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Tips
Tips

Gauge bulb holder; can it

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jvandyke

jvandyke

Luke Skywalker
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Since my old dash was 1" thick wood, the slots to let light into the gas gauge and oil/temp gauge were buried in the wood: no lights. Last winter I carved out channels in the wood, lined with aluminum foil and they were nice and bright with even distribution, they put the tach and speedo to shame.
Now I'm redoing an original dash. I don't have those rings that hold a bulb next to the slots, they don't work well anyway I'm told.
I'm thinking about trying this, a soup can cut down with a hole in the middle. Not sure where I'll introduce the bulb. Should work, no? Light can bounce around the whole perimeter of the gauge and light it evenly(er) and brighter too I'd think.

canlight.jpg
 
Ahhh, good idea! Its perfect soup weather here (UK) so I can get a stock of tins ready, not sure if they come in the right size for the speedo and tacho but I can work on that!

The reason I need a solution is I get too much light shining down into the footwell (this is on the Tickford not Sprite) and I've been wondering how to solve the problem.

The dash has to come out soon to change the temp gauge, so I can add teh soup cans at the same time.

One thought - should we put a hole in the top to let the heat out (or is that just being paranoid, will a small bulb create enough heat to be a problem?)

J

PS Does Tomato work better than Chicken?
 
I only had 2 1/8" hole saws so there is a little gap between the gauge and can. Couple holes in the top couldn't hurt though. The legs on the "retainer" bars were cut way down on mine to accommodate the thick wood dash, I'm using little wood blocks as spacers. You'd have to cut your legs down or slot the can for them or something. I think that can is 4" diameter, the guages are 2".
 
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