Hello all,

Did a little search and found this thread:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4066

It was helpful in some ways, but I don't want to just replace my instriment panel lights with regular white bulbs, I would rather go with some blue or red color lights you would see in todays VW's, I just like the look.

I haven't been able to find a source for these online. Has anyone else done this change?

found this post via Hybridz.org while looking for some more information ...

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=105812&highlight=light+bulb

also this website seems to have the right LED colored lights I would need to use, but are these direct plug and play or do they require some work to get them to work?

http://autolumination.com/otherleds.htm

I hope to make this work as the effect will be very cool ...

If you are planning on changing the color of the light in the gauge, you're going to have to pull the gauges out of the car, and open them up to remove the green coloured filter thats in them that colours the white light from the globe to green.

otherwise, youd be sending red, or blue light through a green filter = not much light at all, as the green is supposed to only allow green light to pass through it.

See attached pic of the coloured filter:

If you are planning on changing the color of the light in the gauge, you're going to have to pull the gauges out of the car, and open them up to remove the green coloured filter thats in them that colours the white light from the globe to green.

otherwise, youd be sending red, or blue light through a green filter = not much light at all, as the green is supposed to only allow green light to pass through it.

See attached pic of the coloured filter:

Thanks for the information, that will help me with my task.

Can you replace the green filter paper with other colored plastic or paper? That would also help transmit the light colors I want to add.

The dash is out of the car as I am redoing the entire interior, so that is one less problem. I wanted to do this while the dash was off to make things much easier.

The green filters are plastic lenses, not paper. If you remove them you could probably use different colored bulbs instead. But be careful not to use bulbs of higher wattage than comes stock, for fear of overheating the wiring and/or cooking the gauges. I don't know about the 280Z, but the 240Z came with 3.4 watt bulbs in the gauges.

ok, a little bit more information ...

Sylvania has a nice bulb replacement guide for all cars ...

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/LampReplacementGuide/default.htm

So between that and the LED site mentioned above I think I will be able to make a really cool and bright gauage panel.

I notice that the different color lights end up fading after a while. The color on the bulb usaly ends up discoloring after a couple of weeks and with the cost of the color bulbs its not worth it to me. If I could change the green lenses to a different color that would be better for me.

Does anyone know where to get different color lenses for the inside gauge??

Good question. I know that VDO used to make little plastic bulb covers that they shipped with their gauges. You typically got a clear bulb with both green and red-orange covers. Don't know if those are still available, or whether they'd fit the bulbs used on the Zs. Hmm..

Edit: Did a quick Google, maybe these might be OK?

www.egauges.com