mrchris1979

I've been able to succesfully convert my 89 gauge cluster to LED to closely match the Autometer Cobalt gauges. I found a supplier that sells direct LED bulb relplacements. To get the needles to a more red color the top bulbs will have to replaced with red led bulbs. There are a total of 8 bulbs that will need to replaced with LED units. If anyone is interested in this DIY let me know and I'll get you the info. Note that the red accent is much more brighter in the pics but it is not that bright in actuality, just enough to give the needles a red glow. There are a few LED colors to choose from to suite your design including blue, super white, red, amber, green and UV. For anyone that wants a more vibrant cluster without the white gauge look or backlit designs I think this is a great option. Click on each image to enlarge.





Parts List:

1. http://autolumination.com/74.htm (Scroll down and use 74 LED Bulb)
2. http://autolumination.com/194.htm (scroll down and use the 5 LED Bulb)
3. http://autolumination.com/fixtures.htm (scroll down until you see "Slow speed LED or non blinking light strips". Order 1 set of the NON BLINKING STRIP. This will be used for your top lighting for the needles)

Order any color combo you want. I used blue LED's for the backlighting and the red LED light strip for the top/needle lighting. The best way to get the most illumination for your needles is to replace the top bulbs with the light strips. I'll show you how I did mine below. If you do not use the light strips and just replace them with LED bulbs, they will be very dim so to get the best effect you must remove the top lighting and use the light strips. The main difference on the 88 and 89 cluster is the wiring of the top bulbs for the needle illumination. The 90-91's I believe are exactly the same. All the clusters use the same size bulbs as specified in the parts list but it is the quantity of bulbs per cluster that differs. Just figure out which bulbs light up the numbers or areas of the cluster that you want to change to LED and replace those with either the
194 LED (bigger bulb) or the 74 LED (smaller bulb)

Here are the two types of bulbs that will be used and the light strips shown as installed. Click all images to enlarge.



89 CLUSTER

Uses three 194's (bigger sockets) and three 74's (smaller sockets) to light up the numbers and the fuel and water temp section. I suggest not replacing any of the warning lights or the signal beams to LED unless you really want to.


When replacing the 74 bulbs you will have to trim a little bit off the cluster socket holes with a razor blade because the replacement LED's are slightly wider at the base so it will not fit in there if it is not trimmed. Do not cut into the circuit and do not use a drill bit as it may catch into the circuit and rip it apart. Just keep trimming until you can get it to fit in there.


For the top Ligthing remove the existing top light fixture and cut the two wires as shown. Leave enough wire from the gauge cluster so you can connect the light strips to them. Save the part you removed in case you want to revert back to stock.



Remove the orange lens and replace with a very thin piece of clear plexi that is cut to fit just like the orange one. You will need to use a dremel tool to get some of the curves needed. You can use a dab of hot glue or adhesive on the corners of the plexi to secure it into place.


Position the LED light strips with the flat side facing downwards on the plexi and apply the adhesive strips on the ends of the strips so that it does not obstruct the lighting. I mounted the light strips this way because it was dimmer on the flat side. The other side is way too bright and also rounded so figuring out how to mount it was a pain. Once you replace the cluster cover you will not be able to see any of the LED lighting leak through so don't worry about it. Determine which of the two wires from the cluster are 12v and ground. Cut the wires to length and then soder or crimp the strips as shown.


Tuck the top wires nicely and test out the bulbs. If some don't work chances are the bulbs will need to be flipped around or the socket needs to be repositioned.


That's it for now, I have a few pics of the 88 and 90-91 cluster to load up and post here so I can show what the differences are but basically all these clusters will go through the same process. The main thing with this mod is really getting the top lighting so the needles will be illuminated properly. If you follow what I did above you will get same results as I did. Another thing about this mod is that the 74 LED bulbs are only available in direct beam unlike the "5 LED" 194 bulbs which disperses the light better. You will notice that some of the numbers are slightly dimmer but once the top LED lights are on it actually helps fill in some of the dim spots.

