OK, in the ensuing palaver while we were fettling the 80" I neglected to post any images of what I had done to illuminate the dash binnacles.
So here we go starting with the Speedo:
This is actually the easiest, I used a sticky backed strip of SMD warm white LEDs stuck around the circumference of the bowl so that the diodes are just in front of the dial, but obscured by the diffuser.
This was fitted and found to be extremely bright on a pure 12V feed but finally I could see my speed in the dark. I did find that I actually have a dash lights on/off switch on the dash too, but that the contacts were highly unreliable.
Fortunately I had in my old toolbox another similar switch so when I got round to illuminating the other dial I fitted that at the same time.
Anyway, along with Sputa I got round to work on the gauges binnacle. I left the gauges in the wiring loom and simply removed the housing from the dash.
The housing however is completely different to the Speedo and is actually very shallow. I started by trying to stick a strip of Sods around the circumference of the Ammeter/fuel gauge area.
Unfortunately as you can see the strip was wider than the depth of the binnacle, this prevented the glass plate from fitting back on so I could not reassemble it.
I then had a slight rethink, the clearances are quite small but I realised I could fit 3 small SMD assemblies onto the spokes between instrument voids.
I then had to link all the strips and insulate the terminal, a quick test, and back together.
I then refitted the binnacle to the dashboard, bolted in all the gauges and wired it up to the supply from the switch.
Bingo !
As already mentioned however the LEDs on plan ersatz 12v are extremely bright. In order to dim LEDs rather than reducing the voltage you actually need to switch them on and off fast, then reduce how long they are on for. This is done with a Pulse Width Modulation circuit.
I did have a circuit diagram from a MERG newsletter but I ended up buying a ready to use unit from eBay. I then supply the PWM module via the dash lighting switch, then feed the LEDs via the PWM which allows me to dim the dash lighting successfully.
And yes I decided to common the earth from the LEDs back to the PWM rather than straight to earth just in case the PWM caused any strange issues.