Glow Guages

[2Fast_Fiero]

I'm replacing the stock bulbs in the new Dash Pod with Blue LED's. The same ones you see on some cell phones these days, that deep sharp blue glow. I will post pictures hopefully tonight once I finish. I'm on bulb 2 of 7, then I need to make custom ways to insert them into thier sockets.
WILL POST PICS WHEN DONE!!!

[SiR]

I gotta see them!

[2Fast_Fiero]

Ok, I have 2 pictures, but the quality looks like shit. There's something wrong with my camera. I'm about to messege Jim to see if he knows whats wrong.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pb9135804af6efeda8482c821e4a96472/fc74e5a7.jpg.orig.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/p418e1b3e977596ded87d2b02583ed421/fc74e5a6.jpg.orig.jpg

[TitaniumSun]

how did you manage to get the light to only come from behind, and what lights did you use, and if thats not the 89 dash what is it? basicly.. HOW HOW HOW THATS BADASS!


Dave

[2Fast_Fiero]

My 87 Guage cluster is messed up, so my guy at Downtown Imports had an 89 Coupe in the back. He sold the cluster to me and I found out how different it was. There's more area's for lights on the 89. You have to be creative when you do these also, and you have to have patience.
I started out at Radio Shack and bought 7 5MM Blue LED-2600MCD Bulbs (PT#: 2760316), and 2 Packs of 330 OHM 1/2 W Resistors (PT#: 2711113). Total Cost= $31.65.

Then when I got home, I cleared an area on my desk, pulled out the soldering Iron. On the bulbs there is one wire longer then the other, thats the + side, the shorter is the - side. I cut the wire from this little line on the + side, and on a resistor I cut most of one side off, but left enough for me to solder the two wires together. Now what I did was, I held the wires on top of each other like == that, DO NOT SOLDER IT LIKE --. If you do, the hold will be weak, and you will need them to hold to each other like its the end of the world. Then once I was done with all bulbs, I cut the longer wire to be as long as the - side. Now you know which one is + because it has a resistor soldered onto it. Now you must pull your guage cluster, take out all the bulbs, and take the bulbs out of thier sockets. You are gonna have to use these to mount your bulbs. Next I took the bulbs to the grinder and I sanded the tips down realy close (NOT TOO CLOSE) to the light peice. This helps spread the light more evenly. Trust me you want to do this, or parts of your guages will be brighter then the others. Now I had to shove the bulbs as deep inside of the sockets that I could. The resisters can easily go inside of the middle hole in those sockets, so what you should do is bend the wires from V to A....so when you push the bulbs inside of the sockets, they hold onto something, what I did also was cut the wires short, so when they went inside the socket, they gripped the metal sides. You are gonna have to be creative on this. I don't think these are detailed enough, but I will also give you the link to the forum that helped me. Next your gonna have to plug in your dash pod into the MAIN HARNESS, not the others cause you will have to move it around, bring a big jacket or something so you can throw over your head to get rid of the light. Now your gonna have to find out which bulbs are not turning on, and make them turn on, they are most likely not making a good enough, or not making a connection at all with your dash pod power. I'm sure you can figure this out as well. Then you will have some bad ass LED Glowing Guages. You can use ANY color LED's that you want, but they have to be a 2600MCD 5mm LED. I used blue.

REMEMBER I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE YOU COULD/MIGHT CAUSE TO YOUR CAR and DASHPOD. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND KNOWLEDGE PLEASE.

But if you do them, you won't be sorry. They look just like the new cell phones that glow that sharp lighted blue. I will post the forum that helped me out in the next post.

[2Fast_Fiero]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5282

I will be replacing the other bulbs in the near future. (Center Dash, Mirror Button, Roof Button, Light Flip Up Button, Dim Control, Rear Window Defog button)

[shepherd79]

somebody should post this in HOW TO section.

[2Fast_Fiero]

Someone should type it up to be detailed, then post it in the How-To section....I didn't say it good enough. So if someone understands me, please go ahead and rewrite it for the How To Section.

[2Fast_Fiero]

If anyone wants to post it in the How-To...use this picture. Here's a new picture.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/p1644094d0a0024d25dccfdd80858a53f/fc737007.jpg.orig.jpg