I read on an elky site that I came across about how the owner took apart the dash and repainted the back of the guage cover so the dash lights reflected better. :idea: This caught my attention because my lights are very dim, even after replacing them, so I'm going to take a swing at it with an extra cover I have lying around. Im wondering how much it will improve the lighting but I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Heres the site:
http://home.earthlink.net/~wulcl/brad/car/index.html

Props to him on the good thinking though!

There is a guy that I found on evil bay that make sets of white gauge faces with an adhesive back for something in $20 - $30 range. I'll find the link when I get home...

I actually disassembled the gauges in my 85 and scanned the faces. Inverted the colors (black to white) in Photoshop, and printed the pictures on sticky back vinyl and created my own white faces...looks good and has lasted a few years now.

whiteface guages...
http://www.gt350mustang.com/wfg/gm.html

not really the guages, just stickers

something else you can try is replacing the 194 bulbs with 921 or 912 bulbs, theyare a little bigger so they may not fit in all the slots but I looked at mine and I think the only ones that won't fit are the signals..... hope it works and if not good luck with the paint thing(you may want to use glossy or a metalic paint for a better reflection).

I just painted it last night, so its not in the car yet but I'm pretty satisfied with how it looks. I used a metallic silver spray paint that reflects way better that the bluish color GM put on there. The time-consuming part was taping it off so none of the silver got onto the black (front) of the cover.

good deal........ nice to see not all people that own "hot rods" only care about going fast.... In the next few months my entire dash will be removed in faver of something newer and some sound deading material installed aswell..... :twisted:

I believe lauren engineering has the white face guage decals. so...you dont have to use the 'evil bay'. i think the white face guages on stock guages would look completely lame. but. to each his own. i think custom clusters and aftermarket guages are the way to go. hand built is the way to go


THIS IS MY DASH BOARD (http://24.26.48.33/billys_1982_el_camino/interior4.jpg) 8O

Well I put the cover in... I painted the back a shiny Metallic Silver. It does help the lighting, though its not a blinding light it does improve the lighting in the dash. Id say if your dash lighting is ok, dont bother. But if you've already got it apart, might as well go for it. It did help me though. I changed all the lights to blue and it gives it a pretty neat indiglo look at night. Ill get a pic up once ive got one.

I actually disassembled the gauges in my 85 and scanned the faces. Inverted the colors (black to white) in Photoshop, and printed the pictures on sticky back vinyl and created my own white faces...looks good and has lasted a few years now.

I've seen his guages...much better than the "Evil Bay" dude has..I bought mine at $15 from that guy, but sold them immediately after getting them. They were so thin that the black would have shown through and make them very hard to see right in any light. I could have painted the fronts white then put them on, but decided against it. White faced guages look great on any dash.

what i did is paint the back ofthe gauge surround silver like you did and put in the different bulbs and it helped immensely

Has anyone used or thought about using a bulb type like this......http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm

There was a discussion on 4th gen dash lighting that along the way discussed bulb types and ratings and LED bulbs. I don't know how different the inside of a 5th gen dash is, but some of the info might be useful to y'all. I don't know what the stock dash light bulb was for a 5th gen.

It's here...
http://www.necoa.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=633

Be careful using those higher wattage bulbs. More wattage equals more heat. Too much heat on those old lampholders and gauge cluster isn't a good thing.

I used 164 bulbs, painted the back silver & used the white face stickers. It made a huge difference.

Thanks for the info -- that's why I'm on the board.

Painted the back of the instrument surround in my car with gloss white instead of silver. Brightened up the gages nicely with standard size bulbs. My car has the gage package, and it's great to be able to see them all again, even that little clock in the bottom of the tach :)

digital or bust.

here ya go ,
http://www.laureneng.com/flash/page12.html

Dang, I paid 25.00 for white stickers. Isn't that what they sell?

I'm using bright blue LED's in place of the dash bulbs. Looks pretty sweet right now. It'll look even better when I paint the back of the panel white and install whiteface stickers.

just go get brighter bulbs to replace your old ones. If too bright, you can adjust the intensity with the highlight switch.