New Gauge lighting.. I'm tired of the fuzzy no contrast gauges

[DistantTea]

All I want to do is change the lighting behind my MSP gauges... I'd stick with orange if I could get a much more contrasty setup. The dimmer wheel basicly changes mine from off to dim. At night its hard to read the gauges, especially when the Kenwood stereo is putting on a lightshow that lights up the whole car.

Is that just a few LEDs or maybe some bulbs that could be replaced?

 

[PA_MP3_Man]

You know what. I just put on a CF guage bezel last night so I took my cluster out. There is a few light bulbs in the back that can be easily taken out and replaced with new ones. The bulbs are painted orange aound them. I was thinking the exact same thing. I wanted to get another color like blue or something. There are basically 4 bulbs you would have to replace. Speed, tac, fuel, eng temp. there are more lights but they are for the idiot lights like CEL, TEMP, AIRBAG and the like. So if anyone can think of a way to maybe scrape off the paint and repaint, or know where you can buy replacment bulbs that would be cool.

 

[Kooldino]

Hmmm, blue would look hot. Especially if you could use some nice blue LED's.

 

[t3ase]

I believe the LED's are #174 and #94. Everyone has #174, it's the #94s that are a b***h getting a hold of. If anyone has any connections to companies that may have them, it's time for a hugely succesful group buy.

 

[DistantTea]

I'm in. I hate the low fuzzy orange glow my my night gauges. I'd pay actual money (and not even try to barter livestock) if I could read my damn gauges at night.

Or maybe what I'm looking for is a total replacement like PA MP3 Man...

How hard was that?

 

[20ESGUY]

Check with corksport. they've got some "indiglo" style guages that look almost excatly like the ones that VW uses factory. they're the blueish/purple tint with the orange pointers.

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

i like those blue indiglo style needles.

 

[stepson]

Are we talking MSPs here? I always thought the gauges were red, and seem pretty readable at night ... do other Proteges have different lighting?

 

[Familia323]

yeah ... I have an LX and the lighting is green and I think the ES has amber colored lights.. but both cars have black gauge faces..

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

we MSPers have silver guages with orange lightup numbers.

 

[Heathen23]

especially when the Kenwood stereo is putting on a lightshow that lights up the whole car.

I just changed the Kenwood to display only track name, track time, and clock. This won't solve your color issue but really makes a difference with distraction and gauge reading. I couldn't stand the display blinking and flashing like the 4th of July.

I do like the sound of the blue (VW like) colored bulbs though (scratch)

 

[PA_MP3_Man]

No no, I didn't replace my whole clusters with the reverse gauges or anything. I just bought that CF bezel like DistantTea did and put it in. But you can very easily take out the lights in the back of the whole assembly and replace them. Everyone needs to do some research where we can find those LED's from and we'll all compare prices and do a GB on the best one. Sound cool with everyone?

 

[murdock_]

blue would like real nice with the kenwood

 

[03MzdSpdSTP]

isnt there a Dim option on the kenwood..i know on my Sony it has one?

 

[DistantTea]

Yes there is a dim option. It dims the display so that you only go half blind at night not entirely blind. I have Dim on all the time. It does not Dim the super bright blue ring around the volume control though.

 

[REMillers]

The 5/and speeds all have the same cluster. The mp3 is probably the same.
Will have to look around here for the #94s

 

[stepson]

Ok, well I guess when someone finds them, they can let the group know ...

Damn, I must be color blind, the lights look red to me at night! Maybe a little amber, but when I look at the lights for where the fog lights, and dash dimming are, I think they look red too ...

 

[PA_MP3_Man]

I found this site but haven't the slightest idea what I'm looking for.

http://www.eled.com/

 

[MP5Raycer]

i was really surprized when i found out the Mazdas gauge color changed .. mine are white (02 p5) and my neighbors 03 mp5 is a dull silver ??? weird

 

[suttonschinook]

I would be interested in this too. Let me know if anyone finds anything. Thanks! Evan