Ok, started my led project, here are some pics

[talontsiawd]

to get all the kits from ledautomotive is over $100 simply ridiculous

Well, you have to realize that you are really just paying for information. What bulbs are needed, what resistors are needed, and install guides. It's not like they make their leds, so that's where the profit is. And that's why i did it myself. Because it isn't hard if you have done some wiring. Plus, certain things i wanted to do differently as well. To me, there prices are pretty reasonable if you are clueless and not willing to try to figure it out. Or don't have the time to.

 

[talontsiawd]

Ok, on to part two. The white part. So i took apart my bezzel to see what's inside...

I took apart the a switch, bingo, blue diffuser.

Took it out on two for a quick comparison.

Now we have white.

 

[ryan s]

Well, you have to realize that you are really just paying for information. To me, there prices are pretty reasonable if you are clueless and not willing to try to figure it out. Or don't have the time to.

yeah, the prices are ok if you dont have the time to fugure the stuff out, but i was curious to see how much it would cost, and wow...electronics definitely aint that hard.

looks like youve got a good start on the gauges. im curious to see what you do with the speedo and tach needles to make them light up evenly.

 

[talontsiawd]

Now here is where i ran into trouble. Lets look at how the fan is set up

You can see the blue on the inside.

So what to do. I tried alchaol at first. Nothing.

Then i went with 1000 Grit sand paper. And ****....

Went right though. So that sucks. The good part is, i have a throw away peice to experiment. This will be good for when i get to the guages.

Whole cluster white:

It's very white now. I almost like the blue better, lol. The light isn't as well dispersed now though. Not bad at all, but not as good as before. It is brighter though.

Went pretty well except for that little mess up. I guess i'll be on ebay now.

 

[talontsiawd]

I'll be updating it as i go. Next thing is to get the blue off my fan control and get the light dispersed evenly. Maybe even tonight if i decide not to study, lol

 

[talontsiawd]

Ok, so i tried to do the best i could at salvaging the fan switch, didn't work. So now i'm thinking, just try to find another one and just make it blue. It will match the buttons on my hu and sort of match the other side with the temp. I'm pretty frustrated. Very frustrated actually. Makes me really fear the guage cluster.

 

[shavedaccord]

Alcohol won't don't it..try finger nail polish remover..I think sketch_05 said that works..on the needles atleast

 

[talontsiawd]

Disclaimer-You can really mess up your needles here if you are not careful. Be sure you have some idea of how to get your needles right afterwards before your proceed


Ok, so after a good and a little bit of a bad experience, i figured i'd start my gauges.

First, you are going to need to keep track of the needles as they will be removed. First take a pic of your cluster. Make sure you are at temp, your ac is of, your idle has returned to normal, ect. Don't drive either, or you gas gauge will be off.

So take a reference pic

The one thing that doesn't need to really be perfect is your temp. With new cars, its either normal or overheating. Mark it but you can really just stick it back where it's supposed to go.


Now take your lens off and mark everything. I used white out. It's hard to get exact so take pics of every needle.

You can see my mark for the gas gauge is a tiny bit off. But i know that the needle should line up with the top of the mark.

Now, a pic of the guages apart

Carefully pry out the needles. I used a fork, works well. Honda needles are wierd, they go all the way down, longer than other cars i've done-see pic. so be very careful not to bend them.
Needles off

Now slowly pry the face of. You need to use a bit of force but becareful.

Now the back will look totally white. Any blue is from the camera.

Let me move on to the next post.......

 

[talontsiawd]

Continued....
So after lastnight and ruining my climite control fan switch, i wanted to be very careful. So i started with rubbing alcohal. Well, it sort of worked. It got the white off and down to the blue.

So i tried it on an area that wouldn't show. Then hit it with some 1500 grit. Got through the blue. Check it out.

Now that was exactly what i expected. The guages are much thicker than the fan diffuser. Which is good. Except for i assumed the fan diffuser was like the guages i've done before. Anyway, it's going to be much harder to go through the face of the guage.

Did some quick sanding

Now, look at the color

 

[talontsiawd]

Ok, so a little summary. First, be very careful with needle orinatation. Get done what you can reasonably do in a day and put everything back together. Second, BE CAREFUL WITH NEEDLE ORINTATION. Ok, then, pulling apart the gauges is easy, just use the tabs, etc, becareful with the needles and faces.

Now, i'm not suprised that you can just sand the gauges, i'm just happy after messing up last night. I plan to use alchahol or nailpolsih remover for the white and then sand through the blue with 1500 grit. There is care needed, but it's going to be hard to get all the way through them. Just use common sense.

Also, with all the guages faces off, you will be able to see hot spots much better. I plan to do this tonight, atleast with the fuel and temp gauge.