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Gauge lighting

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KevinBN7

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This might be a crazey question but does the blue plastic ring that encompasses the fuel and water/oil gauge cast a blue tone on those two gauges? Are these gages distinctly different in color than the tach/speedo when they are lit?

I never installed the lights for those gauges and am experimenting with LED.

Any help will be appreciated.

Kevin R
1959 BN7
 
Hi Kevin,
I'm not sure what you mean by blue plastic ring. The interior of the metal gauge housing has some light blue paint on about 2/3 of it, my BJ8 anyway. The white LEDs have a much cooler temperature than incandescent bulbs unless you get color corrected LEDs. Side by side an average white LED will look bluer. For a better consistency, I'd make all the dash lights the same type. Not sure if that answers your question.
 
KevinBN7 said:
This might be a crazey question but does the blue plastic ring that encompasses the fuel and water/oil gauge cast a blue tone on those two gauges?
Kevin R
1959 BN7
Click to expand...

Hello Kevin,
The only gauge that has a plastic ring is the oil/water gauge. It is about 1/4" wide and is on the inside of the canister, near the front glass. The light reflects though that plastic ring.

Is that your question?
Roger
 
Yes thanks this answers alot of questions I didnt know I had. My fuel gauge did not have the blue lens. I assumed it was missing but based on Rogers Post it should not be there anyway. (did I interpret this correctly?)

The "color temp" is the problem for me. I dont mind the different from the "warm" stock lighting as long as all the gauges are the same.

I will completely read the previous posts re: LED's and probably upgrade the tach and speedo. I have retro fitted an electric tach into the stock housing so I an not sure what bulb it takes. Winter is long and I have time to figure it out.

It will be nice to see the fuel gauge at night next summer. My strategy had been to look at it as I was passing a street light. I will install a coutesey light system as well.

Thanks for your help
 

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Hi Kevin,

I'm curious. What bulbs to you have in each of the above gauges shown in your photo above? (Tach and gas). Stock should be an E10 2.2 watt. I'm assuming both are stock Healey gauges.

Roger
 
Just a note but the fuel gauge in my hundred has a blue opaque plastic ring ! It looks original for the gauge but i know its not Healey 100 stock as it came out of a sprite.

Dougal
 
Roger
The fuel gauge is dead stock but the light is a hand made light ring. (see picture) A friend machined it out of clear polycorbonate. I installed 2 LED bulbs aimed to light up the radius. I covered it in reflective tape to concentrate the light and as you see in the picture I colored (sharpie)the inside if the ring to simulate the blue lens around the gauge. My goal was to not have any light bleeding from behind the dash which was achieved.

The light ring in the photo is for the safty gauge which already has the blue lens. Since the ring is .5 inches thick I remove .5 from the saddle strap that hold the gauge in place and the light ring doesnt move. There is a slot on the bottom of the ring to go over the oil feed and the capilary tube.

The Tach is a 194 bulb. I was tired of not trusting the Tach so I installed an electronic version inside of the original housing. (see pic)

Thanks to your detailed post I ordered a new LED for the Speedo and an LED 194 for the Tach. I will have everything back together when they arrive this week.

Thanks for your help and for all of the effort you put into this upgrade. I have another car apart at the moment but the coutesy lights are my next Healey ptoject.

Kevin
 

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KevinBN7 said:
I have another car apart at the moment but the coutesy lights are my next Healey ptoject.

Kevin
Click to expand...

Hey Kevin,
What a great job! I really enjoy seeing how people tackle new ways of doing things.

I just finished installing a courtesy light system in my car. You may get a couple ideas to run with, from what I did. A few people here have installed courtesy lights. Like GregW who hid a row of led's under the lip of his dash. How cool is that.

Here's the link to my humble attempt. Who can keep up with the Gregster!

Healey courtesy light...another bright idea
https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthreads.php/topics/516606/1

Cheers,
Roger
 
Kevin, What can you tell us about the electric tach? Did you make it yourself or is it an aftermarket or OEM unit?
Also, your wooden dash looks great. Far better than the wood grained contact paper I used to have on my BT7. What is it and how did you make it? If you don't mind giving away your secrets.

Rob
 
Rob
The tach was not a kit but an install of an inexpensive tack I bought from JC whitney. (PN H-07-05-B1) This item has the exact sweep as the stock Healey tach so all I really did was to gut the stock can, install the new tach inside. glue on the stock face and install the needle.

I borrowed a dwell meter with a tach to calibrate the new tach to the actual rpm. It has worked well since. For the Tach input wire I tapped into the wire (white/black?)that goes from the master switch to the coil.

The wood grain is much more involved and I have plenty of pictures. I will put together a youtube video and show how I did it. I get more compliments on the wood than not. It is real wood veneer and has held up well over the past 3 years of driving.

Here is a pic of the tach project.

Kevin R
 

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Thats a smart way to get your rev counter working, I like it.

Attached are a couple of pics of my aux gauges showing the blue ring on the fuel gauge(as I said from a sprite not a hundred). Also the stock combination gauge. First glance it looks as if it has an opaque plasic ring. However on closer inspection you will see its just dirty non original sticky tape to try to keep the dust out.

Question how do you keep the dust out of the gauges?

Dougal
 

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Hello all,

Has anyone been able to get one of these tach's? I have tried JC Whitney website and also called them but they tell me it doesn't exist.

Does anyone have any other suggestions about converting to an electric tach using the original face/needle.

Best Regards,

bundyrum.
 
Hello to those that replied.

I found a source to get a tach thank you very much.

There seems to be plenty for sale on eBay in my price range.

Best regards,

bundyrum.
 
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