Gauge Illumination

[NiSMOGuy280]

I have a 1978 280Z. I find the green backlighting of my gauges very annoying. Is there anyway i could replace the bulbs or the lenses to make a bright blue showup instead of the green. Thanx.

NiSMOGuy

[skip260z]

When I went thru all the guages and installed new Nissan bulbs (only ones who had the correct PHYSICAL SIZE to fit in the holes), there were clearish plastic caps over the bulb holes - and they were tinted with green paint.

Some of the green was flaking off, so now I have greenish-white IP lighting.

Chances are, you can scrape off the greenish tint (just a thin paint coating) and replace with translucent blue paint.

See a hobby shop, IIRC Tamiya makes translucent acrylic enamel paints for their range of model cars and such. Testors likely offers some too.

I would not trust painting the bulbs themselves, and, I seriously doubt that you can find such tiny, round "pearl bulbs" in anything but clear, and, from anyone but Nissan. Note that even w/ discount, they were about $2USD each bulb. But ought to last 20 years!

HTH

[WillieBoy240z]

Hey Skip.

Great idea about altering the lenses. I have just removed all the gauges in my 240z and am trying to think of ways I can make them nicer/better/cleaner/etc.

Do you know if your bulb and my bulbs are the same? I was gonna just get a bunch of new ones because hopefully they will be brighter. I don't know if bulbs fade over time (without burning out), but my dash lights are pretty lousy.

I've also thought about the aftermarket gauge overlays in white. The Indiglo ones really intrigue me, but I have yet to see them actually available for the Z.

[240znz]

Rumour has it that you can also paint the inside of the gauge white. This should reflect (right word?) more light that the black.

Never tried this but might work...read it in a post once.

Anybody tried this out there??

[2ManyZs]

I know I'm going to be chastised for this.

I just recieved a new Summit Racing catalog and lo and behold, in the "ricer-boy" section they have colored bulbs from a company called Matrix. They have 1157,1156,194,211-1, 67,912(168), 10x36 dome light, 8x28 dome light in purple, amber, blue, green, or red. I'm not sure but I think the 194's or 168's might work in gauges, but you would need to check the original bulbs to find out for sure. They are $4.95 a pair, so you really need to check the bulb size before you buy. They also have them in a higher output bulb, but they are 6.95 each and up.:sick:

I know how we look down on some of these "ricers" but they might have a couple things that we can use. :stupid:

[skip260z]

Take one of your stock, "pearl-sized" bulbs to a decent auto parts store; the base, volts, wattage will all match - but bettcha the glass globe will not. The globe size is the lim-fac to getting the bulbs back into the instruments.

Nissan seemed to be the only one who made the tiny little globed bulbs. (They still had them 18 mos ago.)

Least that is what I found in my early 74 260Z (basically leftover 73 240's with L26 and 280 interiors).

HTH

[WillieBoy240z]

If it ain't one thing, it's another.

[240 4U2NV]

this may not be exactly what you were looking for but try checking out speedhut.com, they have gauges for 240 and 280z's in development.

[EScanlon]

I've used these and although the bulb glass is a bit bigger, they DO work in the speedo and tach in ALL the holes.

2¢

[texasz]

In case anyone wants colored guage faces there are some on eBay right now for $9.99 ending soon (not my auction, I just came accross them).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2414253640&category=34206

Here's another one with the Z inlay but this one is $50

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2413303371&category=33678

[Gav240z]

I managed to get 4W replacements for my guages as oppose to the 3w ones but they were slightly longer than the old ones and hence it doesn't fit in all of them properly. I got them all working mixing and matching some of the working old ones but alas I think I'll need to get another size that fits better.

Thanks for the advice Escalon it's been a bit job and fidly one especially getting the right bulbs in the right hole. I think you'll understand if I say the speedometer was a fun one.

You can make your guage faces white with blue and it looks great at night but it's all a bit too ricey for me. Personally I really like the green but I just like the Z the way it was and is.

Gav,

PS: PM me if you would like the white guage faces you might be able to search for them on this forum.

[Mr Camouflage]

Original 240z gauges have a green plastic "lense" (for want of a better term) inside the gauge, which the bulb holder sits in so the light shines through it, to give it the green light. Also the inside of the gauge casing is painted lime green.

You could remove the green plastic cap, and you could also paint the gauge housing white.

I have photos of a dissassembled gauge, but not on this computer.

You could get coloured cellophane (use the stuff that they use for thearer lights) the other stuff might melt.

I put ordinary green cellophane in the dome light of a car I had, which gave an eery green glow, but wasnt as bright as the normal light.