88 CLUSTERS



The main difference is the power source for the top lighting. Notice that there are no wires supplying voltage to the bulbs instead it is from an extension of the green circuit board. You may have to cut this part off to eliminte the stock assembly. An option to power the light strips is to tap in to the circuit as shown. Use the proper
sized connectors and add wires. It is labeled IGN and GRD if you look at the circuit closely. The downside to this is the top lights will only turn on when the key is switched to IGN.









Modified by mrchris1979 at 1:10 AM 9/25/2006

Got_soy

looks cool reminds me of my VW

Got_soy

please post a how to

gator88

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Got_soy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">please post a how to</TD></TR></TABLE>
please please please post a how to!!
i want different look for gauges but not reverse glow cause i am sensitive to lights at night and this looks friggin great!! what was ur cost total?

kixcrx

its eazy all u got to do is take off the top cover and unscrew the light bulbs and change them the light bulbs look like black things that you just turn and it comes off

Steri

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kixcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its eazy all u got to do is take off the top cover and unscrew the light bulbs and change them the light bulbs look like black things that you just turn and it comes off </TD></TR></TABLE>

What? You don't unscrew the light bulbs in the cluster. To remove the actual bulb you just pull it out. I don't think your sentence makes any sense at all?!?! Elaboration is the key to clarity.

1 Fly SI

So which led bulbs did you use?

kixcrx

same **** u just unclip the light bulb with that plactic thing

si_zc_civic

who is your supplier?

ic

pretty sure he got them here.
as did I.

http://www.superbrightleds.com


I hate the 'downlighting' though. It's hard to make that part look good.
I found that red painted incandescents work better than the LEDs for the 'downlight' bulbs. The LEDs are too focused and don't light the needles as well.

I like what you got goin' there with your 'cobalt' conversion though. Looks nice.

square_1

Haha, all the cop cars in my area got an LED light bar conversion. It is a super tiny thin light bar but it is vibrant as all get up. It looks awesome. I love seeing them pull people over because the lights look so amazing. Hopefully I just won't have to see them in my rear view mirror though as all these cars also have radar that can be used while they are driving. Blah!

mrchris1979

Sorry for the hold up everyone.. I'm finding out that there are a few variations between the 88-89 and 90-91 gauge clusters that I did not notice before particularly the top lights for the needles. I'm revising the write up right now so I can cover all years of the EF gauge clusters and also waiting for the supplier to send me the original invoice so I know exactly what size bulbs I ordered. The LED's are specialty bulbs and a few of them actually disperse the light in a wider range not just directional. A good thing too is you actually just replace the bulbs with LED's straight into the socket. No need to worry about capacitors and such, it's already integrated with the bulbs. I should have the write up ready in a day or two so hang tite. The total cost for the bulbs plus additional parts was $38.00 shipped. It's not too expensive and looks great. I'm getting a lot of PM's too about this mod so I may get a group buy together and maybe we can all get a better price if the order is large enough.

Wraith

i used to have led's in my gauge cluster , but i didn't like how the light didn't disperse evenly.

QuarterMileMaster

Subscribed!! Waiting on the write up. I want to do this to my GSR cluster that I'm putting in my EF. I assume it'd be similar...

solorex

Any updates??

QuarterMileMaster

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solorex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any updates?? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I'm gonna be doing this to my autometer gauges and shift light as well...

Magick211

Wow, looks really good. Cant wait to see a writeup

1 Fly SI

so you still haven't posted where you bought the bulbs.

QuarterMileMaster

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pretty sure he got them here.
as did I.

http://www.superbrightleds.com


I hate the 'downlighting' though. It's hard to make that part look good.
I found that red painted incandescents work better than the LEDs for the 'downlight' bulbs. The LEDs are too focused and don't light the needles as well.

I like what you got goin' there with your 'cobalt' conversion though. Looks nice.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This place has all you need.

The Hooligan

i used blue leds in my gauges and cluster and had a vafc 2 and it was pretty kickass.

SRCRX

LOOKS GREAT

melloman

updates on the How-To please

-melloman

143MYVTECEF

Bump...waiting

eda6

could you post a pic with the "downlight" bulbs disconnected/removed? thanks

1 Fly SI

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by QuarterMileMaster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

This place has all you need.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks man