Here's my IX cluster after I converted it to red led.

 

that is one of the coolest clusters i have ever seen.

 

Robin Hood, that is red and relatively even lighting.

Jp7, I’ve always like Audi for a European Auto but I won’t spend the money.
Maybe once I retire I will think a little harder on it, the trips back and forth to the Key would go a lot smoother.

 

sorry to go all physics again, but here is what i don't understand, white is not a color, especially when talking about light difusion... white is the absence of color, when you put something with colour behind a white difuser, the white difuser shows up red, it transfers all colours equally. the reason the color pink is obtained when you MIX the two, is because the white displaces the red difusion, there for diluting it, and allowing white light to pass through the red difuser, and the white light, and red light mixed shows as a pale red, or pink...

the problem i think you are having is the paint it's self, when you are looking at it, the light is behind you, and is not reflecting white light, thus will show ruby red, but because of it's transparency, the back lighting allows white light to come through, as ruby red is not a true DEEP red, it appears pink.

i agree with who ever said to try the candy red, although this will probably still have the same effect... i would say go with the 194LED's that are red, will be a much greater look IMO

 

I never tried the RED LEDs yet but at this moment in time I am waiting for another idea to materialize.

thanks for the input...

 

honestly, for what they are worth, it will save you time and money... $6 shipped to anywhere in the world for 10 of them

10 x LED Bulbs red 168 W5W 158 194 T10 R on eBay.ca (item 180442071652 end time 05-Jan-10 0329 EST)

 

Ok so you have my attention…

Have you tried these ?

Any pics of the light through the gauge ?

Did ou get any hot spots ?

If these work out as you say then they will be a GOD send.

Thanks,
ltr

 

I would use these: 2 RED SMT 5 LED GAUGE DASH LIGHT BULBS 194 168 158 2821

They aren't as cheap as what was previously linked, but they would work better.

 

If you use the LED bulbs do you still need to remove the paint from the back side of the face? I have the Tremor White face gauges, and a couple of my bulbs are burned out anyways, and want to switch to blue.

 

use dark paint, almost a black looking cherry, im pretty sure that should turn out to be a medium red color over the white, or why not just color it with sharpie? lol seems to look like it will work

 

those ones that KLC posted WOULD work better, but they are much more expensive ($4 per bulb, plus shipping, VS $0.50 a bulb INC shipping) i would go with the cheap ones first, see how it looks, and if you have hot spots, then go with the others... the summit ones, are far less likely to give hot spots, seeing as they project at around 200-240* where as the ones i posted are around 70*

 

IMHO, yes you will need to remove the paint, if the paint is not the color you want.

If you were to use blue LEDs and had green paint on the face, green and blue what color does that make, I think a really ****ty dark blue.
If you used red LEDs and blue face you would have purple. might work for some.
Let’s see green paint on the face and red LED, again red and green just makes a darker green.

I saw a set of White Face Ex/Ranger Gauges and when the paint was removed from the back they were clear, that would work for any color.

Again IMHO and I am not paint specialist, remove the paint if you can. You wil end up with a truer color and the glass paint Ruby Red may not be the best red but the Royal Blue through the base white on std gauges looks OK.

I have heard the paint is a little harder on the White Faced Panels but it will come off.
Watch what you use if the panel is clear under the paint, don’t scratch it.
If you have white faced gauges don’t sand it, this is not from experience but from observation, youwant the clear as clear as possible.

 

I did similar on my F150, removed the faces, scraped off the green coloring on the back and left it clear/white/frosted looking during the day. I put in these red LED bulbs and they are plenty bright enough to light up everything evenly. I tried some bulbs with single LED in them and they wernt bright enough.

 

yes, you still have to sand the back of the overlay's

 

It comes off super easy with a wet sanding.

 

anyone know if this is the same process for the newer dashes? such as an 07 with the digital odometer?

 

07 is the same as the one I have posted photos of above. I have a cluster thread dedicated to when I did this, its really old now but search and you'll find it. I also have videos of how to get everything apart and back together correctly on youtube.

 

I put some finishing touches on mine tonight, added three more strips of RED LEDS and some of the Bulb LED w/4 SMD LED on each Bulb.
The Bulb LEDs did help a little to fill in some of the shadows I was getting, couldn’t hurt so I left them.
Now to put thing back together.

 

The only problem that pops up is if you want RED as the Cluster color, the numbers are white not clear in the Ranger Clusters, red and white makes lite red or pink, I for one didn’t like the color on my cluster.

The Blue looks good, yellow works and both of these colors work better with colored LEDs.

Luck