I've been getting around to modding my combination meter (Speedo and other gauges) in my TJ to give red writing, with the standard black background (a la BMW). I'd love the white background, but I don't want to mess with taking the dials apart until I'm out of warranty :)

I've got red led's and high brightness white led's, with corrrect (hope so!) in line resistors, but was wondering if the red would light up the dash enough, through the white writing, when I saw these...
It seem the TL VRX was black writing with backlight off, and red with the back light on! Therefore, if I buy TL VRX globes I'll get nice red backlighting while not putting in a non-geniune part (no warranty probs)!
I've attached some pics I've gleemed from the web that support this - Anyone out there with TL vrx, can you tell me if I'm talking crap?
i.e. is it red because it is a white backlight shining through a red membrane, or a red backlight through a clear membrane?

I've followed all the recent discussions about moding the backlight that have come up in the last few months (there have been many), but no one is trying to do what I want yet. I'm also being delaying pulling my dash apart until I know if its is going to work.
I've read the TL doesn't use globes, but leds. Are these removable?
Cheers

Replying to myself :nuts: :)

In case anyone else was curious, I thought I'd post this. Had a look today at the dealers when I booked a service, the TL speedo numbers are not transparent, they appear dark red until they are lit up, so the backlight I assume is white. Looks like it's $438 (trade) for a new cluster, plus a speedo recalibration done by the third party (to adjust the odometer). Even the mitsubishi guy seemed suprised that it was possible to do that (even on one out of another car)

If anyone is interested, Eddie wreckers in Adelaide has a TJII VR-X dash for $350. I was tempted...

This probably isn't much help but I tried the red backlight thing in my TJ a while ago because I too wanted the Beemer look :D. I did it by simply removing the existing light green bulb covers and replacing them with some red globe covers for about $2. It was slightly duller than the standard green but looked great imo. However, the backlight started to go a rusty orange colour over time as the bulb covers faded from I presume the heat of the bulbs. So I went and purchased a set of dark blue ones however the backlighting is a dark green. Looks ok though. But yeah the bulbs are coloured and shine through a white/clear dials.

This probably isn't much help but I tried the red backlight thing in my TJ a while ago because I too wanted the Beemer look :D. I did it by simply removing the existing light green bulb covers and replacing them with some red globe covers for about $2. It was slightly duller than the standard green but looked great imo. However, the backlight started to go a rusty orange colour over time as the bulb covers faded from I presume the heat of the bulbs. So I went and purchased a set of dark blue ones however the backlighting is a dark green. Looks ok though. But yeah the bulbs are coloured and shine through a white/clear dials.

Cheers for that! I'd seen some other people had problems with globe cover fading, but dull illumination wouldn't matter as much on the centre console, as it would on the speedo at night :) . I'm fired up now - I'll try it with the high illumination LED's (I'll post pics when I get it done).

has only one done it to a series II TJ??? popped the lid off a ralliart cluster theres no access to globes behind it the front is 1 piece its lit up with surface mount leds????

has only one done it to a series II TJ??? popped the lid off a ralliart cluster theres no access to globes behind it the front is 1 piece its lit up with surface mount leds????

Bugger! I have a TJII - there did seem to be conflicting reports on wether it had bulbs or leds. until now... :cry: