Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Kleftiwallah]

Good morning Chaps & Chapesses. Instrument illumination.

I am restoring a vehicle and the instruments have 'windows' in the cases to allow light to enter illuminate the dials, Setting them in a wood dashboard would hide the window due to the thickness of the wood- hence a metal panel set into or on top of the dash with a corresponding cut-out.

How are the instuments illuminated, is a box constructed around the rear of the instruments and lamps placed inside?

Looking forward to your knowledgeable replies. Cheers, Tony.

[47Jag]

Tony,

I assume this is a replacement dash and not the original. I dug out my Jaguar MK4 dash which uses said slots and it has some of the area around the rear of the instrument hole 'routed out' (as in cut out with a router) to leave about 3/16" thickness to the front veneer. Does that make sense?

Art

[peter scott]

Hi Tony,

Welcome to the forum.

There may be several different ways of doing this but in my SS Jaguar the instruments have slots in the sides with blue translucent plastic windows. The front faces of the instruments abut the rear of the wooden dash panel and a metal plate with circular holes in it surrounds all the instruments. The plate stands off the wood such that lamps mounted in it illuminate the instrument slots. In my car the bulb holders have a rim that is held in the plate by a bayonet action but in more modern cars of other makes the holders have spring fingers around their peripheries and they are just a push fit.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKKHV7H96wU&t=21s

HTH

Peter
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[JohnDale]

[quote="Kleftiwallah"][color=darkblue]Good morning Chaps & Chapesses. Instrument illumination.

Hallo, didn't I meet you many years ago in Oman? Sure someone said as you walked away,'keep your eyes on your tools,that's Kleftiwallah '?
Welcome to the best Forum,cheers,JD.
_________________
1958 Ford Zephyr Mk2 Convertible
1976 Ford Granada Ghia.

[Kleftiwallah]

Good morning Chaps,
thanks for those informative replies.

Art,
I am replacing the dash (I don't think it is original) as I have aquired a clock, time not speed, that is chronometric and the instruments were mounted on the face of the dash of 5/8th ply, thus masking off the 'windows'. I can see what you mean about the thinning of the dash but where does the illumination come from? I've been unable to get an answer to that question from Gurgle and other sites.

Peter,
this is just how the thought came to me, I have a metal mounting plate but not large enough for all the instruments I wish to mount. I can produce a dash plate from mild steel and tart it up with some small semi circular brass braised around the edge (if you chaps can't tell me of a source of ready made plates? So each individual instrument has its own lamp?

J.D.
I was indeed in Oman, initially at Seeb, later at Thumrait. model aircraft and water skiing reduced my time in the bars. However, my epithet then was "The Hippy" not my present username. You have me at a disadvantage Sir! We used the firm's tools, not our own.

Cheers to all, Tony.

[peter scott]

[alastairq]

On my instryments, they either have a hole in the rear, or a couple of opaque plastic covered slots on the edge of the body.

Light bulb holders can be mounted on circular/tubular brackets that are attached to the instrument rears, [usually]....with a small output bulb shining through the opaque plastic. Some have small bulb holders pushed through holes in the rear casings. Much light would also appear beneath the dash on my cars ....illuminating one's kneecaps.

A good source of instrument bulbs/holders I have found in the past can be had from old rear engined Skodas. Neat plastic jobbies, with those small bulbs with the exposed wires. [Old Skodas are also a good source of brake pipe banjoes.....seen the price of these things retail?....only drawback is, they're all metric.]

[mikeC]

[JohnDale]

[Kleftiwallah]

Thanks for all your informative (and humerous) replies. I shall keep in touch).

Cheers, Tony.

[Ray White]

It's O.K. for all you technophiles with your new fangled "illuminations".
... Some of us have to rely on good old fashioned dash lamps!

[lowdrag]

And to further confuzz you Ray, no one seems to have mentioned yet the LED options that are available

[alastairq]

Oh dear..LED dash panel lights!!

I have a piece of Americana thus equipped by a previous owner....but they've left behind some of the ordinary bulb-driven lights too!!

Thus, the dimming facility doesn't work with the LED backlighting......and, when main [full] beam is selected....instead of a subdued warning light, I get my retinas burnt out by the intense little light right in front of my face!

On my Dellow, I have fitted a tiny [50 mil] Chinese rev counter....seeing a I had to remove the original to fit the speedo! [the car was previously raced in the USA!].....I studiously wired up the dash light unit inside it too.....which was fine, until I drove in the dark! Turing on the lights produced a shock to my system I have not felt in decades! WHooaaah! WTF?

I must add that, the light [LEDs] was in fact a very cold blue......and apparently illuminated my face too....giving my appearance a quite un-natural glow...not good for the well-being of oncoming drivers, either.

Needless to say, that particular bit of wiring very quickly became detached.....no mean feat for someone my size, sat inside a moving Dellow!

Mind, I have some of the old fashioned panel light units too....which really do little to improve gauge visibility at night!!

[peter scott]

My car has 4 x 5 watt panel lamps and the original celluloid filters for the instruments are blue so using LEDs works out well both in terms of colour and amps saved. I don't have the sophistication of dimmable lamps and the brightness is just right for me. The very bright (red) ignition warning lamp in the picture is still using a filament lamp. It does actually appear as a strong traffic light red in reality rather than the washed out impression it gives in the photo.

I have also used LEDs for the four 5 watt side lamps. These are fine at the rear but were a bit too cool white at the front so I placed an orange filter in front of them. (Sainsbury plastic bag).

I still retain filament brake lights as I couldn't find good enough side on LEDs for them. I have also fitted LEDs to my headlamps and have adjusted for reasonable focus.

Peter

p.s. I had to reverse my battery polarity for my tracker and so I get a larger selection of LED types by default. I haven't bothered to swap the ammeter connections hence the reverse reading.


_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Paul fairall]