How to spruce up your dash lights for 2 quid.

did mine today…what a difference …thing is though,i`m gonna take em out again cos I`ve now hit on the idea of removing the green strip and putting an amber piece in it`s place so that it matches the vdos`…only thought of it after `id refitted it all though so it`s a job for another day now.

Had ago tonight but the soldering is really hard, small joins and tight spaces. Any tips?

Don't stick the strip in until it's soldered,  and take the little connectors out of the bulb holders- they have a tab on them to push in with a screwdriver. Makes them a gazillion times easier to solder, and you don't get done in by the fumes of melted plastic… 

Cabfan- you know the clear plastic folder divider things? They supposedly work well for a colour change. 

I need to sort out the colour of all the bulbs in my dash. Not a massive priority but having a white led on the radio, Green on the instruments and incandescent yellow on the vdo's is a bit annoying, plus the vdo's are quite dim too! Maybe leds here too. 

Oh and another lighting tip-
Get an led festoon bulb for the interior lighting. I got a 9 smd one, it's really bright, a lot better than the standard one. Think it was about £5. Slight blue tinge, but that's my only complaint.
 

ta for the tip on the folder `thingy`…yeh the vdos` are a bit dim but I`ve got some leds for them but they are  still gonna be amber due to them having shrouds in there..as for the radio/cd player I can change all the colours ie can have loads of colour combos…so it`s set on green display but amber keys so all goes quite well really but would rather have all amber too be honest..the only thing which may be awkward is the switch illuminations,oh and do you have any links for anything that I could use to change the mfa too?

4130 Products - Changing the color of the gauge cluster lights.

It's for a mk2, but principle is the same. 

If you meant the mfa light,  I'd just put an led one in there. 

On your pic before the one with the bulbs working, have you split open the part where you have fitted the strip? Minedoesnt look like that?

Yeah. It should do, theres two clips, one on either side. Post some pics.

well heres` a pic of mine done…don`t think about doing it…..just do it. you`ll then wonder how you could see the clocks before

Cant put it off any longer just bought some strips its too good an idea not to.

I've bought the LED strip too.  I am hoping to do the fitting in the next week or so.  Has anyone replaced any of the other lights on the dash with LEDs?  I am thinking of doing something around the heater levers.  Any ideas?

I was thinking the same! I have bought a strip to do that and the ash tray. I'll post some pics when (if)  I do it. 

r_chez_08 said

I was thinking the same! I have bought a strip to do that and the ash tray. I'll post some pics when (if)  I do it. 

           

i just did this on my clocks! the dimmer switch had failed so i shorted the link with a bit of wire and then added the LED's. however i did use different LEDs as i didn't see this link existed!! the LED's i used had the wires already soldered to them and then all i did was trap the wires under the bulb for the clock, so if i wanted to change it all back it is easily reversible

That's brilliant  

r_chez_08 said

Hi,
I noticed that on my car, the dash lights hardly did anything. I was considering removing the green filter and lining the light box with tin foil,  but then I decided on LED's.  

I thought that I would resurrect this post - I would like to do the same as my dash lights are so faint. But does this require removing the whole dash? I looked at the instructions, but I am scared that I would screw it up and wouldn't be able to put everything back together. Plus, I don't have tons of space (not to mention, that I am very new to all of this and the repairs that I have done myself always seem to take 3x longer than they should).

Don't even get me started about trying to replace my brake light sensor. I can't figure out a way to even fully see it, let alone access it and take it out (hint, hint, help lol).

I done mine about 5 yrs ago but didn't  put strip in I just added normal 12v leds like on link which thought was best solutionat time

I went with the lit dials sold by moman.pl
I have 16V Mk2 160mph clocks in my Mk1, he does them for Mk1 clocks as well.
You need to remove the clocks to fit, not the complete dash though.



Click Search to see what he does.
 https://moman.pl/en/search?controller=search&s=Golf+mk1

I also bought fluorescent paint for the needles and UV Leds to make them glow at night!

lhasadreams said

I went with the lit dials sold by moman.pl
I have 16V Mk2 160mph clocks in my Mk1, he does them for Mk1 clocks as well.
You need to remove the clocks to fit, not the complete dash though.

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I am after! I will take a look 

lhasadreams said

I went with the lit dials sold by moman.pl
I have 16V Mk2 160mph clocks in my Mk1, he does them for Mk1 clocks as well.
You need to remove the clocks to fit, not the complete dash though.

Sweet. I have the same same clocks as you. What colour are your switches, also blue?

Yes, all blue, I opened them up and replaced the bulbs with blue leds - bloody fiddly!