I'm still waiting on some of my bulbs to arrive, but I started testing out the gauge cluster lighting options I have.
I've blocked out the sellers names (ebay listings) because I'm not here to plug anyone or generate sales for anyone in particular.
The screen captures are only used to show the type of bulb being discussed, their title (for search parameters to use), and their cost (Keeping in mind, they are all in AUD $$$)
Photos taken at night, without a flash. The actual effect is seen differently in person. This is the best I could do
First up, these guys live on the underside of the gauge cluster. There are 4 in total. Two of mine were dead.
They shine through blue pieces of plastic, and light up the front of the gauges.
Stock bulbs, being yellow, cause the light to take on a green hue.
Switching to white LEDs means the light is definitely blue.
After this round of testing, I have decided to try and give them a coat of paint using either a yellow or orange paint texta (Posca... not sure if you guys have that brand there.)
These are the first style of rear gauge bulbs I tried
Full brightness. You can see the blue glow at the front pretty well
Fully dimmed (yes, the LEDs do dim without shutting off completely)
The blue glow is less prominent now.
Crisp white back lighting
Same bulbs, full brightness.
The redline does look a little pink in person
Fully dimmed
Next, I tried these style bulbs.
Full brightness. It's difficult to see, but I only changed the 2 bulbs on the left. The ones on the right are still the first style.
The light is still white, but a bit softer, and has a tinge of yellow in comparison to the first style bulbs tested.
Fully dimmed. If you try really hard, you may find it easier to see the color difference in this picture.
It is slightly dim over the "5" on the tacho, but not too bad in person.
Full brightness. This is all 4 replaced for the second style bulbs now.
The lighting spread seems quite a bit more even (The "5" on the tacho isn't dim anymore)
Fully dimmed. The redline is not as pink (I think the front lighting plays into this a bit too)
At this stage, I prefer the second style because they aren't as harsh.
If I can tone down the front bulbs and shift them back to a more green color, I think it will look pretty good.
I still have some "white" incandescent bulbs to try, once they arrive.
I also switched the reverse lights for LEDs
With flash, only the right one has been changed to show comparison to stock.
Without flash.
That's all I have to show for updates for now.
Have to pull the dash back out, so I can change the TX valve for the aircon.
I don't want to have to disassemble the entire thing to do it later, it's going to be much easier if I just do it now while everything is mostly pulled apart.
I don't know if anything is wrong with it, but I'm going to change it out and replace the o-rings anyway.