Just Completed the Dashboard Light Fix

surfdog4 · 10:27 AM

Well I just finished the dashboard light "brighting" fix..basically I followed the procedure on Clark's garage with a few twists..since I had seen several threads on this I thought I would add my 2 cents from a newbie perspective..

1) Yes the horn button does come off by hand, but it's a real bear, and you will swear that you will break something.(actually I think one of the clips that grab the springs on the back of the cover did break on mine)

2)The non-acetone finger nail polish remover works very well for taking the old "silver" off the reflectors..no need for abrasives

3)I ended up using the silver metal duct tape on the reflectors..i started with aluminum foil but it was a pain to work with..you have to wrap the foil around the sides also or some light will escape. The foil tape I had was as shiny on the adhesive side as aluminum foil..so all i had to do was stick it down..i did some selective carving around the mounts so the foil would be tight around the sides. I like the idea of the duct tape because it is designed to handle heat..seemed like masking tape would quickly dry out and get brittle.

I had looked in the craft shops and on the internet and found mirror squares and even flexible "carnival" mirror you could cut...but bottom line the metal tape worked.

4) I used the white 5-LED bulb replacement from Super Bright LEDs..the ones with the "radial" design..4 LEDs outward and 1 forward

5) I found that the holes where the bulbs go into were painted white to reflect more light down into the reflector..although it was not a very opaque white..so I used some glossy auto touch up paint i had around and made the insides very white and very shiny.

6) be careful not to mess up the inside of the lens while you are working (don't ask)

CONCLUSION: Ta-da! I closed the garage door and fired up the parking lights..the new dash looks great!!! Plenty bright and yes it does dim (at least as much as the other instrument lights)

It's a good job for a newbie and seems to really make a difference with the dash lights..cheap fix too, the LEDs are less than $5 each, you could go cheaper if you bought bulbs I guess

(by the way, the light bulbs that I removed were 2W, i know that was another piece of conflicting information on the various boards)

ernestedward · 01-14-2006, 10:36 AM

And the best part is those LEDs will outlast the car!

Glad to hear it worked out. It's one of those small things that really contributes to making the driving experience more enjoyable.

PhillysMostWntd · 01-15-2006, 08:18 PM

any pics? one day ill get around to doing this, i gotta book mark this in my "useful pelican links" folder.

924Sman · 01-15-2006, 11:55 PM

This only works on late 944's FYI

ernestedward · 01-16-2006, 07:26 AM

Right - the early instrument panel is just a plastic bezel that the three instruments sit in. You can replace the bulbs with super bright LEDs, though. Really simple to pop them in and out. Bulb type 194 IIRC, and order them complete with the mounting piece.

Panzer909 · Panzer909's Garage

Show us some pics!!!!

Yeah, that dash project is probably the single-most important DIY improvement project on these cars. Was a night and day difference for me. And I just used some cheapo bulbs from the local Autozone.

PhillysMostWntd · 01-16-2006, 08:48 AM

i thought the light panels were similiar?

924Sman · 10:33 AM

The Early gauges are 3 individual pods in a plastic housing. Each POD has a round cylindrical metal housing that has the connection plug and one PORT-hole for the lamp. 194 is the correct lamp. So the Tach is one pod then the other 2 the same. No illumination material is used on the EARLY only illumination is from the light shining on the gauge faces.

See the late gauge panel pictures at www.clarks-garage.com link to the Garage manual ...scroll down to instrument panel click the 1st one.

Dal

aj951 · 11-18-2007, 06:23 AM

I know this is an old post but I am doing this same LED conversion since my odometer gear broke. I have ordered the 5-LEDs from superbrightLEDs that replace the incandescent bulbs but I haven't received them yet. My question is are the 5-LED bulbs polarity dependent like most LEDs? Can the 5-LED bulbs be put in the wrong way or are the bulb sockets keyed so that you can't screw it up?

surfdog4 · 11-19-2007, 03:59 AM

Unless they have changed, the 5-LED units from SuperBright are not polarized..enjoy!

88BlueTSiQuest · 11-19-2007, 12:32 PM

All LED's are polarity dependant. However light sockets are keyed, so you shouldn't have any issues.

surfdog4 · 11-19-2007, 01:10 PM

Bulk LEDs are polarized but if i recall correctly these wedge type LED replacements have an internal circuit that takes care of that...the bulbs used for illumination on the instrument cluster are not keyed..

Some of the bulb replacment LED products are polarized, but they say so on the description (generally the 1 LED type bulbs)

but if you have any concern then just make sure to try them before you put the cluster back completely...if they do not come on just turn them around.

aj951 · 11-19-2007, 08:01 PM

Thanks for the help guys. I got the 5-LED lights today and installed them. They are not polarized as you said Surfdog and they work great. I used the shiny silver tape on the light funnels of the instrument panel and I went with the cool white versions of the 5-LEDs from Superbright. I am very satisfied with the brightness but I will have to get used to the florescent light look on the gauges. I guess that is the difference between the cool white version and the standard version. This was definitely an easy while you are in there job.

surfdog4 · 11-20-2007, 03:39 AM

Congrats! it does make a huge difference.

What's interesting to me is that I am currently working on an '81 928..it has the same kind of silvered "Light pipe" for the illumination, but the silver is in perfect condition..so this car is 6-7 years older and the silver is fine..and I haven't heard anyone on the 928 board complain about this problem for any year of the 928..so did they use a different process for the 944? strange...

anyway, enjoy your night driving!

seeker23 · 12-05-2007, 09:24 PM

A bit pricey, but if you don't feel like messing with the mylar stuff and LED's you can simply purchase an entire new housing that will solve the dim instrument lighting problem as well as provide you with an unscratched /new plexi instrument cover.

http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/ASI_Store.cgi?Product+skukey_1001675+9442+body-9442

flashgordon13 · 12-06-2007, 05:26 AM

I was wondering if anyone has also done the hvac controls with an led conversion? I did the gauge cluster reflector repair and installed new bulbs. It made a big change, but I would like to do the cool white leds in the gauges. I just want to have all of the lighting match if I can. Thanks for any help.

Aslet · 12-06-2007, 05:29 AM

What are these 194 IIRC LED bulbs mentioned before? Where might you be able to find them at and are they a direct bulb replacement for the early dash clusters?

nynor · 12-06-2007, 06:28 AM

....shrug.... i like them dim. my eyes are very sensitive to light, so i see them just fine and they aren't distracting.

aj951 · 12-06-2007, 07:12 AM

flashgordon13,

I haven't done the HVAC controls but I did do the cool white versions in the instrument cluster. Yea, I would like for mine to match too but I just haven't looked into replacing the HVAC ones yet.

Aslet,

The type of bulb will depend on the year car that you have. I think the later cars 85/2 and on take the 194, not sure about early cars. You can get the 194 replacements at

http://superbrightleds.com

75ohm · 12-06-2007, 07:57 AM

Does the dimmer work with the LED replacement "bulbs"?