Hmmm? That sux a little. Still, the steering column is all apart and stereo etc out, so I might save a little bit of time there.
I have been checking out the super bright LEDs for the dash. I reckon they'd look good.
The stock dash is cheap for sure. Purely functional.
Dash lights
Trickiest bit I found the first time was the heater box, because I couldn't find the bolts that held it in at the top.
Putting in the Hatch dash required a little more thought, there's a handfull of things that don't quite fit.
Go for the LED's though mate, so long as you put enough in and diffuse them properly they're well worth the effort.
Putting in the Hatch dash required a little more thought, there's a handfull of things that don't quite fit.
Go for the LED's though mate, so long as you put enough in and diffuse them properly they're well worth the effort.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
Care to hand out any information Brayden???? Was heading down the same path as Fritz myself but have been away for ages - got some time off now to have a bit of a play. Fritz, what sort of bulbs did you get - ordinary replacement ones from an auto elecy ??Brayden wrote: Go for the LED's though mate, so long as you put enough in and diffuse them properly they're well worth the effort.
Brayden, what exactly do you mean by 'put enough in' & how would you diffuse them?Go for the LED's though mate, so long as you put enough in and diffuse them properly they're well worth the effort.
Have you tried doing this?
TA
Yes, as I mentioned before I spent some time working with LED's in my old MB dash. My new Hatch cluster has received a similar treatment, although it requires going over again - the reasons for which I will go into below.
The problem with LED's, especially the high brightness and waterclear varieties, is that they have a projected light, unlike an incandecent globe which sends light in all directions.
With the MB cluster this difference causes drama because it relies on light being refected around the inside and back onto the face of the dials. What an LED will do is project light onto the back face of the dial, which won't reflect around onto the face - got it?
To diffuse an LED you have to reshape the actual plastic it is made of without damaging the filament. The idea is to make the plastic refract light instead of focusing it - so it acts more like an incadescent globe only without the crappy warm orange hue.
The other way you can diffuse the light is to make an array of several LED's pointing in different directions, but with each additional LED you're also upping the brightness of the overall lighting.
The other thing you need to deal with is voltage. Most LED's run on around 3-4v, but the voltage of the MB is ~13.8v. So to make up the difference you need to design a transformer using resistors to absorb the extra voltage so you don't pop the LED's when you turn it on.
In my original MB dash I used one blue 5mm high brightness 5000mcd LED per original bulb socket and wired them in series. That wasn't a great success. Although the light was bright, the colour meant it made reading the gauges difficult. I rewired it with 2 LED's per socket, and found that it was too bright, but made little difference to visibility.
I then changed the colour to plain waterclear at the same mcd rating and that made a fantastic difference - the colour was a greyish-purple and looked very snazzy.
When I changed to the Hatch dashboard I transferred the LED's over too. (Because I had incorporated the LED's into the stock bayonet fittings I could in fact use them in most cars.) Now the Hatch cluster is different to the MB in that it is backlit. There is a sheet of black plastic on the instrumentation with opaque sections that the light shines directly through, so now the light has gone a shitty greenish blue. So to match the paint I'm going to swap the clear for green LED's.
It really depends on how handy you are with a soldering iron and how patient you are to use trial and error to get the look you're after.
I'm in the process of making a set of LED tail lights at the moment, and that is proving to be an experience.
I'll dig up whatever pics I can find of the MB cluster and post them up soon.
The problem with LED's, especially the high brightness and waterclear varieties, is that they have a projected light, unlike an incandecent globe which sends light in all directions.
With the MB cluster this difference causes drama because it relies on light being refected around the inside and back onto the face of the dials. What an LED will do is project light onto the back face of the dial, which won't reflect around onto the face - got it?
To diffuse an LED you have to reshape the actual plastic it is made of without damaging the filament. The idea is to make the plastic refract light instead of focusing it - so it acts more like an incadescent globe only without the crappy warm orange hue.
The other way you can diffuse the light is to make an array of several LED's pointing in different directions, but with each additional LED you're also upping the brightness of the overall lighting.
The other thing you need to deal with is voltage. Most LED's run on around 3-4v, but the voltage of the MB is ~13.8v. So to make up the difference you need to design a transformer using resistors to absorb the extra voltage so you don't pop the LED's when you turn it on.
In my original MB dash I used one blue 5mm high brightness 5000mcd LED per original bulb socket and wired them in series. That wasn't a great success. Although the light was bright, the colour meant it made reading the gauges difficult. I rewired it with 2 LED's per socket, and found that it was too bright, but made little difference to visibility.
I then changed the colour to plain waterclear at the same mcd rating and that made a fantastic difference - the colour was a greyish-purple and looked very snazzy.
When I changed to the Hatch dashboard I transferred the LED's over too. (Because I had incorporated the LED's into the stock bayonet fittings I could in fact use them in most cars.) Now the Hatch cluster is different to the MB in that it is backlit. There is a sheet of black plastic on the instrumentation with opaque sections that the light shines directly through, so now the light has gone a shitty greenish blue. So to match the paint I'm going to swap the clear for green LED's.
