new gauge look

[zebra]

so i finally let my frustration at the amber crap in my instrument cluster get the best of me.
a couple weeks ago, i finally cleared my needles



but that just wasn't good enough. for one, there was still amber 'extreme ranges' on the gauges & the needles (although just fine at night) were a little difficult to see in the day. i thought about repainting them white while i had them off, but i decided not to.

today, i had a new idea... make the orange gauge limits red & paint white tips on the needles.
so far, i like it.

here's the difference in color


here's the red on the aux gauges


and a close-up of the finished needles


the shots of the finished gauges lit up didn't turn out at all, so that's all ya get.
i'm swapping the 194 backlights to purples in a few days whenever my bulbs & twistlocks get here. should be really nice when it's all said & done.

[CHEVROLADE]

the red looks nice

[molitor]

i want blue personally

[Duct_tape123]

I like the white tip. I think that even with orange needles the white tip would look sexy.

[jetersaurous]

post some pics once you get the purple leds in. i'm curious to see how those look

[zebra]

thanks, y'all

I like the white tip. I think that even with orange needles the white tip would look sexy.

i actually thought about doing the clear with red tips, but figured i'd try this first

post some pics once you get the purple leds in. i'm curious to see how those look

actually, they're the incandescents. for months, i've looked all over for purple LEDs that seemed to be any count & had the right beam spread but couldn't find any, so i'm using the same ones i use in my blinkers.

[truckinL33]

White tips, woooo wooooooo! I like 'em, can't wait to see a night pic. I think purple is gonna look good.

[zebra]

so the white tips weren't really doing it for me during the day. they just blended in with the numbers. that said, i went with the idea that popped in my head after i'd already got one of the white tips done - red tips.

got them done this evening & so far they're looking better.

i also got my purple bulbs in yesterday morning & it's takin a little bit to get used to, but i like it - definitely like nothing i've ever seen anywhere.


speaking of that... those of y'all who are using the T10 twistlocks from superbrightleds.com - are y'all's not vertical when twisted fully in? when i twist them all the way in til they lock, the base/handle is about 30* off vertical (about the angle of this bar -> / ). that also twists the contacts off the metal so they won't light up unless i untwist them a bit. that would be fine if the plastic back plate didn't have the vertical cutouts for the sockets. if i twist them far enough to be vertical, they fall out & if i twist them far enough to be really secure, the plate won't snap back on. i've almost found a happy medium, but one socket is a real problem. to get it lined up enough to snap the cover, it's too loose to make contact. any suggestions?

[jetersaurous]

so the white tips weren't really doing it for me during the day. they just blended in with the numbers. that said, i went with the idea that popped in my head after i'd already got one of the white tips done - red tips.

got them done this evening & so far they're looking better.

i also got my purple bulbs in yesterday morning & it's takin a little bit to get used to, but i like it - definitely like nothing i've ever seen anywhere.


speaking of that... those of y'all who are using the T10 twistlocks from superbrightleds.com - are y'all's not vertical when twisted fully in? when i twist them all the way in til they lock, the base/handle is about 30* off vertical (about the angle of this bar -> / ). that also twists the contacts off the metal so they won't light up unless i untwist them a bit. that would be fine if the plastic back plate didn't have the vertical cutouts for the sockets. if i twist them far enough to be vertical, they fall out & if i twist them far enough to be really secure, the plate won't snap back on. i've almost found a happy medium, but one socket is a real problem. to get it lined up enough to snap the cover, it's too loose to make contact. any suggestions?

when i switched over to my red ones i had that problem. i just untwisted them enough to contact but not fall out. and as for the black case on the back, i cut bigger openings for the twist locks.

[truckinL33]

I had to solder LEDs with resistors to a circuit board.