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If you want the LED gauge look, and dont want to do all that ridiculous work gearbox did, then this is for you!
By the way between this and my other DIY it seems I really like to take other people's ideas and build on them. So hopefully my work and ideas can make your modding MUCH easier.
Here is what you will end up with, in any common color:
What you will need:
Phillips head screw driver
Flat head screw driver
Small, <3" long, phillips head screwdriver
Needle nose pliers (not required)
13 LEDs in #74 bulb socket
10 .2" bulb covers
2 thumbs are necessary, preferrably all 10 fingers
Dremel with sanding drum OR sandpaper
Super glue
Links
LEDs in #74 socket can be bought from Super Bright LEDs. They are $1.79 each, which is over $1 less for each bulb and socket than a crappy non-LED bulb from honda.
They are listed as "T1.5 Instrument LED bulb" and come in white, blue, green, red, amber, and UV.
NOTE: The bulb covers are NOT necessary, but they do help diffuse the LED's light a little bit. For less than $2 its not a bad buy, but you do not need to get these either.
Ok so we got those things. Now what do we do?! Procedure:
START BY TAKING A PICTURE OF WHERE THE GAS GAUGE IS, AND MAKE SURE YOU CAR IS COOL!
Start by removing the gauge trim. To do this take your small phillips head screw driver and unscrew the 2 screws directly above your gauges.
Pull out the trim piece. If this is the first time it will take alot since its glued on at the bottom by the steering wheel column.
With that removed, you will see 3 screws. 1 above the gauges, and 2 on the lower sides. Remove these screws.
Gently pull the cluster towards you, and tilt it downward. Remove the 2 plugs.
Remove the cluster and take it inside for surgery.
From the back of the cluster, take off the clear cover by pushing in and up on all of its clips.
Repeat for the black trim overlay.
Now we have a naked cluster. Good! Remove the needles. BE CAREFUL. You will want to put 2 fingers on the needles, and pull gently STRAIGHT up. Do not
turn the needles or tilt them. Pull straight up.
Now remove the plastic circular pieces that were under the needles and put em in a safe place.
Remove the gauge faces by pulling them out (self explanitory.)
Look on the back of the 2 gauge faces. We need to clear off that "filter" that goes behind all the letters and numbers for all 4 Gauges. Its printed
directly on the back of the faces.
Take a knife, or you can try an alcohol rub, and scrape/wipe off the filter on the back of the gauge faces. You will know when you are done because you
will see the outline of the numbers and letters through the face now.
Repeat for other gauge face.
Hold both up to a light source to see any missed spots.
Finish removing filter, and clean off back of gauge faces with rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.
Put the gauge faces back on the gauge cluster. Put the clack circular pieces back over the faces to keep them in place.
Now we have to clear the needles, unless you don't want to see them at night.
Flip over the needles and look at the underside. That middle cylinder of gray-ish plastic is its own piece. You need to remove it. It helps if you pull
straight up with needle nose pliers.
Repeat for other 3 needles.
Remove the needle from the black needle trim piece by tilting up upward and pulling it out from the bottom.
Repeat for the other 3 needles.
Take your sandpaper or sanding drum on the dremel and lightly sand the top and bottom of the needles. You will remove the red on the tops and the white on
the bottoms. Be careful not to sand too much. Also dont worry if they look rough, from a foot away they will just look more white and thats fine.
Now we gotta get em back together. First put the needles back into the black needle shrouds.
Use the superglue to get the bottom piece back on (the piece with the cylinder that attaches to the cluster)
Let it dry for at least 30 mins so if you have to remove the needles again it wont come apart again.
Now this is the hard part... Getting the needles back on. To do this plug the cluster back in, with it still opened, and turn the car to "on", but do not
start it.
Look at where your gas gauge was before. Gently put the needle back on, pointing to the exact same spot.
If your car is 100% cooled down put the temp needle pointing to the top of the C. You should know where it goes.
