Red Gauge Lights

[Ted]

K guys, finally got this done. I spent my whole sunday ripping my car apart and I took out all the little lights behind the gauges and after spending 3 hours trying to find some red bulb replacements I went ghetto and looked for some red translucent wrap. Couldn't find none so I bought a .77cent bow and chopped it taped up all the lights really good and stuck them back in. Everything looks great except for a few little glitches I have to fix, but the colors look fairily dull compared to some others. I want it to be really really bright red. Does anyone know where I could get about 20 or so of these lights in bright red? They have to make them. I think the numbers are PC161. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Ted

Btw, I'm opening a new site with a mods section. I got a digital camera and I took pictures of how I did these red lights so I'll post it up if anyone wants to try it.

[Blue Jay]

This topic came up not to long ago, but I don't quite remeber when. Run a search and see if you can find it.

[Ted]

I did a search and didn't see anything. It was probably me a few posts ago asking where I could get some lights. I contacted chevy and asked them where I could get some red ones. Hopefully they can help me. If not i'll just have to stick to my foil wrap. If anyone else can help or knows where I can order exact parts for my car please help.

Ted

[Blue Flame V6]

I can get you some for about $10 here and ship them 2 you if you can't find any there.

[Blue Jay]

http://www.camarov6.com/cgi-bin/ulti...=5&t=000782&p=

You just gotta know what to look for I guess.

[ItalianStallion1]

I baught my red cluster lights from Pep Boys, 2.50 for a 2 pack. It's very easy to do. The only thing is that when you put back the clear protective part you have to make sure all the needles are okay, mine got stuck a few times because the fall and it's a little difficult to get the thing on without getting a needle stuck a few times. Nothing happened though so don't worry too much about it.

[Ted]

Thanks a lot everyone. I'm gonna go to pepboy's today and replace my ghetto lights with some new ones and get all my little bugs fixed. Thanks though.

Ted

[MTMike]

I did this mod last spring, and lemme explain what I did.

First off, with those 194R bulbs you buy from Rice-Boys or Wal-Mart, the color burns off after about 3 months.

I tried a number of things, including stained glass stain, and some specific varnish(don't ask on that one) What I finally did, was buy $0.96 red Testors model paint, the oil-based enamel paint from the Toys/Hobby department of Wal Mart. I was going to try that first but I was worried that it would be opaque, but after trying the other 2 things, that were transparent and not bright enough, I came to the conclusion that x-mas light bulbs are opaque colors.

So I painted the 7 bulbs with that paint and put them back in. Wow! DEEP DARK blood red. But after a week it burned off some and now it's a solid BRIGHT red, and after that first week it's stayed at the same level of brightness and not faded ANY in 7 months. Granted, I turn my dash dimness all the way down during the day to prevent any excessive use of them so they last longer, but so far this has worked great.

I'll warn you though, the first month or so it realy STINKS when you turn the lights on... but that goes away after a while. I'd have pictures but I can't get enough light into my camera to get a good pic of it :(

Good luck!

-Mike

[Blue Vortex]

Couldnt you call up a VW parts department and ask for a set of red and blue bulbs? Will they fit our cars?

[SeanC97]

Listen up guys, this will definately be a little more work, but i am sure it will be worth it. What you might think about trying, is wiring in some holy crap bright led's for the gauge lights. led's are really cool because they never burn out. Just a thought, let me know if you try it. [img]graemlins/toto.gif[/img]

[Jason McCallister]

The only problem would be that the LED's wouldn't dim with the dimmer. They'd either be ON or OFF. :( You'd have to create another circuit to dim the LED's if you wanted them dimmed.

Good idea, though... :D

[chevcamaro18]

im gonna call vw and check

[IBJanky]

Here's some pics of my red gauge cluster...













Sorry bout the poor quality pics. It's a cheapo digicam. :(

Pretty cool mod if you ask me. It even matches my Kenwood MP3 player...

Now, time to change the damn A/C control and headlight control bulbs... ;)

[CamaroMan]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SeanC97:
Listen up guys, this will definately be a little more work, but i am sure it will be worth it. What you might think about trying, is wiring in some holy crap bright led's for the gauge lights. led's are really cool because they never burn out. Just a thought, let me know if you try it. [img]graemlins/toto.gif[/img] <hr></blockquote>


You can buy some 194's that are LED's. I got some off of ebay for about 5 bux.


Red LED's on eBay