Here is something you all might like, everytime some one rides in my camaro and i make a turn they say "COOL!!!! How did you get your turn indicator to flash red?!?!?!?!" well here is its simple as can be......

Parts Needed
Red bulb cover AKA "Bulb Condom" found at most all truck stops in the trucker lighting area normaly near the diesel desk (they are slip on covers) this can also be in blue purple etc etc

take off you black speedo trim.... you can see the green dot where the turn indicator is, well pry it off (it comes off easy) well then you will see your #194 bulb slip your "bulb condom" on the bulb and put the speedo trim back on, DONE!!!

Now for the Tach, if you use a after market tach and want to get rid of your factory one its EASY, once again remove the speed trim, plastic cover, and the screws holding your tach in, pull your tach/oil PSI out, Now take off your tach needle. use a BIG socket (ie 1" or bigger) cover up the drive hole with tape, and set it over the oil PSI area, now take a can of satin black spray paint and paint away (you can sand the old tach #'s off if you want but i didnt and you cant see them).... once it drys remove the socket and re~install, not you got a oil PSI gauge and no factory tach (2 tachs looks gay lol) here is a pic of my cluster i got the left turn on so you can see the red indicator and you can kinda see my blacked out tach and my after market tach

 

I dunno...I wouldn't want a flashing red light on my dash. Maybe just me, but I see flashing red, I think warning light.

 

Idea: Colored LEDs might work just as well, and the color won't fade after time like the bulb "condoms" do.

 

I dunno, I actually like the thought of a red turn signal. But I have a couple of red 194 bulbs I'll put in there, I might try it tomorrow...

 

HCR.......a word on the red194s, if the are bulbs the red dye wears off fast and they turn pink, the bulb condoms i have on mine have been on it since 2003 and are still deep red color, bulb condoms or RED LEDs are the way to go for the best color

 

hhmm thanks. I haven't done it yet but I will this weekened. Hell, I might add both the red bulb and condom....

 

This is unbelievably harder to pull of in a Trans Am. (or just a firebird)

 

why is that?

 

It may be different after they changed the gauges a little in 86, but I doubt it. The transparent green film that the light shines through is more or less bonded to the back of the plate with the blinkers and high beam light. So you really can't just pop anything off, you need to scrape it off. Very carefully.

 

so thats diffetent than mine, because all i had was a green transparent "disk" that was glued to the plastic housing, my high beam is in my speedo, but i know T/A's were different so.....just wondering

 

hhmm, when I get to my interior work this weekend, I guess we'll find out...

 

Any luck changing the turn signal indicator out on your T/A

 

bumping for more to see

 

wow, I guess I never checked this thread again... well I never got to changing those bulbs...seems they are greatly recessed in a Firebird dash and you either have to 1. get skinny needle nose pliers and fish the bulb out or 2. take out the whole gauge cluster and remove the bulb sockets...and I haven't done either, I guess I got side tracked with other projects!

 

you remove the cluster to get access to the bulbs. It isn't all that hard, but it takes some time. you have to remove the lower dash panel, lower the steering column about 3/4 of an inch by loosening the two 13mm bolts that hold it up, remove the insturment panel trim (7mm screws), and then remove the 6 screws (also 7 mm i believe)that hold the guage cluster in.

 

I think you did more than you had to.....I had the dash pad off already, so it might have even worked just fine with it still in place...I never pulled the lower panel off.

I pulled the gauge cluster trim cover, then the 6 screws to pull the cluster out of my GTA. Several times, no problem. Tilt the steering wheel down, the cluster pulls out, with a little tilting. No steering column drop needed.

 

hello all,

here is what I did a while ago,

red #194's in back of all my gagues and also in the turn signals. I just poped the green housing off and left it off since the cover emits (sp?) a red light too.

I have not seen any fading yet. Only thing I do not like about it is that it isn't bright enough sometimes. ill take pics later and post em up

 

I wasn't able to get them out without lowering the column some. If i recall correctly, I had the column tilted down but the cluster was hitting before reaching the column joint. I'll give it another try next time though. thanks for the info.

 

I agree with Stephen, I think it'll be easier with the dashpad off...

 

I went ahead and took my guages out last night... you have to either lower your column or remove your dash pad to get them out (on a firebird). I personally would rather lower the column than risk damaging the fragile dash pad, but either one should give you enough room to pull it out.

 

I'm going to bring this thread back, because it seems like a good idea that doesn't get done very often. Having 2 tachometers really bugs me too.

However, I am going to replace the HVAC control area with a mini gauge panel for my oil pressure and water temp, so my tachometer can go directly over where the old one used to be. I'm also going to use gauges that don't "stand out" as much as the white face one 89RS_82Z used. I'm going to use a Nordskog Viking series tach, and Autometer Z series gauges for the temp and oil pressure. Those should blend in well with the interior without looking tacky I hope, since they have a black bezel and backing.

 

yea no crap, i wanted a black face, but get this, the price on the white face couldnt be refused, it was FREE!!!!

BTW , im fixin to cahnge to blue LEDs or blue bulb covers on the turn signal indicator

 

You can't beat free

I'm on vacation without access to my car right now or I would check for myself, but how about how much size difference is there between a 3 3/8" tach and the stock tach/oil pressure combo? I don't want to butcher the dash too much if I can help it . I really hope it's about the same size.

 

im not sure, my tach is actually hanging infront of the old one, i do know you can easily see the oil PSI with no problem

 

Well, I finally got off my *** and checked, and the factory tach is 4 1/2". Since I'm relocating the oil pressure gauge, I think I'm going to put one of these in:
http://summitracing.com/search/Depar...r/?Ns=Rank|Asc

These are 4" diameter, so they should look decent in the stock location. Not sure which one to get though.