I was hoping that someone could post up a picture of the stock cluster at night. From what I've seen, the needles aren't that bright, are they? Has anyone found a good way to make them brighter?
What kinda cluster?
mabe you have a burnt out bulb or bulbs
Any of the full buttstuffog clusters.
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=13543&page=5
LED bulbs can help a bit...
also something that helps is giving the inside of the the cluster a good coat of reflective paint. my 84 cluster the inside that the lights were supposed to reflect off was dull white. i gave it a coat of that chrome paint and it was much brighter with the factory bulbs. also i could get you some pics of my cluster at night with the lights on for you if you would like. it is an buttstuffog cluster.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s188/ipsd1/Whitefacesinweb.jpg)
it is this cluster though. probly not what you want unless you have an 83-84
Gently sing off the white paint from the underside of the needles (speedo and tach), then spraying them with flourescent orange model paint, seems to help quite a bit as far as visibility. Several people mentioned that before, and I've also done it myself...it's a nice mod. The other needles are a lot tougher since the bi-metal composure of the gauge means that you can ruin them easily.
I don't know if these photos will help you or not. But in real life the effect is pretty close anyhow:
(http://www.coolcats.net/fox/images/86xr7cluster.jpg)
(http://www.coolcats.net/fox/images/88xr7cluster.jpg)
Wow whats up with that first cluster. Pre-production concept or something?
1986 XR7 production cluster with boost gauge.
EDIT: Actually you may be right...the tach lists "10, 20, 30" etc. instead of "1, 2, 3" etc. Ford is notorious for using pre-production or prototype parts in their brochures, which is where I got that photo. Also, we know that the top photo is not correct because it appears that the ammeter is actually working. ;)
Sorry about that, my bad.
Yeah, and the speedo has ticks up to 100, as well as just looking slightly different all around.