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> Gauge Lighting, This Little Light of Mine
timothy_nd28
post Jun 10 2013, 12:27 AM
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This is a tribute thread for the late Al Garcia, RIP

Many of us have issues with the inadequate lighting on our gauge cluster. This is a tutorial on how to increase the lighting for the DIY'er and for under 20 bucks.
Euro911 was nice enough to be the guinea pig, in which he donated his gauges for this build. I rate the skill level at around a 3. 1 being easy (adding blinker fluid) and 10 (setting up valve geometry).

1st step, remove the combo/speedometer/tach from your car. Alrighty, easy enough.
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2nd step, drink a beer or two. This is somewhat unnerving and for the few it may turn you off. However, this isn't all that bad. We need to remove the bezel trim rings. I'm sure there is a machine out there that cost 15k, that will do this in about 10 seconds but we will use a small screwdriver. The first time I did this (my gauges) it took around 40 mins each, and I had a good size blister on my index finger. You will get a feeling that you are absolutely ruining these rings, but your not. Wedge the screw driver in between the bezel and the gauge can. Once your in, lightly twist back and forth the screw drive in situ pushing in a forward direction. By the time you get to the third gauge, you'll be a pro! I also found that it is unnecessary to uncrimp the entire circumference of the bezel ring. Once you get 3/4 around, the last 1/4 will pop off.
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Now that these ring are off, go ahead and remove the insides. The tach will have 4 brass screws and the odometer will have 2. The combo gauge will have either 4 or 8 screws depending on the year.
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Now that the inner guts have been removed, you should have 3 empty cans like this
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We will need to clean the inside of these cans, for the best adhesion of the LED lights in a future step. I didn't use anything special, good old windex spray should suffice.
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mrholland2
post Jun 10 2013, 10:27 AM
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Oh, and are there LED instructions for the blinker indicators? Light/Bright light indicators? Oil/Generator? and Low Fuel?

Or do we have to stick with the old timey wimey light bulbs?
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timothy_nd28   Gauge Lighting   Jun 10 2013, 12:27 AM
timothy_nd28   Since the inside guts are out and very accessible,...   Jun 10 2013, 12:27 AM
timothy_nd28   Towards the LED's, there is a plethora of styl...   Jun 10 2013, 12:28 AM
timothy_nd28   Step 2 made me forget to take pictures of reassemb...   Jun 10 2013, 12:28 AM
timothy_nd28   Here is the finished product. The camera made the...   Jun 10 2013, 12:29 AM
r3dplanet   :popcorn:   Jun 10 2013, 12:38 AM
bulitt   :beer2: Thx for posting this!   Jun 10 2013, 01:54 AM
Chris H.   Amazing work Tim! Thank you for the very deta...   Jun 10 2013, 08:59 AM
76-914   Al would be proud of you. :poke: Now throw those...   Jun 10 2013, 09:20 AM
ellisor3   Great Tribute Thread. Al was a great guy, helped ...   Jun 10 2013, 09:34 AM
mrholland2   While my car is down, I would love to see the mult...   Jun 10 2013, 10:22 AM
mrholland2   Oh, and are there LED instructions for the blinker...   Jun 10 2013, 10:27 AM
timothy_nd28   Oh, and are there LED instructions for the blinke...   Jun 10 2013, 10:33 PM
pcar916   The catch is finding a controller that turns on t...   Jun 11 2013, 05:47 AM
Spoke   Good write up. Put this in the Classics Forum.   Jun 10 2013, 10:36 AM
turk22   very nice write up! Still scares the shat out...   Jun 10 2013, 12:55 PM
poorsche914   Thanks for the write up. I have been planning to r...   Jun 10 2013, 03:51 PM
euro911   Wow. No, I mean WOW! I really didn't know...   Jun 11 2013, 02:13 AM
Steve   Thank you very much for posting this!! I j...   Jun 11 2013, 11:53 AM
Madswede   This is a shoo-in for the "Classic" foru...   Jun 11 2013, 01:53 PM
SUNAB914   Man, that is nice and I sold my cars/parts to Bill...   Jun 11 2013, 02:00 PM
Mr.242   This is a tribute thread for the late Al Garcia, ...   Jun 12 2013, 09:47 AM
timothy_nd28   Hey guys I have an idea for the next build. Same ...   Jun 12 2013, 01:36 PM
bperry   I re-did my '74 gauges (tach and speedo) back ...   Jun 12 2013, 11:15 PM
bandjoey   Does it help to paint the can inside? White? Sil...   Jun 12 2013, 11:47 PM
timothy_nd28   Does it help to paint the can inside? White? Si...   Dec 4 2013, 06:59 PM
Rob-O   :agree: I measured the glass and it seems to be ...   Jun 13 2013, 08:14 AM
Rob-O   Oh, three other points. When I restored mine (min...   Jun 13 2013, 08:21 AM
timothy_nd28   :bump: This thread corresponds to my near future ...   Jul 2 2013, 02:40 PM
scotty b   :bump: This thread corresponds to my near future...   Jul 2 2013, 05:50 PM
gothspeed   Simply amazing!!!! :trophy: Thank...   Dec 5 2013, 08:50 AM
PThompson509   Oh, and are there LED instructions for the blinke...   Dec 9 2013, 10:08 PM
john77   Finally got all the parts to start this great DIY ...   Feb 12 2015, 08:32 PM
euro911   ... and almost 2 years since Tim upgraded a set of...   Mar 5 2015, 12:25 AM
Cuda911   Great work!!! Regarding replacing the...   Mar 5 2015, 02:44 AM
euro911   I swapped out most of the incandescent bulbs with ...   Mar 5 2015, 08:41 PM
rnellums   I'm really pumped. My Next-Gen LED gauges are ...   Mar 5 2015, 08:45 PM


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