Why exactly, because we don't like the stock amber lighting and think white lighting would look better? Yeah, THAT makes sense

 

has anyone tried wax paper as a light diffuser?

 

Would blue LED's work as well? I think that would look nice.

 

I tried blue but it causes the needles and redline to turn purple
if you don't mind that part, then it does look cool

also I have thought of doing all red LEDs, that way there would be no need to take apart the gauges and needles
just replace the stock bulbs with red LEDs
the red should be intense enough to drown out any orange tint

 

first off, I think it would look so good if you even took off the amber film behind the kmh readings. Second, if you wanted any other color, why can't you place that color bulb everywhere except at the redline and gauge needle bulb locations. Just place white behind those 2 spots.

 

There are really only about 7 bulbs lighting up the whole panel - 1 for each small gauge and 2 for each of the larger gauges
you'd have to see how it is lit up, you'd be surprised it lights up at all

 

yes i'm very interested in seeing someone use some sort of lighted panel (like the indiglo lighting in wrist watches)

that would be perfectly even.

 

Really nice work, there.

Not really my thing, though. Am I the only one that likes the factory red/orange lighting? I love it.

 

marshall drinks his own pee

 

I talked to Black Cat Customs, here was our conversation...

Me...
"I have a 1994 RX-7 and I sanded the amber coloring off the back of my gauges. I put some LED lights in so they would be bright white, but there is nothing to disperse the light evenly on the back of the gauges so they are really bright in some areas and dim in other areas. I was wondering if there was something already made, or if it would be possible to make something similar to indiglo gauges. A piece that lights up but you can lay it behind the stock gauges instead of in front of them, so that light comes through evenly? Do you guys have anything like that or do you know of someone who does? Thanks sir/ma'am."

Them...
"Yes, there is el film available but it is very expensive and would be difficult to use in the RX7 gauge cluster because of the 3 small gauges. We have only ever used it once in a case where the customer just had to have it. We do have an led kit that will eliminate the hot spots. It works with our gauge faces, but it may also work with the modified stock faces. The problem with that is simply that it’s a pita to make, so we’ll need $125 for it. It consists of 5 small circuit boards plus a few more of supplemental light. One circuit bard installs at the center of each gauge and the stock bulbs are not used at all. We also have pieces to change the color of the lcd display lighting, but installing that requires cutting out the lcd display, so there is a risk of damage. I have one – very bad – photo of the led lighting in red, using our custom faces. We’re working on another set right now, and a new camera is on the way, so we should have better photos just after the holidays. It really does look much better in person. I can’t comment on how the lighting would look using the modified stock faces, but we can supply faces to work with the white led light for the regular $99. Please let me know if you have more questions. Thanks!



Alex

Black Cat Custom"

 

Oh yeah, here is the pic he sent.

 

i bet someone could reuse an ebay indiglo gauge kit and take the EL indiglo part out of it and use it on their stock gauges

 

So maybe I'm missing something...but I take it that color/film/whatever it is on the inside of gauge face actually helps project the light it sees from behind it forward in an even fashion? That's a hella lotta work for just some coloring. Anyone take a closer look at that stuff you guys are sanding off to try & figure out what it is that Mazda's using? Cuz if we can figure that out, I'm sure it's only a matter of searching around for a supplier, as I'm sure they come in different colors...

 

from what I can tell, it is painted on or a coating
if it were plastic then the ELO would not dissolve it
ELO does not attack plastic, so it is not a film

 

And how would a simple coating (that obviously must be translucent) be able to show such a uniform distribution of light on the gauge face?

 

Alex at black cat is great, I've been in contact with him about a kit for the Viper
If they can make circuit boards of LEDs then that would be ideal
I thought about doing that but it is very hard to find the right size to fit in our clusters

The LCD would actually be very simple as it just pops out
I have changed mine to red just by replacing the bulb behind it with a red LED, that way it matches my cluster better (no orange)

 

My theory is that it only helps very little
If you really look at your stock gauges lit up, it is not all that even
Incandescent bulbs shine with less intensity but more of a glow than LEDs, giving the gauges more even lighting but less contrast
LEDs have more of a beam pattern, although different styles do attepmt to imitate the light dispersal of incandescents
LEDs give that sharp, intense light, but because of this, the light cannot be evened out over a large surface
The key is just more LEDs distributed evenly behind the gauges - this is how cars with stock LED clusters do it

 

Yeah, well.... You...are....I got nothing.

 

That's not a bad idea, as long as we can find one that is more bright white than the neon blue/green or whatever. I'll have to check into this. Good idea.

Well I'm going to try that glossy aerosol when I get back home and I'll let you all know how it works out, or if it doesn't, which with my luck will probably be the case, haha.

BTW Ramy, did you get my email?

Yeah I might end up having to get the ciruit board, but I hope it doesn't come to that. When you say LCD, are you talking about the little box with the mileage and all that? I hope to change that to white too someday but I really doubt that will ever happen. I sure hope some way becomes available though, that would be cool.

I forgot to mention, I also removed the little orange covers over the tiny lamps behind the buttons on each side of the gauge cluster, for the cruise control or whatever and the one for the headlights on the other side. I never found a replacement LED so it's still real dingy, but it's white.

 

speedjunkie yea I got your email; I'm tied up until the 1st of the month, so everything's on hold right now. I'm actually only coming onto the forum for a quick 5 min during breaks...

 

Has anyone come across a really white incandescent bulb? If such a thing exists, then there wouldn't be any problem.

 

Oh I completely understand, I just wasn't sure if you didn't want to deal with me anymore, HAHA. "SOB never has any money!" haha. I'll wait to get the stuff then, til you get back to me.

That was actually something else I thought about, but I haven't found anything yet. I think I had looked at a PIAA bulb or something like that, never tried it though.

 

Alex at Black Cat Customs said they were going to start working on something for us, should know something within the next few weeks. Just to let you guys know there may be another option soon.

 

lol i was going to see if i could get black faces with blue leds from black cat to match my defi gauges also does anyone know how to convert the odometer over to blue i would like to keep the same color throughout the car

 

Awesome writeup, I'd do this if i wasnt planning on buying a new cluster soon