Ok, started my led project, here are some pics

[6genaccord]

sick write up i just did this the other day. This was super helpful but I had a few questions:


did you have paint on both sides of your needles?

Mine do and as a result i have a strip on the bottom where the needle meets the needle base... do you know how to take the needle out of the base?

I'll post pictures next week when I get home

 

[talontsiawd]

sick write up i just did this the other day. This was super helpful but I had a few questions:


did you have paint on both sides of your needles?

Mine do and as a result i have a strip on the bottom where the needle meets the needle base... do you know how to take the needle out of the base?

I'll post pictures next week when I get home

I'm actually not happy with the way the needles came out so i forgot to post pictures. I've tried accouple things out but none worked as hoped. I'm just going to sand them and paint them transparent red, hope sanding makes them light up more.

As for getting the needle off it's base, you have sort of break them. The black (or dark grey) base holds it the needle to the clear plastic on the bottom. The needles are sandwiched inside. Basically you need to just pry them with a small screwdriver carefully. However, the needles need to be out for this so i'd only do it if you know how to get them back in without damaging them and have the ability to calibrate them (like a data logger mentioned a few times).

 

[6genaccord]

yeah taking them out and re-calibrating them wasn't as bad as i thought... i found rather then getting the angle of the needle correct getting how deep you push in the needle was most important especially for the RPM and Speedo because otherwise when you brake or lay off the gas the needles won't drop as fast.

But as far as the gas and temp... i just marked where to put them like the post said and it worked great

 

[talontsiawd]

Yeah, i actually have found that most people who truely thought they messed up their cluster beyond any point of return actually just had the needle contacting the face. But yeah, i mean, if you are willing to do them again, you can take the needle off without calibraton (just the needle) and try several methods to paint, like i am.

 

[DarkSideAccord]

i'm trying to go a white gauge and blue odometer look... seems tht the blue from the odometer is not isolated correct? i'm using the brighter LEDs, but will the use of a less powerful/less bright LED help isolate the blue from the white gauge?

btw, i'm not taking my gauges off.. i'm just gonna stick them in lol

 

[dj__mo]

the two blue lights on top what type do you need for those, was driving my friends sedan 99yr and he had those lit up, on my 00 coupe it seems i either have the lights or there fused out, and since u riding in a coupe 01-02 u have those also, what kind of bulbs to i need for those or maybe a fuse gone out?

 

[6genaccord]

ok so i said i'd post some pictures especially for roy cause he was talking about it the other day...


Here roy are some pictures of all the needles off and gauge faces.

I was inserting the mirror tape like Matt did.

Thanks again Matt great write up. helped alot.

little product placement in the last shot...



Oh and a word on calibration... You don't even need to take the needles out.

You can pull them until there's resistance to turning them either way turn them as far as you think your speedo/RPM are and then push back in... pull out a little to feel a click and let them fall to the needle stopper...

Like Matt stressed before (and as I experienced) its all about how far in or out the needles are pushed. They should be a forks distance separating the needles from the faces, but you can just feel them 'pop' into place. Make sure they move when you blow on them and you're probably good.

 

[talontsiawd]

the two blue lights on top what type do you need for those, was driving my friends sedan 99yr and he had those lit up, on my 00 coupe it seems i either have the lights or there fused out, and since u riding in a coupe 01-02 u have those also, what kind of bulbs to i need for those or maybe a fuse gone out?

With the original bulb, if i remember correctly, it has a wire going to those lights. The new bulb won't. At first i use LED bulbs that fit and wired them off one of the lights. It worked ok but the metal tabs just suck so i replaced them with regular led's and just wired them.

 

[talontsiawd]

i'm trying to go a white gauge and blue odometer look... seems tht the blue from the odometer is not isolated correct? i'm using the brighter LEDs, but will the use of a less powerful/less bright LED help isolate the blue from the white gauge?

btw, i'm not taking my gauges off.. i'm just gonna stick them in lol

I'm not sure if the odo will be totally isolated but i think it will be good enough. If not, take off the bezel and you can take like aluminium tape to isolate. You don't have to take the faces off for that.

However, it's going to be light blue if you don't get the blue filter off the guages. It looks good though. But, isolation won't be a problem as they will both be blue and the led probably won't have enough of a light spread to make anything more blue than it will already be.

I would seriously doubt that a brighter led will make anything more white with the filters on. It will probably just be brighter. That's my asumption atleast.

 

[talontsiawd]

I was inserting the mirror tape like Matt did.

Thanks again Matt great write up. helped alot.

No problem. While it's all apart, you may want to put two led's next to the speedo plastic and wire them up. It helped alot for mine. I actually drilled little holes in the difussor. Not necessary but something looking into.