Backlighting standard Gauges

[Roman]

Iv searched on and off over the year, but have never seen something like this, although im sure im not the only one who would want such things.

Back lighted original style gauges?  Anyone seen or heard of such animals?

[Road_Runner]

Definitely interested too.  I was really disapointed when I realized that weak light shining down on the front of the gauges is what passed for dash lights in 1973.  I have considered going to either rallye gauges or putting aftermarket gauges in the stock holes just to get decent back lighting, never thought about trying to modify the cluster to back light the original gauges ....... interesting idea!

Later, Jim

[ToxicWolf]

Me too. I've been looking into just switching out the original bulbs for LEDs too. Play with some colors, Red, Blue, etc.

[Chryco Psycho]

I know you can increase the lighting just removing the lens & using Chrome paint in the reflector area , adding a high intensity LED would be awesome too 

[Jamiez]

There is also a good possibility that your dimmer switch is bad.  They tend to corrode internally and the range of adjustment reduces.  Slotts (JS Restorations) sells replacements that use stainless steel in place of the stock variable resistor.

It made a pretty significant difference in my case:




You could probably take the switch panel out and bypass the dimmer to see what it looks like at maximum brightness, but I am not sure which wires you'd jump to do so.

[7212Mopar]

I used 400g sandpaper and carefully sand the metal contact to remove oxidation and corrosion. Remove any dust build-up with a toothbrush and then use can compressed air to blow clean. I also replaced the blubs with blue LED's. The dimmer works good now and the light level is good.

[nqkjw]

White face stickers on your rallye cluster make them plenty bright.
No good for original restos though.

[Gumby]

If I send my gauges out to be redone, I will have them use flourescent paint, and install the 5-way uv LEDs where the stock light bulbs are in the light bar. SuperBright LEDs sells the ultra violet light bulbs. They may even work well with original paint gauges? I have a UV LED flashlight that I bought to check for oil leaks with the special dye. I will go out and look at my gauges tonight when it gets dark enough and report back on my findings with the stock factory gauges..

[Gumby]

Well, it was actually dark enough in my garage to test this out. All of the needles on the factory gauges JUMPED out at you! I mean, bright orange beautiful, all the same color. The white numerals turned out to look a pale shade of grey. To pale, in my opinion. Hard to read pale. But if you are going to have your gauges refaced, might as well have some flourescent white silk screened on, and leave the needles stock. (or have them refinished, also) The way the needles jumped out in a glowing orange was mighty impressive. If they can get the white markings to do the same, it would be phenominal. Everything in the cluster all black, and the gauges numerals and markings in a stark white, and the needles orange would be truely astounding. Far, far better than a backlit guage. Just use Ultra Violet LED bulbs in the light bar. Everything will look stock and normal in the daylight, and at night time become a floating, glowing fighter jet look, with everything else around it pitch black dark. Not harsh or glaring. Just plain mean and cool looking. THIS is the way that I am going. I'm going back out to look at it again. It is impressive!

[Gumby]

UPDATE Actually, I let my eyes get adjusted to the dark. And the grey color that the original gauges are in the numerals is just about perfect. A little brighter than I initially thought. The orange needles and the orange paint on the tach mimics the lighted needles in modern gauges. it's still daylight here, about 8:30 pm central. I'm going to go look again when it is fully dark out. You can get a cheap LED UV flashlight off ebay ($5-10 bucks) to test yourself and see if you like the results. Just shine it on your gauges with car off at night to see what you think. It is scary cool! lol. This is on a Rallye Dash.

[hemiken]

Hey Gumby, can you take a picture next time you are having a look and share it with us please , just remember to turn the flash off on your camera please thanks mate

[Gumby]

OK. That settles it for me. Perfect. easy to read grey ghosting of numerals. Perfect contrast of orange glowing indicators. Tach colors appear to be backlit, but they are not, of course. (only in the upper ranges where they are yellow and orange) All wording is easy to read and discern. Needle indicators are amazing.

[hemiken]

Or a Video posting would be fantastic   what do you think

[Gumby]

Sorry, I have a dumb phone with a broken usb port. I have to take out the batteries and charge them seperately. I'm a luddite. If nothing else, buy a cheap uv regular Edison type (household) light bulb (do you have them in Austrailia?) and wrap foil around half of it or whatever and shine it on your dash at night to get an idea. I really, really wish that I could post a pic. It is that worthwhile. I don't know how it would work with a light bar, as they say the LED should be the same color as the lens, so I will just remove my blue lenses. And like, I think, Brad said, paint my bulb reflectors with chrome paint, as LEDs are directional. They only point light in a straight line. I put the 5 way LEDs (blue) in my 1987 Suburban dash with white face gauge vinyl overlays, and they reflect and look spectacular. No other mods needed. Just replaced the 168 bulbs with LED 5 way bulbs with the same bayonet base.  They glow like only an LED can. But that was a couple of years ago, and the LEDs I got weren't dimmable. I think almost all new ones are dimmable. In the Challenger, with the flashlight (just a cheapie one) the gauges are really dramatic, with the grey numerals, and the indicator that just simply GLOWS! Think of the old Led Zepplin posters that you might have won in a carnival when you were a kid? under a black light. Or, more appropriatly, AC/DC, lol. I don't know why I said Led Zepplin. I don't listen to them. Angus and Malcom rule. To recap. NO OVERLAY needed. (I just did that in my suburban to change the speedo and tach readings) NO OVERLAY NEEDED! STOCK GAUGES! just to be clear. Just get a UV flashlight and shine it on your stock gauges to see if you like the effect. I really bet that you will. Buy the 5 way UV lights if you like the effect? That's what I am going to do tonight. Buy quality bulbs, so that you won't be dissapointed. SuperBrightLEDs sells good stuff, I'm sure there are others. They are relatively cheap. Get dimmable ones. I wish that I could post pics. I must have sat in the seat and stared at the effect for 20 minutes. lol. They are THAT cool looking. I'm going back out and have another look. Seriously.

[hemiken]

No worries mate yes we do have light bulbs in Australia
I will see what i can do, i have always known that the original lighting in the light bar is very poor. Thanks for all your info buddy