one of the best mods i've done to my rig recently...

[colbystephens]

so about a year or more ago i read a thread about increasing visibility of the guages at night. the thread said to get some chromish spray paint and to paint the backside of that black piece of plastic between the guage set and the clear plastic guage cover so that the light bulbs would reflect off of it and onto the guages. well, i haven't had dashlights in my rig... ever... because the switch was bad, but today i replaced it and since my dash was all torn apart i thought it would be a good opportunity to spray it w/ the chrome paint. now, i'm familiar w/ how bad the lighting is for a non-modified guage light b/c my buddy had a rig just like this and it freaking sucked. this, now this is beautiful!

in my case, however, i didn't just spray the back of the black plastic, but i also sprayed the plastic deal which you clip/bolt the guages into. the whole face of the guage is lighted up very nice. i highly recommend this.

one question tho, the light that clips in to light the fuel guage doesn't fit real tight and may vibrate free so that it will no longer light up the dash, how do i go about making sure that it stays put?

 

[Kotabye]

I'm not sure how you can tighten the clamp. Is there enough room to wrap the light with some electrical tape before putting it in the clamp?

Is your heat/ac panel lit? Mine's not, that's the only part of the dash that doesn't work. I haven't had time to take it apart to check for a bulb behind it. It will be one of the first things I do when I get home though.

 

[colbystephens]

i figured it out. the light fixture has a couple barbs on it which conduct the electricity, and these can be bent out to create a tighter fit. there is a bulb behind the climate control panel on the passenger side. you should be able to get your hand up behind there from under the dash and twist the socket out to replace the bulb.

 

[Kotabye]

rgr, thanks!

 

[K5-newf]

i got stock lights and white face gauges kit and its very nice i have no complaints yet

 

[colbystephens]

yeah, i think that would be cool someday, but for me this is far cheaper... less than $5 sounds real nice to me.

 

[diesel4me]

I strike a match to see the dash--then I start to pray

My 82's dash is darker than a ghetto street corner at 2 am!..my 79 wasn't much better either..looks like a candle glowing behind the speedometer-the other gauges aren't visible unless I turn the dome light on!..

I'm tempted to pull the dash and paint it with the chrome paint,or maybe even drill more holes and add some sockets and bulbs off some old gauges I have lying around..it sucks driving at night,not being able to see how fast your going,or if your oil pressure is low,etc..I don't recall any of the first generation trucks I had having dim dash lights--must be 73-87's hat had that problem mostly..maybe some LED's would help??..

 

[muddybuddy]

can you post pics? mine really does suck, and i some how missed that thread doh

 

[sweetk30]

dont use the led light in there . some have tryed it and thay dont fill the area well thay are better for stright shot lighting. thay dont flood.

 

[JEBSR]

can you post pics? mine really does suck, and i some how missed that thread doh

X2

 

[colbystephens]

so here is a second guage set that i have where i painted the inside. it has a much more reflective property than that off-white plastic does. now, i also painted the backside of the black plastic piece which would essentially hide everything except for the faces of these guages, but i don't have a pic as it's already installed in my rig.

i just went out and took this pic. the oil pressure, clock and temp. guage are very accurate to the maximum amount of light i get on my guages. the other three are a bit over exposed. some of the blur in the photo is due to a scratched up clear plastic cover. now it's time to reinstall the rest of the dash!

 

[muddybuddy]

nice oil pressure

where did u get the clock? looks like it blends in with the other gauges. are those factory gauges or after market?

 

[NoReGrEtS]

so here is a second guage set that i have where i painted the inside. it has a much more reflective property than that off-white plastic does. now, i also painted the backside of the black plastic piece which would essentially hide everything except for the faces of these guages, but i don't have a pic as it's already installed in my rig.

i just went out and took this pic. the oil pressure, clock and temp. guage are very accurate to the maximum amount of light i get on my guages. the other three are a bit over exposed. some of the blur in the photo is due to a scratched up clear plastic cover. now it's time to reinstall the rest of the dash!

wow that does make a difference. I'm going to have to try it

 

[sweetk30]

wow thats bright

stock clock in full option trucks.

 

[muddybuddy]

wow thats bright

stock clock in full option trucks.

really? so i guess silverado isnt good enough ill have to find one of those

 

[yellowK20]

I've done this mod to all my trucks works great!!!!

 

[boggerless]

really? so i guess silverado isnt good enough ill have to find one of those

man thats sweet. i'm gettin old and need all the light i can get. and muddybuddy you can have my clock.my old guage cluster should work in mine. a 79 guage set up should work in an 86 cab right?if it does i'll send you mine if you want it.

 

[colbystephens]

yeah, oil pressure guage and amp meter aren't hooked up just yet. temp isn't that high either, i don't know why it was registered at that. this is while the truck is off, of course.

the clock is pretty cool. it wasn't originally in my truck, but chopped&bobbed77burb gave me a set of guages from an 86(?) truck, so i nabbed it. only thing is that it doesn't clip in like the rest of the guages and you have to send power to it individually (it's got a couple metal fins on the back). speaking of which, how would you all wire it up - meaning what woudld you wire it into? i'm so clueless about wiring all i've thought of is running it directly to the battery, and that's a pretty dumb idea.

anyway, i'm pretty stoked about being able to see how fast i'm going at nite. it's been months!

 

[muddybuddy]

man thats sweet. i'm gettin old and need all the light i can get. and muddybuddy you can have my clock.my old guage cluster should work in mine. a 79 guage set up should work in an 86 cab right?if it does i'll send you mine if you want it.

id love it

 

[K5-newf]

theres pics of my white face gauges on my car domain ( http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2470315/ )1none in the dark yet but i will get one in the next few days. They po painted my dash candy red in the next few days wen it warms up im gona take it all aprt and paint it a dark mattilic grey ( toyota medium plantium )

got a question though my dome light anit very bright i was thinkin about adding a another one and having one on each side of the cab.