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Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:43 pm
by caprikid61
Hi Folks I had the dashboard out of the capri yesterday looking to see why the dash lights are so poor. I found that some of the bulbs were black so I am guessing they have blown so I am away to halfords for new 501 capless bulbs .

I have seen posts on here about removing these blue plastic covers might help but I did see them in the hole that the red bulb holder pops into but not sure how to get a hold of them to pull them out . Has anyone on here done this ? Can you let me know how to get them out ? Cheers Alex

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 3:00 pm
by Caprigear
You have to take the cluster apart to remove them.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:20 pm
by Jasonmarie
I do have a set of mk3 clocks that I have a on going project of many on the go . And the blue plastic that are there will just sort of fall apart on you when you remove so be gentle just in case you want to put them back . Also it’s a MOT failure if the dash does not light up now .

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:04 pm
by caprikid61
Thanks for the advice guys, I managed to get the new bulbs fitted today I also had a look inside the cluster but didnt fancy taking the gauges out as they look so fragile felt I might damage them . The blue plastic bits looked ok but the lights are just a little bit better with the new bulbs (5w) so I am going to wait until I get my new speedo cable so I will be in there again will try to pluck up the courage to remove the blue bits and get hold of some blue led bulbs. Cheers Alex

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 7:51 am
by pbar
You might find that new replacements bulbs (of standard type) along with cleaning the clear plastic (be careful though, it is over 30 years old), will be more than adequate, it's amazing how discoloured than could be and you don't realise. Certainly, I have no issues with my standard dash lighting.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:53 pm
by Andrew 2.8i
caprikid61 wrote: The blue plastic bits looked ok but the lights are just a little bit better with the new bulbs (5w)
Hi Alex,
You might find that the 5W bulbs emit a little more heat than the standard 3W bulbs, and that may damage the blue bulb covers and reduce the effectiveness of the brighter bulbs.

Andrew.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 6:20 pm
by Jasonmarie
You beat me to that yes they do get really hot , I have at the moment red bulbs in but I am trying clock mirror , “ what is that you cry out “ on a old set of clocks I had but Iam having a problem with the bulbs as they are to hot as well and they burn on the edge after about 20-25mins so I am cleaning and trying some real mirror cut up inside and glued that I have on my winter mad projects .
:beer:

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 6:25 pm
by Andrew 2.8i
Jasonmarie wrote: I am cleaning and trying some real mirror cut up inside and glued that I have on my winter mad projects .
:beer:
Hi Jason,
I did something similar and covered the inside of the clock housing with some self-adhesive reflective card, hoping that this would reduce the light being absorbed by the plastic and therefore increase the brightness of the illumination. Every little helps!

Andrew.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:41 pm
by caprikid61
Hi Andrew I found the dash lights were a fair bit brighter driving home from work tonight so far so good . I just hope they stay that way you could be right though they might get to hot since they are 5w . I did notice that the bulbs that came out of the dash were black in fact they looked like they had blown but seemed to be ok .

Hi Jason I like the sound of your clock mirror idea :shock: keep us posted I kinda get the feeling that might work .

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:31 am
by pbar
caprikid61 wrote:Hi Andrew I found the dash lights were a fair bit brighter driving home from work tonight so far so good . I just hope they stay that way you could be right though they might get to hot since they are 5w .
I would keep an eye on that, thirty year old plastics may not take kindly to extra heat.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:20 pm
by ollyw
Only way to do this is to take the clocks out.

The plastic will melt over time at 5watts.
The clocks aren’t that bad to take out. Just take your time and handle carefully.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:50 pm
by Jasonmarie
I think Andrews way might be the best but my first attempt was rubbish as I still looking for that green look . I have on order some green Tulsa’s tubing from our eastern shores China so it’s on a boat , I hope to be able to cut this with some clock mirror . And see how that goes . It’s ckeaning all the rubbish off after you try something that just did not work thank god it’s a old set of dash clocks as I would have cried if they were mine out the car .

Will keep you all posted as this has been done so many time by so many of us to keep it looking a little bit better but to have the same affect . :beer:

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:53 pm
by timfromull
Bin off the blue plastic defusers and halogen bulbs and bang in some green leds.........
I also lined the inside of the casing with reflective aluminium tape.
The look great now.........
Oh, just make sure you get the leds in the right way around and the only downside is that you cannot use your dimmer switch with them (Not that you'd want to dim them...)

