I had previously done an LED swap to change everything to red, but I wasn't happy with the brightness or evenness of the lighting. So I decided to do a second round, using an LED light strip instead:
LED Light Strips - LED Tape Light with 18 SMDs/ft.
This ended up being the perfect length to fit the instrument cluster. I adapted the twist-in connector to the light strip and ran it around the perimeter like this:
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Initially, it was much too bright around the center of the cluster. I ended up masking (literally using masking tape) some of the lights near the center to even the lighting out, and trimming some of the gauge backing to let light through to the temp and fuel gauges. This took three or four installation-test-alteration cycles, but ended up being worthwhile.
I also left in the old red LEDs behind the two gauges, but removed most of the light guard around them so they could more evenly illuminate the speedo and tach. Ultimately, it all ended up working rather well.
For the various indicator lights, I tried switching over to using white LEDs (
these), but I ran into two problems: first, there was some kind of voltage bleed going on that made some of them appear dimly lit at all times, and second, the ~6k color caused some to show up as yellow or pink. I switched most back to the normal bulbs, but kept them in the turn indicators (where they work brilliantly.)
The lighting ended up working out so well that I was getting more glare than I liked. So I hit the interior with an ultra-matte black paint:
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This reduced it a bit. Not as much as I'd like, but oh well. I do a lot of night driving during winter trips, so reducing eye strain is a big thing for me. Hence the red instruments and attention to glare.
