Improving instrument display illumination.

well here is your answer..
everybody knows how poor the illumination is on the dash this is why



a stupid bit of yellow plastic that filters the lights from the dash, i discovered this while taking the clocks out to investigate a problem,
sometime ago i tried putting in some blue LED bulbs but had such poor results with them i took them out and put in red ones that were a bit better so i left them in. So now i have found the reason why i set about removing said bit of yellow plastic to see what difference it would make and heres the results,



so if you want a brighter dash (and it makes a massive difference if staying with white light) this is what you do..
follow this guide here on how to take the instruments out.. or if you cowel is broken like mine all you need to do is take of the instrument cowel surround then undo the screws on the front that hold the cowel on. this then enable you to see the top of the instrument panel without having to take the whole thing out. the top looks like this



if you look from underneath you can clearly see the filter lens



shocking isnt it.. so from the top undo the two screws that hold it in.. yours will also have a metal strap (support) bracket on that you will need to put back on when done.



lift the panel you just unscrewed



then just pull off the yellow lens so it looks like this



now there wont be anything diffusing your bulbs..

now put it all back together and enjoy the dramatic improvement it truly is 100 times better

The driving Dutchman's version is here. Click, click.

just been out to take picture now its dark so get the full effect now * this is how i wanted it to look at the begining

Great mod I did this a couple of years back.Looks much better than the crappy yellow dim effect MG Rover went for.

Oki doki.. I've just finished doing this mod and it works very well. Nice one Jac. :broon:

I didn't need to take the steering wheel off but I did lower it with the adjuster. 10 screws later I was able to remove this yellow plastic lens -

Before -



After -



Here's what it looked like before. (This view is looking up to the area above your speedo.The light shines down onto the instruments).

Before -



After -



Here, you can see the difference made.

Before -



After -



Before -



After -



The job's a good un! :broon:

:broon:

Nice one Leigh, It doesnt take long to do either and thanks for doing the before and after pictures it really highlights (excuse the pun) the difference it makes

Nice to see the silver clocks silver :broon:

:broon:
Have you changed the bulbs?

gazsuttonuk wrote: :broon:
Have you changed the bulbs?

Nope. I just removed this yellow plastic filter. The original bulbs are tiny and still in place. I'm not sure what type they are?

They are T5 or 286 bulbs.(same bulb - different name)

Is there any benifit from fitting led's when this mod is done?

generally a crisper brighter light, but it wont make your car go faster lol