DIY: blue glow needles!
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Ive got a 6th gen civic, im doin my gauges and center console deal amber/orange. At the moment ive taken out the gauge cluster, got some spray paint, and painted the bulbs that had the condoms(great name) on them orange, let em dry overnight, then flip em over and am doing the other side. It looks great, just make sure, if 7th gen civics are the same, that you cover the connectors, otherwise its a ***** to get back in. Also, I ordered the amber lights for the center console from honda, part # 79609-S02-A01 if anybody is interested.
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Rep Power: 0 Me? if so definately, i painted the bulbs with orange instaead of red and im letting them dry until tonight, ill post it up when i get it taken. Also, once i go to the honda dealer in a few weeks and put the console lights in, ill post some pics for ya.
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Rep Power: 0 Argh, im havin serious problems here. I got the bulbs back in, looks nice, but i tried prying out the needles to clean the red off of them and 2 of them snapped off, i mean the metal part snapped like halfway down, good thing it was only the fuel and the hot/cold gauges. Alsoooo, my rpm and mph gauges dont seem to be responding, before they would like say i was idling at 3k and going 40mph just sitting their, dnt know why. Gosh i feel like such a dumbass. If i can just fix the rpm and mph ill be fine for the time being. What to doooo.
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From: NV
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When I pulled mine, I put them back the same way and all of them worked fine. For the broken ones, maybe you can glue them on once you're done for good.
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Rep Power: 0 when you pulled them did they come all the way out including the metal rod. Some of mine did and some of mine didnt, im not sure how im going to glue the 2 broken ones b/c the proken metal rod is down i nthe little plastic white deal and i cant get to it, maybe put some glue on the end of the broken piece and set it in their? Gosh i feel so freakin stupid.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 Maybe. I don't know how different they are. My needles have a hollow plastic ring that you slide over a metal rod. The rod is part of the cluster circuitry. So if there's enough space to glue them together, it may work. The needles are light and don't need much force to turn. Use some of that sealant glue that's clear and dries hard in 24hrs.
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Rep Power: 0 Ive decided im just going to buy a Si gauge off of ebay, cause its never going to be as vibrant as i want it if i just paint the bulbs. SO yea, ill lay down like 200 on a gauge cluster, im so pissed at myself.
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From: North York, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 0 I thought I'd give an update on my gauges, since I haven't posted in several weeks. I started my project in March of this year and what can I say - it's been quite the experience! Definitely a learning curve involved in figuring out the best way to evenly illuminate my cluster and needles. I'm currently about to start my last and hopefully final modification.
If you followed this thread back in March, my original plan was to illuminate every number and character with its own LEDs. I did just that, and as TeLLy can attest to, my gauges are really bright. They're ridiculously bright in fact, so much so that I usually drive with the dimmer switch cranked all the way down. I originally planned on illuminating the RPM red-zone with white LEDs, and the red lines "ticks" on the temp and gas gauges with white LEDs as well. As it turns out, it was almost impossible to prevent white light from escaping into the blue-zone of my gauges. So, I decided to make the numbers 7 and 8 on my tach, along with the RPM red zone, light up with RED leds. Same goes for the "H" on the temp gauge and the "E" on the fuel gauge.
I'd like to say I'll put up a DIY, but I think that would be pretty impractical. I've taken lots of in-process pictures with my digital camera, but overall, I've probably spent in excess of 80 hours working on my cluster, the ventilation controls and other switches. So, the DIY would be like 30 pages long and I don't have much time to do that. What I can do, though, is put up all my pics and offer assistance with questions.
I received my last order of LEDs (the red ones I needed) from lsdiodes.com (I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SITE!) earlier this week. I'm hoping to finish things up this weekend, but I'm also installing oil pressure and oil temperature gauges so that may take more of my time...
PICS to follow...
If you followed this thread back in March, my original plan was to illuminate every number and character with its own LEDs. I did just that, and as TeLLy can attest to, my gauges are really bright. They're ridiculously bright in fact, so much so that I usually drive with the dimmer switch cranked all the way down. I originally planned on illuminating the RPM red-zone with white LEDs, and the red lines "ticks" on the temp and gas gauges with white LEDs as well. As it turns out, it was almost impossible to prevent white light from escaping into the blue-zone of my gauges. So, I decided to make the numbers 7 and 8 on my tach, along with the RPM red zone, light up with RED leds. Same goes for the "H" on the temp gauge and the "E" on the fuel gauge.
I'd like to say I'll put up a DIY, but I think that would be pretty impractical. I've taken lots of in-process pictures with my digital camera, but overall, I've probably spent in excess of 80 hours working on my cluster, the ventilation controls and other switches. So, the DIY would be like 30 pages long and I don't have much time to do that. What I can do, though, is put up all my pics and offer assistance with questions.
I received my last order of LEDs (the red ones I needed) from lsdiodes.com (I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SITE!) earlier this week. I'm hoping to finish things up this weekend, but I'm also installing oil pressure and oil temperature gauges so that may take more of my time...
