures).

Ritchie's5spED · 08-06-2006, 08:13 AM

Thanks mate, i'll have to look into it.
Looks good by the way.
Dunno about the redlining tho.
Cheers

Ritchie's5spED · 08-06-2006, 02:07 PM

Wher did you get those globes?
Do you recommend them or the blu film idea?

sven · 08-06-2006, 02:13 PM

imo the blue globes work fine and are extremely easy to replace. you can also use any other colour i just chose blue. just go to autobarn (otherwise known as ricerbarn) and they'll have them.

Mickus · 22-06-2006, 12:24 AM

Linky

Found these on ebay, how would they go? Worth it at all? Thinkin of doing this to my ed, my dials are white though so I might not have the needle problem you did? The film idea also sounds interesting. how would you do it?

superloweb · 22-06-2006, 11:26 PM

so the yellow dials wont make a diff then??