✅ Why Porsche 914 Gauge Lighting Falls Short

Early Attempts — More Light, Same Problem

30 years ago (when led bulbs didn't exist for gauge lighting) I tried to make my first 914's gauges better at night by actually adding more of the factory bulbs to the gauge cans. This required drilling new holes in the case and trying to arrange them to areas(that were even possible) that would actually get the extra light out and hopefully in the right places to to make it look intentional and uniform and hopefully an actual improvement. What I found was there was no way to get it right , and only a little better in brightness and readability. I drove that car for years as a daily driver (with extra 8W bulbs in each gauge can)and took many trips and a lot of day and night driving. The greatest results of the effort was when ever a bulb burned out, you really didn't notice. Such fabulous German VDO gauges to be so disappointing at night.(at this point I had no idea they could actually look so much better not just at night but in the daytime!)

Why Traditional Gauge Lighting Was Limited

Gauge lighting was pretty much limited with low watt bulbs to keep heat down and small standard sized bases to fit into small spaces. 914 like other Porsches and higher end cars were built for car guys(and gals) and car guys wanted 'real' gauges. But 'real' gauges were a very old fashioned design and basically illumination was a bulb in a can. Cheaper cars were going to cheaper gauge movements integrated to a cheaper single large circuit board. These designs were basically using the same similar low wat bulbs but they would use clear acrylic panels to move the light where it needed to be. 914's remained using high quality real gauges but still limited to lighting that was old fashioned and just 'adequate' and nothing more.

The Limits of Bulbs and Early LED Upgrades

Experimenting with extra bulbs was actually a good idea at spreading light to and around the wonderfully laid out VDO faces but the internals made it impossible to light the faces evenly and the the bulbs were still low output and yellow light. The modern led replacement bulbs were an improvement but still suffer from location problems like filament bulbs and cant illuminate the faces the way they were designed to be seen. Uneven, light, dark, shadows. They do do well for the indicator bulbs though. New led strip lights became the way to get more bright white leds to fit inside the gauge cans. you could put in just about as many as you could imagine inside the cans, behind the face. This actually became a recommended practice and there were even some you tube videos showing how. Sadly, The result was no uniformity in brightness of the 3 gauges and light and dark areas were magnified. They sadly looked like a back yard hack job done by a kid. This was the proof that there was no way to properly back light the 914's factory vdo gauges and maintain a high quality factorey appearance.No matter how many leds or how bright they are backlighting is just not going to work. I forund that the only way to solve this is to front light the gauges. These early led strips were wide and bulky. Thet didnt conform well didnt stick well. Individual leds were spaced far apart. Trying to use them for front lighting was futile. New desidn of COB super bright led strips was an incredible advancementin led lighting tecnology. These new strips produced continuous light in a super flexible and durable strip of silicone with an impressive thick 3m sticky backing. They were finally narrow enough to fit in the ideal location to front light the gauges. Now getting the correct width of the strip, the correct color of light and the correct length and number of segments for each gage was possible.

The Breakthrough — Front Lighting Done Correctly

Getting each gauge to match in illumination was crucial to a quality intentional factory look. I had not seen any replacement led bulbs or strip lighting attempts that could do this. Also illuminating only the gauge calibration marks from 0-max on the tach and Speedo looked much better and more intentional and true to original design than simply running the led strips completely around the gauge. With the length and number of led segments figured out, all 3 gauges had equal light intensity and could now be controlled with one rotary dimmer. The final effect was gauges lighting that actually works. It a level of control that you never had before. In the morning or overcast days, with a slight turn of the knob the gauges come alive. It gave a feeling of more control, like the gauges are working fir the first time. Like they were dead and now they are alive. Every time I drive the 914's I reach for the dimmer to find a noticeable boost in light for the drive. I wired it to the ignition so its always available even when the headlights are off , also because I like to see it come on when I crank the car in the garage! For night driving it has become a true necessity in comparison to the stock bulbs. Night driving is absolutely spectacular with excellent visibility and eye appeal. It gives a totaly Porsche quality look and feel with total control over brightness. your same gauges are now alive and instead of you looking for your gauge readings, they are being 'shown' to you. Its a super satisfying upgrade that really pays off when you get behind the wheel.

For owners who want the clean factory look with maximum readability, the Porsche 914 VDO Gauge Restoration LED Upgrade Kit with dark lenses was designed specifically for real driving conditions. https://gtbarnes914.com/products/porsche-914-vdo-g...