dash board bulbs

[psbarham]

I know this is probably a silly question and has previously been covered else where but i could not find it with the search , but does any body know what bulbs are fitted to the dash on my '98 v6 ,the clocks and the digital a/c control, just wondered if any body has tried changing the colour of the bulbs also , just wondered as i've just seen the ones on a VW (sorry for swearing) golf and they look quite cool in blue

[Kieran]

I did this on my GLS. :-b The dashboard has bayonett-type bulbs that are standard across many cars. They have little blue plastic caps over the glass to make the light appear more 'white' than it actually is.

You can remove these caps easily, and then if you purchase some foliatec bulb covering tint (comes in a nail varnish style bottle, available from Halfrauds) you can have whatever colour you wish! :)

[psbarham]

thanks for that , is it easy to take out the dashboard or is it a complete pig ?

[pezza]

thanks for that , is it easy to take out the dashboard or is it a complete pig ?

Hmm that was my next thought.... taking the dashboard out something told me to think twice :nono:

[Big Ian]

i think Kieran has a detailed run down about stripping out the dash in the members section,ive had mine out a few time's (the dash! :$ ) very straight forward job,about 6 screws in total,and remeber to adjust your steering wheel down to it's lowest position for squeezin the dash surround out.

[I-S]

How many bulbs are there? Are the needles of the speedo lit by the same bulbs as the rest of the face?

[Mirko]

The speedo is been lighted by 4 bulbs, 2 big and two small bulbs.
The big bulbs you can see at the pic. I´ve marked the position where the two small bulbs have to be.
Off course you take out the bulbs from the back site of the speedo, but I don´t have pics of the reverse side.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/2/web/590000-590999/590544_97_full.jpg

The needles are lid by the same bulps.

I´ve painted the bulbs red to get a red km-display light and more red needles.

You even can replace the original 5 watt bulbs to 8 watt bulbs to get a more bright light.

And as Ian wrote, it´s quite easy to take the speedo unit out. I´ve done it some times, now I´m very fast. Maybe we´ll have a littel contest? ;-)

Hope I was able to help a little bit.

[Smokinmasta2]

Could try these guys for dash light replacements.

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/
The car section below..........
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/default.php?cPath=44&osCsid=d8c77c878d91b29ccbf8c206cc440fae

Really bright long life leds - and no pi**ing about making up your from bulb holders and resistors.
Think the ones i got for my FTO (would imgaine the bulbs would the same type)
cost about £7 for 5 bright blue ones.
Most of the ref numbers are the same as buying standard bulb replacements.....i think???!!!

Smokin............

Will check which ones they were .............

[Mirko]

LED´s for the speedo light would be a bad idea. The LED just has a very small light point, if you know what I mean.
Replacing the bulbs by LED´s would make only 4 very bright points at the speedo, and the rest would stay dark.

Maybe it works if you would make the surface of the LEDs a little bit rough.