I bought some replcment LED bulbs from
www.superbrightleds.com they are a direct replacment for the VW/VDO bulbs. The ones in the VDO guages(oil press, oil temp, etc) are brighter than the ones in my 914 guages. I feel this is due to the fact that the VDO guages have a white housing and the 914 guages have a black housing. I still need to pop the 914 guages apart and paint the inside of the cases white, but I think it will make them as bright as the small VDO guages. Then I can turn them all down a bit with the dimmer.