Blue Light Dash Converson

Posted By: Anonymous

Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 05:15

Has anyone done/thought about this on their coupe a la Volkswagen ?

Would look really cool me thinks.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:28

Great idea! There is a brilliant site somewhere for all things LED/dash lights....when i remember i'll post it up.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:28

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/blackbeast/Volvo/IMG_0056.jpg

and ala Volvo

Well ok, they were green but i changed them to a blue led

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:31

Found it;

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/default.php?cPath=44&osCsid=27ba2be690538b9b96e724267737859f

Take a while sifting through the bulbs on the left side of the page, there are thousands!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:34

Quote:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/blackbeast/Volvo/IMG_0056.jpg

and ala Volvo Well ok, they were green but i changed them to a blue led

Doesn't that just look sooo sexy!

I think it will suit some dash strip colours better than others though. Obviously when it's dark it doesn't really matter!

I'm thinking about the clocks and all the switches.

Posted By: pinin_prestatyn

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:35

I would like white and black carbon to match my boostie and EBC

No idea how though.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:38

Quote:

I would like white and black carbon to match my boostie and EBC No idea how though.

Me neither, sounds too complicated.

Although almost anything can be done for a price.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:41

Quote:

Great idea! There is a brilliant site somewhere for all things LED/dash lights....when i remember i'll post it up.

I've had a look on the net, not much I could find that had the same look/feel as the OE VW lights.

Mind you, the switchgear is red on those. Would make the job simpler for us if we just did the clocks - ok ours are more orange than red. Not sure about the needle though, would like that to show up red but not sure if this is possible.

Posted By: pinin_prestatyn

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:41

That's true. But it's cheaper on Clapham common.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:44

Quote:

That's true. But it's cheaper on Clapham common.

lol How did you know that? I thought it was a treasured secret shared by a few fellas from South London.

Hang on a minute.... I was born in Roehampton.... er scrap that last comment!

Posted By: pinin_prestatyn

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:45

I've not been "down south" for two years. And not been to London for much longer.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:49

Don't blame you. Sell their Grandmothers down here they would!

Anyone found out if this is possible then? The dash conversions that is.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:53

Quote:

Found it;

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/default.php?cPath=44&osCsid=27ba2be690538b9b96e724267737859f

Take a while sifting through the bulbs on the left side of the page, there are thousands!

Oh eck, could be a while looking for the right ones. Don't think it mentions which ones are for our clocks in the handbook. Would probably say go visit a Fiat Dealer or something in the handbook.

Anyone have a workshop manual that tells us?

Posted By: came2dance

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 06:59

Wahts wrong with Orange.

The future is orange. well it was in the past

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 07:05

Human nature to change/improve things, that's all.

Some may argue is isn't an improvement, but I like to be different! Not in a Clapham Comon type of way you understand

My company logo is orange as apparently "orange sells"

Prefer a blue dash though.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 07:29

If anyone has a spare couple of hours, go poking about behind your dash and see if you can find out anything about the bulbs in there. Fiat may be able to help too, i guess.

Just imagine...a sprint blue with blue dash bulbs - how friggin' cool?!

Posted By: Baz76

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 14:29

Personally the VW blue dash lights give me a sore head when i have to sit in one for a while

. They were cool at first when they brought them out but now a few of my friends have put blue LED`s in for their dash lights

and i imagine it`s just going to be another Lexarse lights situation where to be the original one is to stay original

IMHO.

Baz

Posted By: Jimbo

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 14:43

Im not sure you will be able to do this ?

The dash bulbs are just a clear white light so the actual orange colour we get is from the plastic behind the dash that the light shines through.
If you were to fit blue bulbs then you'd get a combination of blue and orange light, Im no light expert but that would probably shine a nice shade of brown !!!

Good luck trying though.

Posted By: Theresa

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 15:15

Quote:

Im not sure you will be able to do this ?

The dash bulbs are just a clear white light so the actual orange colour we get is from the plastic behind the dash that the light shines through.
If you were to fit blue bulbs then you'd get a combination of blue and orange light, Im no light expert but that would probably shine a nice shade of brown !!!

Good luck trying though.

You should be able to do it.

On my Fiesta, the bulbs are white, but have a green filter at the top of the clocks, which make the clocks light up green.
I took out the green filter and put in the blue bulbs from Ultraled's and now I have lovely blue lights shining on my clocks.
Also looks good, because I put in silver Lockwood dials too, so they aren't trying to light up a black dash.

I haven't looked at the bulbs or layout behind a Coupe, but should imagine the same thing could be done.

I agree with Turbosprintey, the blue bulbs would look cool on a Sprint Blue Coupe and will be next on my list to do or try to do when I get my Coupe back

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 24/09/2006 15:19

I think what Jimbo is getting at is our dials don't have a filter so to speak, the dials themselves are orange. So IMHO the only way would be to get new dials made...

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:00

It can be done depending on the make up of our instrument packs and will hopefully mean a different approach, thats all.

Link below to "reverse" the LCD display, I know, not applicable to us, bus shows the way to tackle the filter.

http://www.oichan.org/mods/lcd/lcd2.htm

http://www.corrado-club.ca/mods/LCD.html

So who's going to be the first to start this new trend?

Posted By: pinin_prestatyn

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:04

Looking at those instructions, You first mate

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:10

Quote:

http://www.oichan.org/mods/lcd/lcd2.htm

i hope that is Kilometers

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:15

Cheers!

It's the old story.... busy life, wife, kids, work, coupe with oil leak and a damaged exhaust, I also really want to buy and install a HID kit too.

I will have a crack at it and let you know, unless someone beats me to it of course

Being realistic I really don't know when I will get around to doing it with all of the above to deal with!

Just wanted to check if anyone has done this or thought about doing this on a coup. Why try and re-invent the wheel?

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:16

Quote:

Quote:

http://www.oichan.org/mods/lcd/lcd2.htm

i hope that is Kilometers

Apparently those VR6's are damn quick you know

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:18

i was talking about the odometer

sorry to wee on your bonfire

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:25

Quote:

i was talking about the odometer

sorry to wee on your bonfire

They can take twice the mileage we can I'm afraid.

Their engine tolerances are so tight when new.

Used to be a VW nut and it is common to see many VW/Audi with 160k plus on the original engine. Seen a couple in my time allegedly 220k + without a re-build. Just regular servicing and no smoke coming out of the back.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:32

Doesn't have to be blue either! How about ultra crisp white with red needles?

Posted By: Jimbo

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:34

Jayzee,

This idea of blue dash lights has been knocking about on here for as long as I have, no one that I know of has actually managed to do the conversion, the whole backing to the speedo is the clear orange plastic material that the light shines through. Its not just a case of changing the filter, it would be changing the speedo face.

As I said earlier, good luck

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:43

Thanks for warning me about this Jimbo.

Apparently, you have to sand this coating off with wet & dry (sme as Sagem instrument pack) so that it is completely white.

Posted By: JimO

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:45

He has been knocking around for a long time as well John

But jimbos right, its an old age question, but just because no-one has tried it, doesn't mean it won't work. It might be worth seeing how much a set of 2nd hand dials from carlt would cost and test on them, as you don't want to sod your proper set up.

But go on push the boudaries and try it

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:49

Quote:

He has been knocking around for a long time as well John

But jimbos right, its an old age question, but just because no-one has tried it, doesn't mean it won't work. It might be worth seeing how much a set of 2nd hand dials from carlt would cost and test on them, as you don't want to sod your proper set up.

But go on push the boudaries and try it

Good morning sir!

My thoughts exactly, I wouldn't entertain attacking the ones on the car without first having a play on another set.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:54

Also have to do the centre console & the rotary controls for headlamp level & dash brightness, look odd if you didn't.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 05:56

If the clocks are a goer then yes, you are right. Looks like a long-term project then!

Posted By: barnacle

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 11:38

But... it's *blue*

It's gonna look just exactly as bad as the damn VW dash does...

Neil

aka mr originality

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 15:30

"lurvely shade of blue"

Some might be a bit young to remenmber that one!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 25/09/2006 17:33

Id like to try this. If i got some spare time i'd hunt out somespare clocks and hack them apart.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 26/09/2006 18:33

Green lights?

Posted By: paddy

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 26/09/2006 19:06

I have an old set of clocks. The oil presure, and petrol gauges are less than accurate

, but appart from that it works OK.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 27/09/2006 04:31

Quote:

I have an old set of clocks. The oil presure, and petrol gauges are less than accurate , but appart from that it works OK.

What year 20VT are they from?

PM me with what you want for them

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 27/09/2006 17:21

For me, turning the lights on and seeing that red/orange glow is one of the nicest design touches on the interior of the car.

Most cars have green. VW's had green, and then went blue. And the only other car that I can think of with red lighting is the Seat's (Leon and Ibiza). But they're really bright red, and a bit OTT IMO.

Personally, I'd leave the interior as Pininfarina intended.

Posted By: paddy

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 27/09/2006 17:49

They are from a 98 20vt. As the petrol and oil gauges don't work properly, I would only want to cover what it costs me to post them...
cheers

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 27/09/2006 21:49

Quote:

For me, turning the lights on and seeing that red/orange glow is one of the nicest design touches on the interior of the car.

Most cars have green. VW's had green, and then went blue. And the only other car that I can think of with red lighting is the Seat's (Leon and Ibiza). But they're really bright red, and a bit OTT IMO.

Personally, I'd leave the interior as Pininfarina intended.

My metro dash lights up a reddy orange, just like the coops.

'Nuff said?!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 28/09/2006 01:11

Are beamers not red too ???

Posted By: paddy

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 28/09/2006 03:24

More orange than the coupes on the ones i've seen.

I like the way the coupes dials look almost two dimensional you have the lights on at night.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 28/09/2006 10:41

some very high-end motors heve red and green for sure, but has anyone changed the colour of their dash lights?

Looks like no.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 28/09/2006 10:45

Quote:

They are from a 98 20vt. As the petrol and oil gauges don't work properly, I would only want to cover what it costs me to post them...
cheers

Paddy, as I still have to pick up some bits from JimO in Epsom, could drop by and pick these up I guess. Don't know when I will be in the area though.

Is this any good for you?

Posted By: paddy

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 28/09/2006 11:09

Yeah, no problem. Let me know a day and we can arange it.
If i'm not in, I could just leave the dials in my porch.
Cheers

Paddy

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 28/09/2006 13:55

[quoteMy metro dash lights up a reddy orange, just like the coops.

'Nuff said?!

Ah. But the metro also had collapsing suspension, rust in every panel, and styling based on a bathtub.

Keep it red/orange - thats what I say anyway.

Posted By: Wishy

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 29/09/2006 15:04

LOL, my old one had all those features but was also the limited edition 3 cylinder version.

At least that's how it ended up.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 08/10/2006 13:37

Well, I picked up the old set of clocks from Paddy yesterday. Thanks mate, really appreciated and it was good to meet you. Maybe see you at one of the meets?

I took the units apart last night only to find that the graphics have the orange "built in" on the back of the mumbers/letters. These are in turn stuck to clear polycarbonate and difficult to remove wihout damaging them.

So in short, Jimbo was right, this means replacing the graphics completely with a different colour background which will be a very expensive excercise!

Maybe a job for another time? Shame really as it would have looked very nice IMO.

Posted By: adder58

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 08/10/2006 21:48

At least you found that out without pulling your own dashboard apart.... that would have really pee'd you off

Posted By: paddy

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 09/10/2006 02:04

Good to meet you as well mate. Sorry was particularly chatty - was hung over, and my brain wasn't working

On an old car I had, it used a green dash filter similar to the coupes. I put some really bright blue led's in there (I think you can get them of ebay - see the link below) and it did come through well and looked a nice shade of blue, although not quite as bright as I wanted. May be worth a try though if poeple are intrested in a blue dash - its just a case of how much light the filter cuts out and weather it is bright enough.

Another point with these blue LED's is that they seemed to be quite insensative to the brightness adjuster, so it hardly made any diffrerence.
Personaly I really like the OE orangy red back light

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLUE-LED-SPEEDO-DA...1QQcmdZViewItem

Posted By: barnacle

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 09/10/2006 13:19

Any LED lamp will be insenstive to the brightness adjuster. Did a post with the technical reason a couple of weeks ago, can't be bothered to write it again

Neil

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Blue Light Dash Converson - 11/10/2006 02:45

Anyone heard of plasma bulbs?

Apparently they can be used with the rheostat (spelling?)