PICS to follow...
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From: ARIZONA
Rep Power: 448 need help...
how do i remove the board from the plastic housing for the power-window panel??
ive got it all apart, but i cant seem to get the board out due to the power-window lock button...
does this button pop off or something??
(if it makes a difference, its a 4-door)
how do i remove the board from the plastic housing for the power-window panel??
ive got it all apart, but i cant seem to get the board out due to the power-window lock button...
does this button pop off or something??
(if it makes a difference, its a 4-door)
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Rep Power: 0 Falken, the plastic top of the window lock button can come off by pulling it up. I'm not sure if there's much difference between the coupe and 4-door, so you might want ot ask gearbox on this one as I can only speak for the coupes. You may want to go to Honda and for a parts diagram that shows all screws and pieces that come off.
Originally Posted by FALKEN
need help...
how do i remove the board from the plastic housing for the power-window panel??
ive got it all apart, but i cant seem to get the board out due to the power-window lock button...
does this button pop off or something??
(if it makes a difference, its a 4-door)
how do i remove the board from the plastic housing for the power-window panel??
ive got it all apart, but i cant seem to get the board out due to the power-window lock button...
does this button pop off or something??
(if it makes a difference, its a 4-door)
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Rep Power: 0 man, illuminating every single number with its own LED, thats gotta be unreal man, but its gonna look awesome in the end. Ive got my a/c unit and the whole center console out at the moment and am awaiting next thursday when i go to the honda dealer and pick up my new bulbs for them. Once i find a Si cluster on ebay im gonna ****** it up b/c they seem to be really really rare.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 If they're the same as the newer civics, you should be able to pull them out. Just grab from the bottom with your fingers and pull straight up. I don't know what might happen with the calibration or anything. But usually if you take them off and put em back the same way, it should be fine.
Thread Starter
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 Is it possible to glue it back on? Usually the needle has a plastic tube that goes over a metal rod sticking out of the cluster. I can't say for sure because I don't know the older design.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 If there's room, you can try and glue it together. Or maybe some sticky tape so long as it doesn't wobble. The needles don't weigh that much. I would put some cement glue around it and then tape on top of the needle to hold it in the center. In 24hrs, it should be solid.
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From: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 295 dude, when I was trying to pull my needles off I had the exact same problem. It felt as if I was going to break everything, including the needles + the metal. It requires a tight grip under the needle and a pressing motion. It will hurt your fingers alot but it worked for me.
Gear has removed his soo many times that they are more loose then a goose.
Gear has removed his soo many times that they are more loose then a goose.
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From: ARIZONA
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UPDATE AND NEW DIY--POWER WINDOW SWITCH (Blue LED)
**This was by far the hardest part of this entire DIY. I got so frustrated trying to do this. You need alot of patience to get it right. The pics are just to see how stuff comes apart. Most of it is either held on by tabs, clips, or screws. The door panel does not need to come off to get the window assembly out. You will also need very thin magnet wire to set everything up. Thicker wire won't fit between the two halves of the assembly. One of the hard parts is to make sure the driver window switch works mechanically after putting the LED inside. The LED must be shaved down alot for it to fit. I just cut out the factory LED that was in there.
Now here is the wiring part. I found out which two wires have to be tapped for ground and power. The ground on the plug is the black wire that my finger is pointing to.
The positive wire is the yellow one where my finger is pointing. I stripped a small section of each thick wire and then wrapped magnet wire around it to make the connection. Just be sure and tape everything up.
Just don't forget the 680ohm resistor before the LED to reduce the power coming in. I forgot and had to do everything all over again. You can imagine how pissed I was.
**This was by far the hardest part of this entire DIY. I got so frustrated trying to do this. You need alot of patience to get it right. The pics are just to see how stuff comes apart. Most of it is either held on by tabs, clips, or screws. The door panel does not need to come off to get the window assembly out. You will also need very thin magnet wire to set everything up. Thicker wire won't fit between the two halves of the assembly. One of the hard parts is to make sure the driver window switch works mechanically after putting the LED inside. The LED must be shaved down alot for it to fit. I just cut out the factory LED that was in there.
Now here is the wiring part. I found out which two wires have to be tapped for ground and power. The ground on the plug is the black wire that my finger is pointing to.
The positive wire is the yellow one where my finger is pointing. I stripped a small section of each thick wire and then wrapped magnet wire around it to make the connection. Just be sure and tape everything up.
Just don't forget the 680ohm resistor before the LED to reduce the power coming in. I forgot and had to do everything all over again. You can imagine how pissed I was.
it wasnt that hard for me to do
(i just desoldered the stock LED and then soldered in the new one)
Thread Starter
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 Blue leds use a different resistor than stock for the LED to last a long time. I bet yours will just burn out faster. Oh and now my wiring got messed again. I had to reach in and push stuff to make it light up again. lousy electronics 
Thread Starter
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 Pics are all there. If your connection is slow, you might not be able to see them all. Try looking in my ride gallery for some.