It really depends on how handy you are with a soldering iron and how patient you are to use trial and error to get the look you're after.
I'm in the process of making a set of LED tail lights at the moment, and that is proving to be an experience.
I'll dig up whatever pics I can find of the MB cluster and post them up soon.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
WOW! What a post.
I was actually thinking of installing some LEDs like the following.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 44771&rd=1
I'm thinking that the opaque outer might do a half decent job of diffusing the light. Probably give it a go some time as they are pretty cheap.
The other option is to get the 'xenon type' bulbs. They'd probably offer a whiter type of light whilst still being 5w (ideal for me)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... gory=42613
Buggering around with a soldering iron is probably too much effort for me, although I'm sure the result would be quite good.
I was actually thinking of installing some LEDs like the following.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 44771&rd=1
I'm thinking that the opaque outer might do a half decent job of diffusing the light. Probably give it a go some time as they are pretty cheap.
The other option is to get the 'xenon type' bulbs. They'd probably offer a whiter type of light whilst still being 5w (ideal for me)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... gory=42613
Buggering around with a soldering iron is probably too much effort for me, although I'm sure the result would be quite good.
Those LED's would be absolutely ideal so long as they fit through the socket holes in the dashboard PCB. But just be wary of blue light, as I mentioned with the nature of the MB instruments blue doesn't tend to be all that functional.
As for the incandescent "Xenon" look globes, they only look blue until you turn them on.
I bought a set made by Phillips to replace my parking lights and they lit up just like any other globe. A complete scam.
As for the incandescent "Xenon" look globes, they only look blue until you turn them on.
I bought a set made by Phillips to replace my parking lights and they lit up just like any other globe. A complete scam.F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
They aren't quite as yellow as Halogens.
Which is the f*#king point!
Why the hell do you want blue light Brayden ya ricey bogan?! 
Which is the f*#king point!
Why the hell do you want blue light Brayden ya ricey bogan?! [url=http://www.tamon.org/?page=owners&id=10][img]http://www.tamon.org/forum/images/ute_specs.gif[/img][/url]
Ricey bogan? I think those two terms are mutually exclusive Josh!
Why did I wan't blue lights? Cos it looks kewl. If you are referring to the parking lights I bought those globes under the assumption that they would match my "Xenon" look headlight globes. I was wrong.
Why did I wan't blue lights? Cos it looks kewl.
If you are referring to the parking lights I bought those globes under the assumption that they would match my "Xenon" look headlight globes. I was wrong.F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
Are you asserting that the parkers to which you refer actually came up more yellow than the Opti-Blue H4s? 
[url=http://www.tamon.org/?page=owners&id=10][img]http://www.tamon.org/forum/images/ute_specs.gif[/img][/url]
Zuh? Of course an incandescent globe with a blue coating would be more yellow than the Opti-Blue H4's - I don't get your point.
The Opti-Blues in Stacey's Baleno and my ute project a really blue light, it even shows up that way in photos.
The Opti-Blues in Stacey's Baleno and my ute project a really blue light, it even shows up that way in photos.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
I wasn't trying to make a point of anything, I was just asking the question.
However, were there a point to make, it would be that the Autotechnica Opti-Blues aren't a great quality xenon bulb - they are more or less a glorified incandescant bulb.
You never noticed the tint of the glass??
I'm little perplexed by this obsession with blue light, too...
I thought the point was to get whiter, brighter light. That's the only reason I went down that path!
However, were there a point to make, it would be that the Autotechnica Opti-Blues aren't a great quality xenon bulb - they are more or less a glorified incandescant bulb.
You never noticed the tint of the glass??I'm little perplexed by this obsession with blue light, too...
I thought the point was to get whiter, brighter light. That's the only reason I went down that path! [url=http://www.tamon.org/?page=owners&id=10][img]http://www.tamon.org/forum/images/ute_specs.gif[/img][/url]
Brayden, you were pretty much spot on in your guesstimation of how long it would take a novice to get the dash out. It actually unbolted easier than I thought, but disconneting the heater cords etc is what took me the most time.
At first I was alarmed by what I found (spaghetti wiring), but after some fiddiling around I discovered most of it was my current immobiliser (which is going). I am very happy I took the dash out to wire the alarm/stereo.
Looks like making a secure cradle for the stereo will be fun. NOT !!
At first I was alarmed by what I found (spaghetti wiring), but after some fiddiling around I discovered most of it was my current immobiliser (which is going). I am very happy I took the dash out to wire the alarm/stereo.
Looks like making a secure cradle for the stereo will be fun. NOT !!
My HQ has blue lighting standard it's not bright enough but it looks OK. Did you try the led's in series? I would have thought that 3 would carry the 12 volts OK. But resistors are cheap a few cents each. I have a Kenwood under the dash in mine, it sticks out way too far, I always worry that in an accident it will crack my or my passenger's kneecaps, but I can't find anywhere within reach to install it. What tachos can you get that fit the standard dash somehow? I thought of a motor bike one but the bike people tell me that it will read 1500 revs high, there must be some cure for that.