Dash illumination color

[Hartman]

Hey guys, I can't stand my green dash colors anymore. I want to change the color to white, but not a yellow type of white, a bright white color. I know I can accomplish this with LEDs, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I know that the bulbs behind the gauges are just regular bulbs with green caps over them. Does anyone know what # these bulbs are? And if so, can I go to Radioshack and get LEDs that will screw right into these bulb spots, or will I have to solder them in?

Anybody with a little knowledge of dash illumination, please chime in here.

 

[Arnie897]

Are you talking about the bulbs behind the spedometer accesories or the ones around the radio bezzle? I know the ones behind the speedometer are easily replaced....as for the ones in the bezzle I couldn't figure that one out.

 

[Arnie897]

194 is the number bulb for the speedo stuff....just pops out

 

[Hartman]

Ok wow, 194s are pretty common as far as bulbs go. I could just swap in some white LEDs in there behind the dash and be done with it right?

Thanks for the info.

 

[Arnie897]

I think the bulbs I pulled out of there were clear though which makes me think that the green color was in the assembly itself? Someone please chime in here if I'm wrong.

 

[Hartman]

Hmm, I'll have to find a way to get around that.

I'm assuming that the 194 bulbs are the wedge type? Also, do you know how many are back there?

 

[Arnie897]

Quite a few. I think I bought 10 bulbs to do my HVAC and the speedo guage cluster.

 

[Arnie897]

Originally posted by Arnie897
194 is the number bulb for the speedo stuff....just pops out

What I meant was wedge type bulb....still learning the terms

 

[Hartman]

Ok, so there are less than 10 behind the gauges?

 

[Arnie897]

THere may be more but I think some of these are for the warning lights, turnsignals....stuff like that.

 

[Hartman]

Oh ok, I just want to concentrate on the gauges themselves. I just found some awesome LEDs on eBay that I'm gonna try. Hopefully, the gauges themselves don't have the green color in them.

 

[xploda01]

the gauges themselves have to have the color in them because when i repaced my water temp gauge all the bulbs were clear.

 

[Harry5150]

There's 6 bulbs for gauge and needle illumination and 19 smaller ones for the dummy lights.

The green color comes mainly from the black gauge overlays. There's a blue layer in the middle and combined with the "yellowish" standard bulb it makes a green. Remember the ziplock commercial "Yellow and blue make green!"

I put white led 194 bulbs in and it make the gauges more bluish.

Since I put white overlays on, I took most of the bulbs out.

Now I'm working on changing the needle colors.

 

[Harry5150]

Found some of my old picts.

Here's an open cluster with white LED's and stock bulbs. You can see the color difference.

 

[Harry5150]

LED 194's

 

[Harry5150]

2

 

[Hartman]

Thanks a lot harry. Do you have any aftershots with the white LEDs and the gauges installed?

 

[Harry5150]

Yup. Just found it. I'm resizing in photochop.

 

[Harry5150]

It's a little blury because of the exposure. Also it's a lot brighter because of the long exposure.

LED's on the left and center. Stockers on the right.

See the bulb placement in the picture of the open cluster above.

 

[Hartman]

Hmm interesting. I've gotta find a way around the blue gauges to make them white.