Combat Dash Lights

[IRWFO]

Don't laugh at me. A while back I was in a night parade with a guy that had an M37. All his gauges were lit up in red and ever since I have been wanting to do the same on my M1009. On a road trip home from TN one day I got off at a truck stop and found some red "Mood" lights. I grabbed a package so I could see what else the company carried. They had a good selection and all the ones I needed.

Tonight after work I took apart the dash and installed the red lights. As you can see I forgot the bulb at the heater controls and will be installing that one tomorrow. This way you can see the difference anyway. As a big bonus though I got to fix my gear indicator. It never worked for me. It wound up being just the clip on the cable came off. I also got to check my 4WD light bulb and it is fine. I guess I have to look else where as to why it doesn't work.

Here is the site for the bulbs company.
http://www.victorautomotive.net/pages/items/vabs.html

 

[dunedigger]

Bulbs are on my to do list too. The only one working on mine is the shift indicator light and the indicator stays on park, lol. Maybe this weekend. Looks nice.

 

[Chevytruck]

wow!

how much were they?

 

[K45]

I was thinking about doing leds on mine and doing a green back light that would be nice

 

[N1265]

We wont laugh, My M880 came with red plastic caps over the dash light bulbs. I am not sure but I think this was something that came with the Blackout light kit....

 

[319]

That's pretty cool looking! I also was thinking of doing the red lights on my CUCV's and was wondering how it would look. Thanks for taking the mystery out of it.

 

[rfischba1]

Can you reach any of the dash bulbs w/o taking the entire dash apart? I would love to be able to replace the turn signal arrow bulbs.

 

[319]

rfishba1, if your hands are small and arms are skinny you should be able to, but, first make sure you brush up on your foul language.

 

[IRWFO]

Can you reach any of the dash bulbs w/o taking the entire dash apart? I would love to be able to replace the turn signal arrow bulbs.

You only have to take the phillip head screws out of the gauge panel. just go slow pulling it away because you will have to twist off the "wait & water in fuel" lights + the amp gauge light & plug. Some bulbs are behind the speedo and fuel gauges. You just need a 1/4" socket for some screws and they will pull away enough to reach all the bulbs. Old ones pull out and new ones just push in.
I used kit V545R - It has (2) 194's for the dash, (1) 1895 for the amp gauge & (1) 211-2 that you could use for an interior light if you install them. They are about $6 a kit.

 

[CDN-CUCV]

I did the same recently, makes a nice change though I'm going to change to LED's now that I've found some. I've put a marine red, port-side LED marker light under the dash as well for the interior light.

 

[IRWFO]

CDN, do you have any photos of the interior light?

 

[CDN-CUCV]

I'll take some for ya, none right now.

 

[K45]

I was looking over the pics again, How difficult is it to see your needle with teh red lights? I would think you would need to paint the needle some color to make it stand out or maybe I am wrong. It does give a nice ifared look to the cluster. I still think I would like green LEDs that way I can get that night vision look. I wonder what happen if the needles were bright yellow? Under the red light it should make it a sharp looking orange and under the green light it should be lime color Maybe it is time for some color experiments. i also wonder what the colors would be like to replace the Alt1, 2 4wd bulbs to a color with the color lens?

 

[IRWFO]

I didn't give it much of a thought so I guess it's ok. I know I see the needles while driving at night.

Since some of you guys are talking about LED's, do they make replacement dash bulbs in a LED?

 

[CDN-CUCV]

I didn't give it much of a thought so I guess it's ok. I know I see the needles while driving at night.

Since some of you guys are talking about LED's, do they make replacement dash bulbs in a LED?

Yes they do. Tuner companies like APC carry them to replace the 194 bulbs. I paid about $9 cdn/ea. for mine. Haven't installed them yet though.

IRWFO: My interior light is actually the courtesy light under the dash, just replaced by an LED bulb. Here's a few examples:

 

[msoumas]

I need to get around to putting in some bulbs on mine, my speedo doesn't light up at all. The red looks great, I might have to go with those, or LED ones if I can find them

 

[IRWFO]

Now that I have been in the dash a few times it is really an easy job. The whole thing can be done in about 15min. I do like the LED's but I am going to stick with what I got. Here is the site for the LED's. http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/fp/SFV/32481

 

[rfischba1]

Anybody know if the floor shift indicater four 4wd have a bulb in it , does it lite up ?

 

[IRWFO]

I just wanted to give a little update on my truck. This week I just added some Autometer gauges. What was nice is that they came with red bulb covers that do a great job of matching the red dash lights. As you can see the oil is hooked up. The plate for the water sensor will be in Monday and then that will be done. The empty hole is for a Trans. Temp. gauge that didn't get here in time so that's next weeks project.
With the shot of Mil/Green around the rims it fits right into the looks of the truck.

 

[IRWFO]

Anybody know if the floor shift indicater four 4wd have a bulb in it , does it lite up ?

No but is easy enough to add one. I think I'll do it in a few weeks when I have time. Photos will follow.