Hi Folks.

Just a quick on here for those who are using the original style speedo's and are fed up with the pee poor light. It might of been OK in the 60s but I for one can't see anything, even with LED replacements for the standard bulbs I decided to go one step further.

PS! I didn't take a lot of pictures doing this, sorry!

For this you will need a 30cm length of Flexable LED lighting. eBay item number:232461912109

Looks like this:


A flat head screwdriver, some crimps terminals and thats it! You will need to completely remove the speedo from the car to do this.


You can pick and choose loads of colours but I went for a cool white. A warm white might look a bit more original as its on the yellower end of the scale, or you can go all out and get an RBG to have any colour you want... bit too much for me.

I went for an LED strip that had a black backing, as it would blend in well with the style of the dials.

To open up the speedo you can pry off the outer retaining ring and it will pop out. It comes with the glass face and a sealing boarder which on my speedo was black coloured. You can keep these for later.
On the reverse of the speedo undo all the small flat head screws and remove the fuel sender resistor, the fuel gauge. With them out the way, start to wiggle out the speedo gauge from the casing.

With the dials out, nows a good time to clean em with your favourite cleaner. Also it might be a good idea to put a little lube on the plastic gearing for the odometer. From here remove some more screws if you want your car mileage to mysteriously alter itself... but you'll need to figure that one out... 

Now position your flexable strip of LED's inside the outer edge of the speed housing. Most LED strips have self adhesive backings but mines weren't sticky enough so I opted for PVA glue. that way if I ballsed it up its not on super strong and should come off easily.

I laid out the strip to begin just under the oil light and wrap around anti clock wise to the 10mph. This leaves you a little dead zone around the warning lights so they can still stand out and not get overpowered by the LED's. You can see in the picture below the first LED is directly under 90mph. There are small metal clips on the dial which help keep a bit of pressure on the strip. It's as if VW knew this was possible.....



I ran the wires from the strip outside the housing where the fuel gauge slots into. As this is plastic I felt that it wouldn't crimp the wires when put back together unlike trying to squeeze them through the original bulb holders and put the bulbs back in place. I didn't want to drill any holes as I wanted this to be as simple & cheap as possible

Fettle with the dial face when re-inserting it into the housing and use it to press the flexible strip against the dial edge and housing. It creates a small amount of pressure to hold it in place. I tried to get the LED's (little yellow squares) just in front of the dial, but even if they were half covered you'd get an amazing result.

You can now glue the LED strip to the outer metal housing once you are happy with the position of everything. You only need a little bit as the pressure from the dial and housing is just enough to hold it, but the addition of a wee touch of glue should prevent it from coming loose with vibrations etc. PVA will give you plenty of time to adjust it all in place before it dries.

Once it's dried put the black boarder in place, glass and then press on the training outer trim. Secure all the gauges with the screws and adjust the LED wires so they are not crushed when securing the fuel gauge back into place. The vdo gauge is made from plastic so is a bit more forgiving when tightened down but don't go mad.

Now crimp the wires. I chose to crimp on a small U crimp to the ground and slotted it in with the fuel resistor screw. The positive has a standard terminal crimp, so it wont require any modification to a standard loom.

Once your done it creates a nice effect, a good spread of light onto the dial face. The boarder piece also helps prevent the LED's from shining directly at you. It makes a nice seamless edge where you couldn't tell anything was added unless you really look for it. I think the black style led strip helps keep this "stealth" look. I think the white strips would be noticeable, but not much as the boarder piece really hides the LED strips quite well.




Hope it helps, sorry for the lack of pictures

Excellent, I was interested in doing that a while back. Might have a look at those LED's on ebay.

Good conversion 

For anyone else looking at this one, make sure you get the encapsulated strip like Apmaman has used as it helps prevent moisture getting in too

Are LEDs dimmable for those with the later light switches?

Not easily unless you start messing about with resistors and a switch

Thought so Dave, just couldn't remember, dimmer circuit easy enough to bypass but something to be aware of for anyone (like me) who is going to copy this great idea. .

the dimmer switch will give you an on/off function for them should you feel the need to have full control.

the dimmer switch will give you an on/off function for them should you feel the need to have full control.

thinking about it more inclined to keep the existing lights on the dimmer so I can switch them off if in a lit area and use the leds or use them if the leds are too bright in the pitch dark and fit a small inline switch to the leds

best of both worlds

Or put another half strip in there connected to the dimmer circuit   

Or put another half strip in there connected to the dimmer circuit   

That's a thought

The RGB flexable strips that have the little remotes do have that feature, as well as controlling the colours. You can do basic colour phase changes or strobes. But then you need a remote, or some kind of blutooth app. A bit too much for me but the possibilities are endless!

A strobe speedo, no thanks. Will look for colour change ones to match my other instruments and will have to do the tachometer I am fitting as well

Stop telling me things it keeps getting more complex

What could possibly go wrong with a strobe speedo? 

The remotes use a little IR receiver like your telly but the remote needs to point at it in line of sight, so not the best for in buggy madness. Blutooth ones are obviously better and controllable by phones.
I have seen RF controlled ones too but they are not as readily available and I guess would be clunky to use compared to an app on a phone?

My instrument set roll through a colour change sequence on their own. If I can't find something like that it will be one colour

A video of the LED speedo 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y8Z-8gdYCcI