cmanns

On my dash near the bottom of the speedo the black is wearing away, can you just paint over it or what should I do to darken it?

The rpm/speedo is kinda dark even during the day can you put in brighter bulbs and brighten it?

I love the series 3 dashes, I think brighter gauges would be better the series 1/2 dash is bright and easy to read 24/7

thunkrd

iTrader: (1)

mine is fine... i think you just need new bulbs / clean them

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Yeah, the old bulbs darken on the inside over the years, as well as collecting film on the outside. Also, the copper contacts on the back of the instrument panel tarnish with age, and can cut into the brightness a bit.

The bulbs in my currently-installed S1 instrument panel are so dark I can barely read the guages at night; I'm right in the middle of doing a documented teardown/refurbish that I'll post up when done.

You can buy higher-wattage bulbs that will physically fit, but you have to be careful; more watts equals more heat, and you can end up melting or darkening the plastic color filters inside the panel, or damaging the dimmer control, if you go overboard.

thunkrd

iTrader: (1)

just use stock, it works fine. why use higher wattage ones that could potentially cause a fire or any other problems. i have an external light on mine for that ricer look . actually the dimmer switch was destroyed by my stupidity, plugging the wires by the shifter into each other. thus i bought the external light. i have now fixed the issue by hotwiring the switch

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Good, clean stock bulbs on tight connections work great so long as the plastic inside the panel hasn't discolored, sure. I don't recommend going higher wattage, but the question was out there.

cmanns

Yeah thats why I mentioned them, it could cause a fire or something.

What about the discoloration how can I touch thatup?

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

I haven't seen a problem with that so far; I've got a couple 30-year-old panels apart at the moment, and once they are cleaned up, the plastic looks brand new. They just get dirty. Strip em down carefully to just the plastic, and scrub it in the sink.

I expect you'd only get discoloration of the plastic if somebody was running overspec bulbs. I've seen it in old Ford panels, but thus far not in Mazdas.

The bulb discoloration is easy; just put in new bulbs.

Here's a pic from the refurb I'm working on, that illustrates the bulb darkening that happens over years.



Bulb on the right spent 30 years as an instrument panel illumination bulb, on whenever the headlights were on. Bulb on the left is the same age, but was a warning-light bulb that was rarely on. (You can tell they are original bulbs by the "Toshiba" logo on em).

The dark color is actually tungsten that has boiled off the filament over the years, plating itself to the inside of the glass. It blocks about half the bulb brightness when it's on.