The kids always find it amusing and typical when I get into this mode... doing several things at once, so the house has mid projects all over the place.

 

Ive got a lot of plans for the dial surrounds. All will be painted in gunmetal grey with a splash of silver. Hopefully the Apexi turbo timer will turn up tomorrow so I can start integrating it into the dial surround. I'm also building onto the side of the pods to hold a 2" digital gauge on each side oil temp/boost.

 

Yaye, the dials turned up today so typically the first thing I did was take them apart. So far I have that surround in primer ready to paint gunmetal/silver - probably tonight and ready for lacquer tomorrow. Silver dial rings ordered :)

 

The targas are about ready to put back together. Ive already put on the silly white plastic clips but waiting until tomorrow before I give the metal it's final rub down and polish before putting it all together. The skinny end caps on the metals have been fixed and painted gloss black, and the metal buttons on the top are now gunmetal grey to match the car.

 

The window tint turned up for the rear quarters today, and there is the 0AWG power cable thats going to give me a headache tomorrow. Alex decided to throw in a bit of polishing too.

 

.... slightly busy :yes:

Well, I'm pulling out the dial cluster again and hopefully will have the lighting all evened out today.

 

I've no idea what state the upgrades in there are going to be like. Hopefully, they will be tidier than the two front LED's that no longer work are so they can be removed easily.

 

Alex is just about to go get the LED strips so any pointers would be appreciated :)

 

Pics will be on their way.

Heres the back - lots of hot melt glue gun and wiring all over...

 

 

Some of the extra LEDs are like this diffused one, then others are directional and not all are distributed evenly in the first place.

 

 

 

These are coming out altogether...

 

I have started taking them apart now and going to removed all but 2 of the 'upgraded' LED,s - then just sent Alex on a trip to Maplins for a boat load of LED strip and going to light the hell out of this thing! :)

I'm a bit dubious about messing about with this, but see how it goes and hope not to be putting a wanted ad for dials up at the end of the day lol.

now 46x LEDS :D :D

Well work got off to a bad start, traffic, logging in problems etc - sure it's punishment for only 4 hours sleep after adding well over 500 LED's to the car so didnt get in bed until nearly 2am lol.

 

Anyhow - job list done:

Got the 0AWG through to the engine bay

Wired up all the underlighting,

Lit the hell out of the dial cluster box.

 

Tonight - will at least put the passenger seat back in finally, play with underlighting, and get a pic of the dials lit up better - cant do much on a weeknight :(

 

pics:

 

Kept some LED's through the center of the dial box, and then got LED strip all round the edges. Sorry no lit pic, kept getting zapped when testing juggling bare wires and the dials lol.

 

Wires for the amps, the led power, front LED and wire for the oil pressure gauge (and a lead wire for pulling through future things). All through the passenger footwell, through the sill, up through the wheel arch and into the engine bay by the battery tray. I did a bit of cleaning and de-rusting while there.

 

 

More later ... got to go do some work boooooo :(

Eck!!!! Do you think your clocks will be bright enough :confused1:

 

Looking forward to the pics of it lit, hope you have warned the national grid :whistling:

Eck!!!! Do you think your clocks will be bright enough :confused1:

 

Looking forward to the pics of it lit, hope you have warned the national grid :whistling:

 

I know the answer to that one:whistling:

I know the answer to that one:whistling:

 

 

Got carried away, you know how it is I'm sure lol.

 

Perfect excuse to drive at night with sunglasses on I think ;) :cool:

I dont think it will be too bright, the led strip around the outer casing rather than under the dials will give a reasonable even light, the main issue are the single leds in the bulb holders that will create a hotspot in comparison.

I would stick some single leds onto the diffuser arms for each dial ( where the bulb holder is aiming at) they will predominantly light the needles nice and bright and leave the strips to give the ambient glow for the dials. You may need to have a play with the location of the strips for best coverage.

I dont think it will be too bright, the led strip around the outer casing rather than under the dials will give a reasonable even light, the main issue are the single leds in the bulb holders that will create a hotspot in comparison.

I would stick some single leds onto the diffuser arms for each dial ( where the bulb holder is aiming at) they will predominantly light the needles nice and bright and leave the strips to give the ambient glow for the dials. You may need to have a play with the location of the strips for best coverage.

 

 

There already were some LEDs pointing at the diffuser arms, which when tested last night all worked, but I think one or two of them has decided not to upon fitting in the car just now. They have to come back out again tonight for needle adjustment anyway, as both the rev and speedo needle, as Rose predicted they would last night, jumped when turning on the ignition. In general though, I think this works quite well.

The needles should be brighter than that, hence the suggestion to put leds directly on the diffuser arms. The angle of a single led isnt sufficient from the distance away at the bulb holder. It might be just the pic, but you seem to be getting overspill on the dials or too close to the film of the dial itself, so it looks to have a washing effect. Try placing the strip slightly lower so that it lights more from behind the dial face, rather than across it. You will notice the difference also in the redline on the rev dial.

Dare I say you have too many smd's, perhaps cut back the strips so you've less, 3 off a couple for a start.

 

Can you not go back to filament bulbs for the needle illumination or some different T10 smd bulbs perhaps in those bulb holders :confused1: why do you need to keep the single led ones?

Finally home yaye!....

 

I see Alex has been impatient lol.... A couple of 'told you so' moments there I see.

The left LED behind the diffuser arm isnt pointing directly up. I wanted to yank it and sort. But at after midnight I couldnt be bothered to argue with him saying it'll be alright lol.

 

I guaranteed that there would be a bit of needle displacement - plenty of trying / driving with the clear plastic off and adjustment. Think this is my 4th dial replacement and it's happened every time. Those needles are a nuisance :)

 

The LED strip isnt one continuous loop, so at the bottom there are 2 separate strips that have room to move down inside a bit further - to get rid of that washing effect.

 

Waaaay to tired to do anything at the moment though - need a beer and a Calzone before I can think straight tonight.... havnt even played with the underlighting yet

 

I went out to look at it in the flesh and am very pleased to see I can see everything on there at last! That engine check light still wont come on though - sure it's supposed to :confused1:

Dare I say you have too many smd's, perhaps cut back the strips so you've less, 3 off a couple for a start.

 

Can you not go back to filament bulbs for the needle illumination or some different T10 smd bulbs perhaps in those bulb holders :confused1: why do you need to keep the single led ones?

 

The single LED ones are positioned with beams straight up the diffuser arms so dont want the get rid of those, just need to make sure they are pointing straight :) i think it will be fine once the bottom strips are moved - Groover is right, they are a little too close :)

Have seen these in the 'flesh' today (picked up my manual conversion at last!).....and must say the photos do not do them justice!.They look fantastic, very nice job indeed :)

Great work there - well done! :D