custom dash ideas

[krazy_texan]

i was wondering what you guys think of this idea of building a custom dash for my 65 using the factory panel cut a piece of plexiglas to fit the panel with the guage holes in it and have the plexiglas tinted like an orange color with leds behind it to light up the whole panel around all the gauges

[markeb01]

It's an interesting concept, but I'd do a test sample before committing to a dash insert. How well it would work probably depends a lot on where, how many, and at what angle you mount the LED’s.

I was considering (still am) a tube grille insert for the area where the GMC letters go. The “tubes” would actually be acrylic rods with LED’s pointing inward from each end. With the LED’s at the edge, the rods light up completely and look very unusual at night.

If the LED’s are mounted at the edges, they “may” light up the panel in a similar manner and make it difficult to read the gauges (or it may just look extremely cool). Having them point straight at the driver may also be problematic. My high beam indicator is an LED, and I had to paint the tip of it black. Before the paint, the bare LED blinded me every time I turned on the high beams. Now it diverts a big ring of light around the lens making it very visible, but not blinding.

A test of the LED alignment should help in deciding it works to your satisfaction. I really like the idea since I’ve never seen it done and it shouldn’t be that hard to fabricate.

[krazy_texan]

i was thinking more of like a soft glow led that would not be lit up when driving

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by markeb01

It's an interesting concept, but I'd do a test sample before committing to a dash insert. How well it would work probably depends a lot on where, how many, and at what angle you mount the LED’s.

I was considering (still am) a tube grille insert for the area where the GMC letters go. The “tubes” would actually be acrylic rods with LED’s pointing inward from each end. With the LED’s at the edge, the rods light up completely and look very unusual at night.

If the LED’s are mounted at the edges, they “may” light up the panel in a similar manner and make it difficult to read the gauges (or it may just look extremely cool). Having them point straight at the driver may also be problematic. My high beam indicator is an LED, and I had to paint the tip of it black. Before the paint, the bare LED blinded me every time I turned on the high beams. Now it diverts a big ring of light around the lens making it very visible, but not blinding.

A test of the LED alignment should help in deciding it works to your satisfaction. I really like the idea since I’ve never seen it done and it shouldn’t be that hard to fabricate.

I tried something similar on my old s10. I ended up doing acrylic rod with led's. I was really unhappy with the result though. Either my LED's weren't powerful enough, or the rod I used wasn't clear enough or the right kind...but it was just weak.

if you check out superbrightleds they have some called "diffuse cover" or similar...they have a "frosted" kind of look, and can do different colors. Might be soft enough for something like you guys are talking about, and it will "glow" instead of "shine" so the angle won't matter as much.

[vin63]

It can be a fun custom project. In my case, the previous owner of my truck hacked up the instrument cluster to fit an aftermarket tach, so I had to do something, and I don't like the billet inserts, so I fabricated my instrument cluster using some left over Autometer gauges and Lexan. Here, I machined a sheet of aluminum, using the original face as a template. I positioned the gauges in a similar order of the deluxe instrument cluster. I cut the holes for the gauges, and copied the opening for the stock speedometer.


I then cut out my scap lexan for the lens and made sure the bezel fit:


Then I clear anodized the aluminum parts (to match the Autometer gauges), and then I used a graphics program for the speedometer numbers (arched in reverse) and hash marks. I then had a local vinyl sign maker cut them out. I applied the numbers to back of the lexan sheet and applied the hash marks directly to the factory speedometer face.


The LED idea is cool...I tried it but they were a little too bright for me. I'll be using the factory light bulbs and green lens tubes for the background light of the speedometer, and the red light tubes for the turn signal indicators. I will use the green bulb covers for the Autometer gauges.