I am about two weeks behind in getting this offer out; but I wanted to wait for a couple of the people that supplied me broken gauges to perform the procedure before releasing it to the general public.
Let me start off by first saying that this is not an “Upgrade Kit” being offered. It is more of the procedure on “how” to upgrade your dash lighting and “where” to get the proper bulbs. The reason for this is I found it impossible to purchase the bulbs in any quantity at a reasonable price. The LED’s are sourced from various sellers in Hong Kong via eBay. They sell the same bulbs for a wide range of prices, but use the postage as a price fixing element ranging from free shipping with expensive bulbs to cheap bulbs with expensive shipping. They all refused to deal in any quantity with reduced pricing.
Those of you who have looked into upgrading the Smiths gauge lighting know that all the instruments are an easy upgrade except for the Tachometer; and there are 3 versions of the tachometer in use. So that’s what I have developed - a fix for the Tachometer lighting along with supplying information on upgrading all the lighting in all the instruments…
What you will receive is an 11 page instruction manual. “Eleven pages !!!” Fear not, the document contains step by step instructions with lots of photographs taking up a lot of space on each page. And it also has 4 pages of information not related to the actual upgrade procedure; for example: a full page of bulb source information, a page explaining why the gauges are so dim. And a page outlining the dimmer switch removal, I have a lot of development costs into this project not to mention time. And you should know that everyone who supplied me a broken gauge, etc. has received a complimentary copy of the upgrade procedure too.
The best thing is that this procedure is valid for any manufacturer’s chassis (Cobra Replica & GT40) with Smiths gauges. My goal was to use “White” colored bulbs to replace the yellowish incandescent bulbs standard with the gauges. Being “white light” and not the yellowish tinted light in itself makes a big difference. Various colors (untested) are also available if you prefer.
What I propose to do is to only cover my development costs for this project (~$100). Postage, test LED’s and misc. pieces and parts. So I’m offering the procedure to everyone, delivered in electronic format (a PDF file) for a $5 contribution or $5.25 with payment through Paypal.
ALL PROCEEDS BEYOND MY DEVELOPMENT COSTS WILL BE DONATED TO THE LONDON COBRA SHOWS CHARITY.
Some photos of the final results are posted in my Club Cobra Gallery. Please note: The tachometer used in the example photos has a rusty face because it was underwater in hurricane Katrina. A tachometer in good condition will look more even in its light pattern from top to bottom. Updated photos will be posted with a new tachometer mounted in its place. Tachometer and speedometer pictured are using the standard upgrade bulb with the optional bulb being even brighter. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
(My Contact info is below - same email address for Paypal)
www.clubcobra.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/71192/ppuser/15212