I'm not sure if there is a replacement lens for them or not. Mine were blue and I ended taking them out completely and don't regret it at all! Now I can see the gauges at night and white light is fine for me, as I'm not that particular on colors.

 

The only way to get replacement lenses is to buy the whole cluster back assymbly and put your old gauges and cluster front onto it.

However, The #194 bulbs come in a variety of colors.

#194-R (Red)
#194-NA (Amber)
#194-B (blue)
#194-G (green) Stock color. This color will give you the stock look back to your gauges, and work better than the stock light filters that were present on the cluster back.


Remember mixing color of light is different than mixing color of paint. The primary colors of light are, Red / Green / Blue. RGB. Anyone having a modern TV may have heard of RGB connections and those are also the three primary colors of light. Mixing all three colors, Red, Green and Blue makes white light.

The blue filter lens on the cluster is just that. A light filter. It removes all or most of the blue light, and most of the red light as well, leaving you with green light. It's really called a Green Pass filter. This is also why if you paint your gauge needles non-flourecent colors such as standard red, orange, or blue, they wont show up and look black. The color of light is absorbed by the needle and nothing is reflected back for your eyes to see. If you paint the needle regular green, it will reflect back that color. Now if you paint the needles Flourecent colors, such as Flourecent Red or Orange, Flourecent colors give off their own energy and glow from any light source, even source of light we cant see.

This is also why the blue fillters on the instrument cluster dims the light of the 194 bulb two/thirds even when new from the factory. Remove the Red and Blue Light from the white light, and you are only left with 1/3 of the brightness it once was. Then when the lens becomes even more clouded over the years, it blocks even the green light from passing through and it gets dimmer yet.

Hope this helps explain what's going on.

 

81,

So if we remove the green pass filters as others have stated, then we install a desired light of our choice out gauges are illuminated in that color? Would it be possible to route the wires behind the cluster so that they are illuminated from the rear?

 

if you pop the filters out how do you get them out, take the front off?

 

remove the cluster and push them out they are garbage once clouded

 

just did it, its WAY better. but i would like to put some colored bulbs in it.

 

here is a link to the picture i took... its blurry but as you can tell you can read the dash lol. i think im gonna buy some colored bulbs though.

DSCN2737.jpg picture by screwdriver_03 - Photobucket

 

Correct. If you install red bulbs they will glow red.

They actually are already illuminated from the rear of the gauge. The back of the gauges are white, and the front cluster cover, (that also covers the gauges) is white on the back also. The light from the bulbs reflect the light simular to a mirror, off these white surfaces to shine light on the front of the gauges. If this white surface is dirty it will also keep the light from reflecting and reaching the gauges. If it was an actual mirrored surface it would reflect more light and be brighter.

There is no way really to move the lamps so the light shines directly on the front of the gauges.

 

Thanks a bunch!

 

You -might- be able to find a decent set of green-pass filters that aren't faded if you dig around at junkyards. I picked up a tach cluster earlier this year and the filters were in pretty good shape. Compared to my truck's original ones, which disintegrated in short order...

I ended up removing the green filters and I put red 168s in most of my cluster. I have two 194s to the left of the speedometer (I'll eventually put in 168s), and 168s on each side of the tach, as well as in the socket between the small gauges. 168s are a little brighter than 194s but still work fine in a stock cluster.

Despite what the first pic suggests, the gauges light up a nice deep red color, not pink. The numbers and needles reflect the red and appear to glow, which I didn't expect.




Just this past Monday I was coming back from out of town and was driving on the interstate at night, and I can tell you this, red-lit gauges are very nice to have at night. It helps you keep your night vision somewhat....plus it just looks awesome. lol

 

as you can tell form my blurry picture i don't have a "real" RPM gauge. how hard would it be to put one in, or would i have to change the whole cluster? i know its off topic but still.

 

Requires a cluster swap. Pretty straight forward for an 81-86, but 1980 has a 1 year only cluster wiring and printed curcuit board.
Don't dispair though, it's still rather easy to swap in the newer cluster. I've done it myself on an 80 model, using an 85 cluster.
To use an 81-86 cluster in an 80 model, you need the cluster (of course) and the dash face plate (upper row of lights differ), then you switch 2 wires in the plug (#17 & #18, if I recall correctly). The plug is even number coded for convienience.....

Easy way to determine 80 cluster from 81-86. 80 uses a green printed curcuit, 81-86 uses a red one (may be faded to look brown-ish).

 

To install a tach just requires the gauge and the proper circuit paper. Found at a junk yard most likely

 

Yup, 17 & 18. Here's the link where I got the info:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post8685268

 

Wow.... What a blast from the past....