Changing Cluster Colour

[canadian357]

So I've searched and I found a thread on some gauges bitesize did a while back where he switched everything to blue LED's on his cluster, but I didnt really see a lot of depth in terms of how it was actually done. I know there's the green paint on the back of the cluster that needs to be removed before anything can really be done. Thats about it. I've also seen some mixed reviews on painting the needles. So, my question is, how is it done? You have to solder new led's on the actual cluster, right? And how would red turn out? Would it come out red? I'm at a wall in terms of whether I wanna go white like our 07 accord, or red to match some of the other accent lighting in my car. Or even amber like the 3rd gen lude, but I dunno if I like that with red accents. And was it NS or Denso gauges this could be done on?

[2drSE-i]

Can't remember which gauges it can be done on, but heres the basics.

Remove the cluster, on the back you will see a bunch of little brown bulb holders. You may solder new LEDs into those, as opposed to directly to the cluster. It isn't exactly necessary to remove the green paint (which is actually on the rear of the gauge faces) but it does give the LEDs a bit of tint. I put Blue LED's in mine and it just gives the blue a very minor green tint.


Now the problem with using LED's is that they create a very narrow beam of light, meaning much of your instrument cluster won't be illuminated. This can be avoided by sanding the bulbs down a bit, creating some diffusion.

[Civic Accord Honda]

go to superbrightleds.com order the #194 bulbs and #74 bulbs from them in the color of your choice! but thats not all first i must tell you something about our clusters!

the clusters that say NS on the front have green plastic infused inside of the gauge faces, which is fine if you want to go blue you can just order blue leds and your set! but if you want any other color you must have the cluster that says DENSO on it they have clear guage faces and you can change it to white red blue pink orange what ever color your body desires

so if you have an NS cluster and want another color other then Blue or Green then go to the junkyard and find a Denso cluster!

btw if your car is fuel injected you MUST get a cluster from a fuel injected car or else it throw a code for VSS and has no check engine light, (but a fuel injected cluster works fine in a carb car)

[canadian357]

Perfect. Thanks. I'll double check, but I think my carb'd car is the one with the Denso cluster. Do I need to buy resistors?

[canadian357]

So I just pulled the faces off the Denso cluster from my carb'd car to see what I was dealing with... and I saw this.




Are you sure its not the NS cluster that can do different colors? That plastic is blue throughout.

[canadian357]

Here's another picture, NS tach on the bottom, and Denso tach on top. Also, the NS cluster bulb holders are brown and the Denso ones are black, if that makes any difference in telling which cluster this is possible with.



EDIT: Duurrrrr I'm a dumbass. I forgot you had to sand the Denso gauges. All good! I'm gonna try to use my existing Denso faces on my NS cluster. Updates to follow!

[Civic Accord Honda]

you dont have to sand the denso should be fine htere is a little bit of blue on them but i think that just defuses the light or something here ya go i got some pics hold up

[Civic Accord Honda]

my old NS cluster with blue LED





and heres my denso cluster with the little bulb condoms removed (came out a soft white would of been bright white like the newer accords if i would of used leds instead of factory bulbs)

[canadian357]

Oh well, I already sanded them. Even just holding them up to the sunlight, they look awesome. I'm ordering my leds now

[Civic Accord Honda]

sweet post pics when u get the leds in

remember u cant put a carb cluster in a lxi tho as i see u have 2 3gees

but the faces might swap worth a try

[gtmst3]

go to superbrightleds.com order the #194 bulbs and #74 bulbs from them in the color of your choice! but thats not all first i must tell you something about our clusters!)

ok i know you said which ones but i cant find them i typed it into their search and it gave me like 10 different bulbs and there expensive so i dont want to order the wrong ones so could somebody post a direct link to the bulbs please??

[canadian357]

You need ~5 of the 194s, and around 10 or so 74s I think. On the top toolbar there go to car bulbs and it has them there.

[gtmst3]

another question im replacing the leds in my heater controls and was wondering what leds to use do they have to be 12v or what??

[canadian357]

Use prewired 12v ebay leds, from what I understand.

Anyways the faces arent a direct swap. It's requiring some dremel work. But, thanks to a fancy new camera, pics and a detailed how to are soon to come!

[LX-incredible]

Use 4 or 5 leds per bulb holder, spend the time and it'll come out nice.

Both sets I made have no dim spots.

[gtmst3]

Use 4 or 5 leds per bulb holder, spend the time and it'll come out nice.

Both sets I made have no dim spots.

how did you get the heater letters like vent, hi-lo heat etc. to light up like that? because i know just replacing the wedge base bulb wont do that.

[stat1K]

he added leds to everything since he's such a ricer!

[canadian357]

Use 4 or 5 leds per bulb holder, spend the time and it'll come out nice.

Both sets I made have no dim spots.

Do you mean individual 5mm bulbs, or those T10 bulbs with 5 leds pointing in different directions?

Love the setup there by the way, exactly what I'm going for.

he added leds to everything since he's such a ricer!

Oh man I'll show you rice. Wait till I post some cavalier pictures tonight. I hope you like blue.



Has anyone changed the clock color?

[fogged]

love the looks of the dash lights.

[import racer]

Those heater controls look great,how hard is it to do?

[Civic Accord Honda]

rice pics were never posted. your a dispoint.

[canadian357]

rice pics were never posted. your a dispoint.

I'm hurt by what little faith you have in me. Thats cold, man.

I'm just waiting for him to come over tonight so we can build some boxes, then I'll blow your mind with an overwhelming amount of blue lights and clear plastic HVAC knobs.

As for my car, taking the bulb condoms off leaves a fugly peach color. So, I'm waiting on my ebay leds. I can post pics of my prelude rails swap to tide you over if you want seeing as how nobody has actually said how to do it. At least that I could find.