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Thread: Gauge lights

  1. #1

    Default Gauge lights

    Does anybody have a problem seeing their gauges @ night ? The red lights is hard for me to see . not bright enough. how hard to change to white bulbs?

  2. #2
    FEP Super Member SVT Rob's Avatar
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    the bulbs are white, the overlay makes it look orange/red.

  3. #3

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    Can it be replaced ?

  4. #4

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    You can remove the red caps that cover the bulbs if you want, or you can switch to an LED lightbulb and keep the red caps. The LED's will improve the brightness of your dash and allow you to keep the red (if you like it). Plus they run a lot cooler than the regular bulbs, so they are safer and will last longer. Earlier foxes had blue caps which made the dash lights look green, so you could always change to those if you don't like the red.

    I had the same issue as you so I bought some LED lights. The only problem was they washed out the red color (they didn't remove it completely, but it wasn't as bright of a red) and I really like the way the red looks. I ended up going back to the regular bulbs, but I installed white faced gauges. The white faced gauges made my instrument cluster brighter without losing the red color. So that is another option you can consider.
    Last edited by TopGear85; 02-25-2013 at 07:29 PM.
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    FEP Super Member onetrackrider's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=Stolly113;1217881]LED Dash Lights Installed...

    I Bought 194 WEDGE LIGHT 5 SMD LED BULBS they are cool white...
    My stock gauge color was green..



    I did the same on my 83 Capri, I went with warm white but I think you can get different colors.
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    FEP Senior Member edman1000's Avatar
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    Looks cool, where'd you get the bulbs?
    - Ed

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    FEP Super Member onetrackrider's Avatar
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    Stolly113 got his on E-bay, Mine were sourced from a local company.
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  8. #8

    Default Gauges

    do they make a white lay over, for these gauges?

  9. #9
    FEP Super Member 86fiveoh's Avatar
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    Can you also change the color of the HVAC controls? My car is a 81 with the green lights, but at some point the previous owner replaced the hvac controls with an 84 model year, so those light orange. I want to have everything green, which is correct for my car.

    On a side note, one of the things I really loved about my old 84 notch were those orange lights on the dash! I think they look much nicer than the typical Ford Green ones.

  11. #11
    FEP Senior Member Matt J's Avatar
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    I found my gauges were too dim too, but I found replacing all the bulbs made a huge difference. A few of them were burned out, and the ones still working were blackened quite a bit. New bulbs at NAPA were only about $.50 each. You also need to be sure that the bulbs are all working, when you have the instrument cluster out (it's easier to do than it sounds) be sure to turn on the lights and run the dimmer up as high as it will go, to be sure that the lights are all on. You can tell from behind if they're lit or not. Those little plastic caps can sometimes be a little loose and not make good contact.

    Oh, and to save you the trouble of looking like a dope at the parts counter like me, those plastic caps at the base of the light bulbs slide off, you re-use them just by sliding another bulb into them. The replacement bulbs don't have the plastic locknut on them, you need to reuse them. I lost a few credibility points with my parts guy that day...

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    FEP Super Member Gemini1999's Avatar
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    I remember one member that had the red gauge lights saying that when he pulled the cluster apart, the red bulb covers were dirty. Once he cleaned them, the lighting appeared much brighter.
    Bryan

    1983 Mustang GLX Convertible

  13. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt J View Post
    Oh, and to save you the trouble of looking like a dope at the parts counter like me, those plastic caps at the base of the light bulbs slide off, you re-use them just by sliding another bulb into them. The replacement bulbs don't have the plastic locknut on them, you need to reuse them. I lost a few credibility points with my parts guy that day...
    Actually... While the bulbs will pull out of the sockets for replacement, in some cases you're expected to replace the socket and bulb as an assembly. PC194 is the part number for a 194 bulb in a printed circuit socket. They may or may not fit the Mustang cluster, I've never tried, but they do sell the bulbs with sockets.

    When I put my car back together earlier this month, I had a few dash bulbs that weren't lighting up. Changing the bulb didn't make much difference, but exchanging the socket with one from a parts cluster fixed the problem.
    1986 Mustang Notch, 2.3L Turbo Project

  14. #14

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    I couldnt see the gauge pods at all so I used 194 WEDGE LIGHT 5 SMD LED BULBS inside the stock blue bulb covers with the whitegauges overlay kit.


  15. #15
    FEP Senior Member Matt J's Avatar
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    I like how bright those LED bulbs are...they fit right in with no problems? No issues with voltage being wrong or anything? I'm curious, do the LED bulbs dim down like the incandescent ones if you want to turn them down a little?

  16. #16

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    LEDs dim some via the rheostat but not all the way down to almost nothing like incandescent bulbs do. Polarity is important so the LED bulb assembly has to be put in the correct phase. They are a direct fit.

    I buy mine through superbrightleds.com

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    FEP Super Member NAVYCAT's Avatar
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    also make sure you have a good ground on the rear of the gages, that was my problem
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    When I rebuilt my cluster I pretty much changed everything, including voltage regulator, every bulb and the lens housing which made a huge difference, refinished the needles, cleaned up all the red plastic caps, etc.

    I then got a 140mph speedo and rebuilt that.







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    FEP Super Member gr79's Avatar
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    Those colored rubber boot caps will add color to a standard clear bulb.
    I used them to get the nice color back from faded brake, turbo, etc, lens array.
    Red and green caps were used.
    I imagine they would work on LED's too.

    Combos of blue or green caps on blue or clear bulbs, etc to match OEM tint.
    Cut down the somewhat washed out color due the added brightness of the LED.
    There should be enough of a brightness improvement left afterward?

  20. #20
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    when I first took my cluster out all of the bulbs were 168s except the blinkers, I used 194s and cleaned everything, also installed the whiteface gauge overlays. Late Model Resto has a white face overlay for the HVAC control.

    My gauges are very bright, easy to see, and look great
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    Quote Originally Posted by FoxChassis View Post
    Polarity is important so the LED bulb assembly has to be put in the correct phase.
    Per posting rules I can't promote a site to buy BUT I will support the above statement !! SOME vendors mark the positive to assist with install - BUT that also assumes that you have the instructions showing the +/- circuits.

    Mark

    P.S. BUT in the future you will see an LED that is not polarity specific.

  22. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by TheSVOTrust-MarkHaas View Post
    Per posting rules I can't promote a site to buy BUT I will support the above statement !! SOME vendors mark the positive to assist with install - BUT that also assumes that you have the instructions showing the +/- circuits.

    Mark

    P.S. BUT in the future you will see an LED that is not polarity specific.
    Definitely important for polarity, and if you are doing it yourself by buying LED's you must put in resistors at high voltage above about 3 volts, if anyone needs help with wiring LED's, I have a decent amount of experience.
    1986 Mustang GT T-top, 5 speed manual- Daily driver

  23. #23

    Default Gauges

    How do you get the cluster out of dash ? My first Fox !

  24. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by 86 RC Capri View Post
    How do you get the cluster out of dash ? My first Fox !
    There should be 3 or 4 screws on the top of the guage bezel, you take that off and I think 4 screws on the corner of the guage. Then just unplug it
    1986 Mustang GT T-top, 5 speed manual- Daily driver

  25. #25

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    Do i have to the padded dash off?

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