Now RPM and speedometer are a pain in the butt and will most likely take a FEW tries. With the car off, but key at the "ON" position, line the needles up
with the lowest mark, and gently push it on.
If the needle goes all the way down give it a tug to get it about 1mm - 2mm above the gauge faces. If its all the way down it catches and jumps around.
Annoying!
Turn on the car and take it for a test drive with it all opened up. Get above 40 mph, and above 4k rpm and then pull back home and turn off the car. If
your needles are sitting just above the lowest line you gotta take em off and do it again till you get it right. Good luck, this took me a few tries!
I found that the easiest way to get them in right is turn the car off after driving and then take the needles off. Turn it back to "on" but dont start it
yet. With the car like this line the needle with the top of the plastic stop and push it on, THEN move the needle to the left of the stop. That should do the
trick.
So we got the gauges all ready, now we gotta get them lit! Immediatly unplug the gauges and cover the cluster back up with the black and clear covers so
that you cant knock them out of calibration again. The hard parts are now done. From here it is smooth sailing!
Now get the cluster out and look at the back. You will see a bunch of big black plastic bulb holders and in an auto a few small green ones. Don't touch
the green ones!
Remove the black bulb sockets.
Take your #74 LED sockets and place a bulb cover over all but 3 of them. You get 10 bulb covers and have 13 LEDs; perfect!
First you will want to put in the 4 LEDs in the top middle. The top most 2 are the turn signals, and the middle is the high beam light. The bottom of the
4 is an actual backlight. The 3 LEDs without bulb covers go in the top 3 spots. They dont need bulb covers.
Plug the cluster in, and check to make sure the 4 work. If 1 doesnt, turn it around.
Do this for every other hole with all the other bulb cover'ed LEDs.
Plug it in and check it to see if they all light up. Check to see you have all the backlights, odometer, cruise, turn signals, high beam, and key lights
working. The key light is the one that flashes when you turn the car on and off. Its the icon of the key with a chip in it.
If an LED doesnt work, revearse it. Remember the function of a diode, light emitting or not, is to only allows voltage through one way, so if it isnt working its backwards.
So everything is basically done now. Plug the gauge cluster back in and put it back into place.
Screw the top, black screw in about 1/2 way to hold the cluster in place. Start the bottom 2 corner screws. Tighten the top screw all the way.
Tighten the bottom screws all the way.
Put the trim back into place, and screw it in with the 2 screws.
Enjoy
Finished Pics. Day & Night:
On - day
Off - day
Unfortunatly I dont have any progress pics. So I made this as detailed as possible. As always, if you have any questions you want answered before or during an attempt at doing this mod, PM me! I will reply as soon as i get on my computer! Rep and comments appreciated.
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HAHA they are spent tires from a NASCAR event. they are 15" wheel but the tire is about 4" diameter too wide to fit on a civic!
They are going to become an end table one day when I get glass cut for them
so these leds replace (plug and play) those OEM halogen bulbs behind the cluster?
they replace the OEM bulbs that light the cluster. halogen, I don't know about that part. But yeah they are 100% plug and play. Check the link and look for yourself. Why would I lie after all the work of writing this?
for the person wanting to make it red, you can use bulbs due to the qualities of the light spectrum. I just did one and it looks very red and bright. I'm selling it for $100 if you want. its an 01 auto with black face. Just gotta clear the gauges and then put red transparent tape.
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Do I need to buy the "T1.5 Instrument LED bulb" or can i just buy a #74 led wedge bulb.....can't justify the $30 shipping asked by superbrightleds....looking for local supplier...
Do I need to buy the "T1.5 Instrument LED bulb" or can i just buy a #74 led wedge bulb.....can't justify the $30 shipping asked by superbrightleds....looking for local supplier...
you can just get the wedge bulbs but i figured its better to have them in the socket already so im not fumbling around with them. but yeah you can do that. and shipping was like $5 for me.