You can also use red or blue etc, leds but green is the correct colour in my opinion..... :cheers:

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:24 pm
by Andrew 2.8i
timfromull wrote:Bin off the blue plastic defusers and halogen bulbs and bang in some green leds.........
Oh, just make sure you get the leds in the right way around and the only downside is that you cannot use your dimmer switch with them (Not that you'd want to dim them...)
You can also use red or blue etc, leds but green is the correct colour in my opinion..... :cheers:
I agree with all of the above.....
If you go this route, you should be able to check that you've put the LEDs in the correct way round before you fully reassemble the dash. However, once the dash is all put back together, if there is a problem it's quite easy to get to the illumination and warning bulbs by removing the lower dash panels and reaching up. That saves a lot of time! Be sure to disconnect the battery before you do this though. Obviously this also applies for when/if you need to replace a bulb.
That brings me to another reason in favour of the LED - their lifespan is supposed to be significantly longer than traditional bulbs, that should mean that once fitted (the correct way round!) you should be able to forget about them.

Andrew.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 8:54 pm
by Bod9084
Hi I got some caps that you can change the bulbs in and fitted led in but when you fit them you have to get the positive and negatives the right war as leds will not work the wrong way
Plus if you still wo t to ues the dimmer control you have to get led that are suitable for dimmer

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 1:29 am
by dan the capri fan
Hi my old standard instrument cluster lights were crap couldn't see anything at night. So I did the conversion to green LED bulbs a few years ago after following a useful guide that was put on here. It worked a treat a vast improvement from before. All my blue bulb caps disintegrated when I touched them. The LED conversion is easy to do just a slight filing down of the bulb cases to make them fit in the holes is the only modification you need to do. :)

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:55 am
by Andrew 2.8i
dan the capri fan wrote: So I did the conversion to green LED bulbs a few years ago after following a useful guide that was put on here.
Hi Dan,
I'm not sure that guide will be much use now as the photos were uploaded to the forum using Photobucket. Sadly, I can't find the originals in amongst the thousands of other photos on my computer to edit and update the guide.

Andrew.

Edit: The Photobucket photos are still displaying at the moment...

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:26 pm
by Jasonmarie
Hi Dan hope you well not seen any of your WW2 pictures of face paint . Yes them lights I noted the bulbs don’t fit and hoping my Chinese solution will work . And you can still use the dim switch .

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 5:13 pm
by Andrew 2.8i
Jasonmarie wrote:Hi Dan hope you well not seen any of your WW2 pictures of face paint . Yes them lights I noted the bulbs don’t fit and hoping my Chinese solution will work . And you can still use the dim switch .
Hi Jason,
Have you had the green tubing delivered yet? What stuff did you buy, can you provide a link? How are you planning to use it in the Capri?
So many questions it's like being on Mastermind.... :)

Andrew.

Re: Blue plastic lenses in dashboard pod removal

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 7:23 pm
by Jasonmarie
Andrew 2.8i wrote:
Jasonmarie wrote:Hi Dan hope you well not seen any of your WW2 pictures of face paint . Yes them lights I noted the bulbs don’t fit and hoping my Chinese solution will work . And you can still use the dim switch .
Hi Jason,
Have you had the green tubing delivered yet? What stuff did you buy, can you provide a link? How are you planning to use it in the Capri?
So many questions it's like being on Mastermind.... :)

Andrew.
So answer first question No still waiting . Question Two I see these ( in a link ) being used to light a old fashion clock with LED bulbs fitted inside and the clock looked amazing where the light was not to much in your face but not to dark .
So where the bulbs go I was going to try putting the bulbs inside the glass pipe . Then they will stop the clock from getting to hot .

Here’s the link https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2618936709
Also have these on order as well .
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3263071359

I have the old clock / speedo ready to work on so will post up some more pictures over the weekend . :beer:

As my thinking it’s just a few glass tubes and use the 5w bulbs a easy fix that’s safe ( I hope as I will take temperatures when on test .