froggymike Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 When we last saw our hero, Murphy the 87 T-Wag, he / she was itching to change the instrument cluster backlight from green to orange. I went to the J Yard yesterday to hunt for an 85 - 86 digi-dash and a bunch of orange bulbs. Found one and pulled the dash from an 86 GL-10. Three plugs appear compatible; the one in the center is not. When three of the four are plugged in, you can make out the numbers and stuff on the console, I am willing to bet that the fourth one controls the backlighting as it doesn't work when not plugged in. Also, I don't see any hint of a turbo indicator on the dash. When I found the dash I figured the car was a turbo since it was a GL-10 and all GL-10's are turbos. FOOOOOOLISH SAMURAI!! Of coarse I have now learned, thanks to the wonders of the search function, that not all GL-10's were turbo'ed. Here are the questions that I have. 1. I am deducting that the 86 dash is LCD which requires backlighting to be visible. Is this correct? 2. Did they make some LCD dashes without a turbo indicator built in? 3. Does anyone have a pic of a functioning 85 / 86 digi-dash so I can see what the properly lit display looks like? 4. Can someone tell me what my fourth question was? I forgot!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 86 fwd gl-10 came as spfi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 When it gets dark tonight I'll take a pic of my GL-10 Turbo Wagon. I think the display is florescent, but not 100% on that. I know the 83/84 digidashes are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 As far as I know, all digital dashes were vacuum florescent. LED's would not be bright enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggymike Posted September 8, 2005 Author Share Posted September 8, 2005 WOW! I didn't realize finding little red light bulbs to replace the little green light bulbs from the instrument cluster would be so difficult / impossible. I have a couple of ideas to MacGeyver the thing: A) I could paint the clear bulbs red. I know there is a way to do it, or... Use ultra-bright red LED's instead. That would definitely add to the coolness factor, though I would be the only one who know just how cool it is since no one else would be able to see that there are ultra-bright LED's in the cluster. Also, I talked to the Subaru parts counter guy I always go to, and he will see if he can get me the FSM wiring diagrams for the 85 and 87 dashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggymike Posted September 9, 2005 Author Share Posted September 9, 2005 Last night I continuity tested some of the circuits on the 86 digi-dash (the orange one). I think I picked a dud because many circuit are grounding out that shouldn't be; both contacts where the light bulb plugs in, for example. If that turns out to be the case, I may stick with the old green dash, but change the backlight scheme to a VW blue on red. I'll be pertty busy this week-end so I don't know when I'll get to it, but I'll post pics when I'm done. PS. I haven't gotten hold of the FSM dash diagrams yet, and am not sure I will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now