brained
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Ok, this actually occurred over the course of several weekends and I didn't photo the process so all you get are the after shots.
Here's how I 'refreshed' the gauge cluster.
After getting the gauges out of the dash I found that a cheap paint can opener (metal with a curved end) was ideal for unbending the little tabs that are folded over to hold the chrome ring on.
After breaking the bucket apart I see they are painted a light green internally, ok for reflecting light from a white incandescent bulb I suppose but not so good for for the new lights. White paint would have worked but I had some chrome on the shelf so after cleaning the bucket and back of the gauge face with acetone they got a squirt of chrome - very shiny!
Gauge faces and needles were cleaned with mild soap, water, and q-tips or cotton pads.
The speedo gauge got two 4 bulb red led's, one 4 bulb blue led, and one 4 bulb green led. The high beam indicator plastic was rotten thru so an opaque piece of plastic got glued in place of it. In retrospect I would have went with a single bulb blue led and now need to darken the opaque plastic - on a dark winding road with the high beams on the blue is just a little too bright.
Here's the bulb numbers from superbrightleds.com: - super bright leds - ba9s led bulbs
Ba9s-b4 blue led bulb
ba9s-g4 green led bulb
ba9s-r4 red led bulb
for the gauge cluster I went with two 4 bulb red led's and two 4 bulb yellow led's.
Ba9s-r4 red led bulb
ba9s-a4 amber led bulb
I also got these for the tail lights. Now, even though the lenses are old and faded they put out a bright red light with that quick on/off flash that only led's can do. I put some household silicone behind the pcb and packed some plastic grocery bags in between the led's and the lenses until the silicone setup.
1157-pcb-r36 red led lamp
After pulling the water temp gauge out I could see the wire to the bimetallic strip was broken, no doubt burnt apart when the cvr locked down and dumped 12v to the gauges. The bimetallic strip for the cvr was cut out and the broken wire reattached. Externally this solid state 5v voltage regulator Was attached to the original central post on the temp gauge. The 12v from the ignition was moved from the original post and plugged into the solid state regulator. The internal part of the water temp gauge and the fuel gauge get their 5v from their original connections. Some quick testing before installation showed a steady 5.1v output with anything from 11v to 14v input. And it gets hot so don't pick it up while putting 14v to it.
Here's a day shot - notice that all the indicator lights are easily visible in full daylight.
And a couple night shots. It really looks much better than this but I used the cheap camera. About the only thing I'm thinking of adding is a pwm so I can dim the lights a bit.
Here's how I 'refreshed' the gauge cluster.
After getting the gauges out of the dash I found that a cheap paint can opener (metal with a curved end) was ideal for unbending the little tabs that are folded over to hold the chrome ring on.
After breaking the bucket apart I see they are painted a light green internally, ok for reflecting light from a white incandescent bulb I suppose but not so good for for the new lights. White paint would have worked but I had some chrome on the shelf so after cleaning the bucket and back of the gauge face with acetone they got a squirt of chrome - very shiny!
Gauge faces and needles were cleaned with mild soap, water, and q-tips or cotton pads.
The speedo gauge got two 4 bulb red led's, one 4 bulb blue led, and one 4 bulb green led. The high beam indicator plastic was rotten thru so an opaque piece of plastic got glued in place of it. In retrospect I would have went with a single bulb blue led and now need to darken the opaque plastic - on a dark winding road with the high beams on the blue is just a little too bright.
Here's the bulb numbers from superbrightleds.com: - super bright leds - ba9s led bulbs
Ba9s-b4 blue led bulb
ba9s-g4 green led bulb
ba9s-r4 red led bulb
for the gauge cluster I went with two 4 bulb red led's and two 4 bulb yellow led's.
Ba9s-r4 red led bulb
ba9s-a4 amber led bulb
I also got these for the tail lights. Now, even though the lenses are old and faded they put out a bright red light with that quick on/off flash that only led's can do. I put some household silicone behind the pcb and packed some plastic grocery bags in between the led's and the lenses until the silicone setup.
1157-pcb-r36 red led lamp
After pulling the water temp gauge out I could see the wire to the bimetallic strip was broken, no doubt burnt apart when the cvr locked down and dumped 12v to the gauges. The bimetallic strip for the cvr was cut out and the broken wire reattached. Externally this solid state 5v voltage regulator Was attached to the original central post on the temp gauge. The 12v from the ignition was moved from the original post and plugged into the solid state regulator. The internal part of the water temp gauge and the fuel gauge get their 5v from their original connections. Some quick testing before installation showed a steady 5.1v output with anything from 11v to 14v input. And it gets hot so don't pick it up while putting 14v to it.
Here's a day shot - notice that all the indicator lights are easily visible in full daylight.
And a couple night shots. It really looks much better than this but I used the cheap camera. About the only thing I'm thinking of adding is a pwm so I can dim the lights a bit.
didn't mess with the cvr, so both my temp/fuel gauges don't work.... This will be my next project.