How to do different color gauges by simply changing cluster bulbs.

Post by **spooled240** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:07 pm

I did this a while back and I didn't think it was too difficult but I had a few people ask me some questions and wanting a write up so I tore into it again to take some pics. This was done on my s14.

Difficulty: *Time: 30-45 minutesCost: The price for 3 wedge type miniature bulbs (approx. 1-2 dollars each at some stores)Tools: stubby philips, regular philips, channel locks(optional), iPOD(optional).

Please note that this job is not very complicated but it takes patience and diligence like every job dealing with plastic interior pieces and clips. You do not want to start breaking things

1) The first thing you want to do is to take off the top half of your steering column case. This is done by removing the four screws at each corner on the bottom half of the steering column case with the philips screwdriver. Once all the screws are out, gently pry the top half off using two hands. The top should come apart and you can just set this aside.

2) Ok so you have the top half of the steeing column case out, now you are going to want to remove the plasic trim around your instrument cluster. The first thing you are gonna do is remove the two screws at the top of this trim piece.Now you will want to CAREFULLY pull this trim piece out with your hands. It should pop out of some clips.You will need to unplug the dimmer switch on the left side of the trim piece by pushing a small tab on the white plug.If you can unplug it with your bare hands, great. If you can't, then you can use a pair of channel locks and carefully push the tab and wiggle it out.Just to save time, you will not need to unplug/remove the wires on the other side of the trim piece, you can simply rotate this trim piece clockwise towards the passenger side and rest it on the shifter/radio area.

3) Now we will remove the actual instrument cluster, which is done by removing 3 screws shown in the pictures.*Repeat this for the other sideAnd then the top screwOk now you will not need to unplug the instrument cluster, the wiring harness is long enough so you can flip it around.These sockets twist off counter-clockwise, where you can go ahead and change the bulb to whatever color you want or LED's. I chose red just to trip on it, but generally any "wedge type" miniature bulb(#194, #161, #158, etc.) will fit in these sockets so there are many options as far as color goes.Assembly is the reverse-process, remember not to over-tighten the screws-just a snug fit will do.Good Luck!

Post by **ThuG LyFe** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:13 pm

whoa thanks man...

i remember when i tried to switch my gauges w/ a SE model...only took out the 2 screws on the cluster w/o removing anything else and i thought i was dumb. didn't know you had to remove all that just to get cluster out.

i woudln't mind trying this...maybe with bright white or something.

Post by **spooled240** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:19 pm

no problem bro, yeah even that steering column case has to come out because the trim piece will not come out safely, it felt like it was gonna break trying to squeeze through

let me know if you guys have any questions or if I may have missed something.

Post by **Gabes13** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:22 pm

sweat

Post by **sebazztard** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:29 pm

spooled240 wrote:no problem bro, yeah even that steering column case has to come out because the trim piece will not come out safely, it felt like it was gonna break trying to squeeze through

let me know if you guys have any questions or if I may have missed something.

it comes out without having to take off the column trim, just make sure its in the lowest position. it feels like it will break, but it wont. ive done this at least 13 times ****in with my burnt main harness haha. nice pics tho, first time ive seen it look alright.

Post by **redclaw05** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:33 am

sweet i am gonna do this today.

i cant stand white, blue or green on my cluster only red because it does not hurt your eyes.

Post by **stephen240** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:32 am

DUDE WTF!!!! I was doing a write up for this, plus needles, and HVAC...

Nevermind now...

Post by **s14tan** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:14 am

I have white LEDs in mine but one of the bulbs went out..

Post by **DMan II-40** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:50 am

stephen240 wrote:DUDE WTF!!!! I was doing a write up for this, plus needles, and HVAC...

Nevermind now...

2 slow? lol. I'm still interested in the needles actually. I just did blue LEDs in my car, and it looks cool but it doesn't light up the middle needles or the redline very well. I'm trying to buy another gauge cluster to make a better system for changing the colors of the numbers buy using a colored film and white leds or white bulbs.

Post by **Nacho_240** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:58 am

stephen240 wrote:DUDE WTF!!!! I was doing a write up for this, plus needles, and HVAC...

Nevermind now...

I'm interested in seeing that needle write-up too. And I think there's already a write up on the HVAC bulbs around here somewhere.

Post by **sebazztard** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:16 am

needle write up would be ok. thats really whats missing when swapping colors over. you cant see the needle at night.

Post by **spooled240** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:54 pm

DMan II-40 wrote:
2 slow? lol. I'm still interested in the needles actually. I just did blue LEDs in my car, and it looks cool but it doesn't light up the middle needles or the redline very well. I'm trying to buy another gauge cluster to make a better system for changing the colors of the numbers buy using a colored film and white leds or white bulbs.

try using an led bulb with more of a "viewing angle" meaning the light will shine on sides more instead of just the top. LED's usually like to shine light in one narrow direction, the stock light bulbs as you can imagine shine light in all sorts of angles.

stephen240 wrote:DUDE WTF!!!! I was doing a write up for this, plus needles, and HVAC...

Nevermind now...

lol, just continue where I left off. After removing the instrument cluster....(your cue)

your sig is EPIC btw, I love it

Post by **DMan II-40** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:32 am

the bulbs i got have five LEDs. 4 facing out, one brighter one on top. so its got full coverage.

Post by **sldewyz** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:58 am

yea ive done this a few times on all my s13's....i like it. i also found it easier to get the huge trim piece out if you lower the steering column an inch or two. idk if that helps anybody but it definately helped me.

id like to see the needle light set up too. mine is alright but id like more.

stephen240 great sig

Post by **spooled240** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 6:18 am

DMan II-40 wrote:the bulbs i got have five LEDs. 4 facing out, one brighter one on top. so its got full coverage.

that's weird, they are a lot brighter than the stock filament type bulbs but I don't have any dim spots or anything. You might want to check if they are all lit up.

sldewyz wrote:yea ive done this a few times on all my s13's....i like it. i also found it easier to get the huge trim piece out if you lower the steering column an inch or two. idk if that helps anybody but it definately helped me.

id like to see the needle light set up too. mine is alright but id like more.

stephen240 great sig

My steering column is all the way down and the trim piece still felt pretty tight to take out, Id strongly recommend removing that top half of the steering column shell just in case.

Post by **BrianHarte** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:09 am

From my experience, the cluster trim is WAY easier to take out of a s14 as opposed to a s13.

I just did mine on the s13 and just broke it because it was WAY too hard to get out.

Lowering the column seems like a good idea though. Didn't think about it at the time.

I had some Yellow Raybrig bulbs in my s14 cluster. Looked pretty cool.

Post by **S13xCrazy** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:05 am

BrianHarte wrote:From my experience, the cluster trim is WAY easier to take out of a s14 as opposed to a s13.

I just did mine on the s13 and just broke it because it was WAY too hard to get out.

Although you say you don't cut corners, it sure does appear as if you do.

It takes another 5 minutes to drop the column so you can pull it out with NO interference what so ever.

Post by **BrianHarte** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:12 am

I ended up dropping it later to take some other stuff out later. I giess I know for the next time now. thanks.

I'm pretty sure I have never said I cut corners.

Please - don't steal this thread away from the original purpose.

Post by **spooled240** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:17 am

maybe I'll add some pics and a quickie walk-through to lower the steering column for the noobs, you can't ever be too helpful (well i guess you can, but not on nico )

I don't have tilt btw, and I like my wheel low so I was stoked when I found out I can adjust it.

Post by **BrianHarte** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:20 am

But you don't have to lower it for the s14.At least, I didn't when I had mine.

When I did the different color bulbs I always wished it had a seperate bulb just for the needles. That would be VERY nice.

Post by **spooled240** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:35 am

a few people are telling me that it isn't necessary, my boost gauge bracket was in the way so that just complicated things.

that needle kit from import intelligence does look awesome, I may have to get that sometime

Post by **slipknot555_666_69** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:44 pm

ok i was wondering if anyone thinks that blue leds will look good with the factory gauges

Post by **sldewyz** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:58 pm

slipknot555_666_69 wrote:ok i was wondering if anyone thinks that blue leds will look good with the factory gauges

check my sig above and u can make ur own choice......unless u have an s14

spooled240 wrote:
My steering column is all the way down and the trim piece still felt pretty tight to take out, Id strongly recommend removing that top half of the steering column shell just in case.

yea i removed that whole casing around the ignition. remove that, the kick shield, then drop the steering column then take out cover.

Post by **i240sx** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:03 pm

wow yours are bright red...i bought mine from auto zone.they don't have that red only oranges red.where did you get yours bulbs at?

Post by **slipknot555_666_69** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:12 am

where did u get your bulbs at i havent seen any that bright

Post by **shmex** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:11 am

I agree with all who is saying write up for needles! I have blue lights, and a green clock. Very good LEDs from superbrightleds.com or something around thata way....s13 seemed to me a bit more complicated to change bulbs then s14. Never had an s14, so I wouldn't know....s13 is eaassssy though.....I've taken that damn cluster out like 5 times....hahaha.

Post by **BrianHarte** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:13 am

took my cluster out again yesterday to fix it.finally got it good to go.props.

posi rep+++

Post by **spooled240** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:37 pm

i240sx wrote:wow yours are bright red...i bought mine from auto zone.they don't have that red only oranges red.where did you get yours bulbs at?

I got mine at autozone lol. Mine aren't super bright but I have the dimmer switch all the way up, maybe the camera makes it look brighter

*I recently changed my cluster bulbs to some amber ones being that I am a light bulb whore, but it looks pretty cool. I'll get a pic up later

Post by **Caboose-1** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:29 pm

spooled240 wrote:

Gotta say I like the look of this picture here! Thanks for the write up and the pics.. I'm going to get on this asap!

Post by **spooled240** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:30 am

no problem man, but I hear s13's are a little different..some say it's easier but I can't say.

I love that pic too, it's in my avatar

How to do different color gauges by simply changing cluster bulbs.

How to do different color gauges by simply changing cluster bulbs.

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