06-07 led conversion progress

[bbs350z]

hi guys, i recently picked up an 06 m35x and like my 350z, cannot stand the orange instrument lighting. the 08 m's come with the luxeon white display and looks fantastic and much more updated and high end in my opinion. im currently working on getting some sets made for the m35/45

i have done a full led conversion on my z, utilizing blank gauge faces from black cat customs and it turned out wonderful.

heres a sample of my z few years back


while i ordered the right parts, i my self did not do the actual labor; which includes removing the old orange led's and soldering in new leds/resistors.

i had stopped at infiniti yesterday to get a ball park price for an 08 cluster. it came to roughly $600 for the cluster, without knowing if its even plug and play or not. factor in the cost of all the other parts needed and its well past $1,000, my objective here is to get a cost effective method utilizing our currently working oem parts. if infiti_lineup can provide me insight if the 08 cluster will work that would be great.

i had contacted al @ black cat customs for their blank gauge faces, as ours have orange plastic lettering that cant be removed just like the 350z/g35 etc. after some conversation he stated he would need 2 things, a cluster and a customer. he had sourced a used cluster for about $100, and a custom one off face would cost about $300 unless we do a group buy, which would bring the price down of course.

i also have a guy who did my 350z parts, and worked out a reletively swell price on the actual led soldering, etc. and am going to contact him about this and get a price for the total cost and hours associated with this project.

im starting a list of those interested in doing this, and am willing to eat up the cost of the cluster, as well as any other costs associated with this. the more people we get, the cheaper this mod becomes!

if your interested, leave your name below:
1.)bbs350z

[Ilya]

Is this ONLY for the cluster? None of the other lights? I'd be interested if it was all of them, but I don't want a mismatched interior.

I converted my Maxima (well, to be exact, had a couple of different guys do certain parts) from stock (white/green) to Blue/Red when I had it, but that was a full conversion (100% of the interior):

Before:

Can't find pics, but everything was the usual greenish white from the late 90's.

After:

[bbs350z]

the cluster would be the only custom part needed. the window switches will be very easy to convert, just swap out the led. the control panel portion looks to be a white/translucent so i believe that whatever color is passed through it will show.

any 08+ guys have night shots of their interiors with lights on?? trying to get an idea of the turnout

[Ilya]

If you can keep the price low enough, I would LOVE to have blue (my favorite color - as evidenced by my Maxima lol). But, I'm not paying no $1000 lol.

[bbs350z]

lol if you get the led's and can solder or have friends that can, im sure it can be done for a few hundred given materials. the expensive part is the custom faces, the rest is just tedious

[Ilya]

I can solder, but nothing that small. I fail at LED's lol. I tried it on the Maxima, hence why I sent my stuff out to get done by other guys lol.

[bbs350z]

yea if i can get enough interest i can get the price for everything down, but if its just me and you for example id eat up the cost of the cluster for them to work on, and we'd be looking at 300 for the cost of the face

[Ilya]

Keep me posted for sure.

[The00Dustin]

Is this ONLY for the cluster? None of the other lights? I'd be interested if it was all of them, but I don't want a mismatched interior.

I'm with IlyaKol on that. I read your response regarding it already. Unfortunately, I wouldn't want to do anything but simple part-swapping if I was going to do this. Moreover, I'm not sure I want to disassemble anything in my M45, I mean, 84,000 miles and no rattles, from most of the posts here, I'd guess that never happens. However, I'm definitely going to keep my eyes on this post.

[06M4.5]

final price & the amount of labor would be a factor for me.

I would love to have all the led's in the interior white.

[JasonR]

final price & the amount of labor would be a factor for me.

I would love to have all the led's in the interior white.

X2!!

[DoN_BLaZe34]

x3

[bbs350z]

There are about thirty part numbers and variances between those parts for the speedometer assy.

In order to give you an answer I need to know package do you have on your M35x —

Let me know!

if i pm you my vin could you be able to check? i know it has tech and its not sport.

figure if i can get about 5+ people i can get the price down below 300 for the faces, but theyd have to get a cluster first and r&d it, so ill buy a cluster and send it there way and see what they come up with. any other ideas/comments/thoughts you guys would like to have/see/do?

[Ilya]

There are about thirty part numbers and variances between those parts for the speedometer assy.

In order to give you an answer I need to know package do you have on your M35x —

Let me know!

if i pm you my vin could you be able to check? i know it has tech and its not sport.

figure if i can get about 5+ people i can get the price down below 300 for the faces, but theyd have to get a cluster first and r&d it, so ill buy a cluster and send it there way and see what they come up with. any other ideas/comments/thoughts you guys would like to have/see/do?

I'll write up what I want done tonight and take pics (and photoshop them to represent the idea) tonight.

[blueM35x]

I am interested!!!

[Ilya]

Here is the only way I'd be interested (if all of this can be done). I don't want to pay a fortune nor do I want a mismatched interior).

Speedometer: Red ring (where orange is), Red needles, and Blue text/display. OR, all blue.


Center Console: Blue buttons with red indicators when stuff is on like rear defroster



Door Switches:



Steering Wheel:



Shifter:



Clock/Radio:



Start/Stop:

[The00Dustin]

Hey IlyaKol
Wouldn't your interior still be mismatched? I mean forget about the compass in the mirror, that is acceptable, but the light in the door shining on the buttons is colored, and the light in the ceiling shining on the buttons in the center console is colored. Wouldn't you want to replace those as well? I guess it doesn't matter nearly as much with a dark interior, but they are accent lights that were designed to go with the color scheme in the car.

[Ilya]

Oops, forgot to post the picture of the 'mood' light. The door one may be a little harder. However, only the driver side door has the button light shining down, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Here is the mood one lol.

[bbs350z]

yea i will most likely be buying a spare control panel and cluster in case, but i will see if i can find out the type of leds in each

[06M4.5]

bbs350z

you have no PM

I would like to ask about your painted headlights.

[bbs350z]

no pm? oh ok well email me at [email protected] and ill activate my pm right now too!

[bbs350z]

06m4.5 pm fixed!!

[06M4.5]

PM sent

[bbs350z]

infiniti lineup i pmd you!

other comments/suggestions let me know!!

[bbs350z]

ump bump

[Ilya]

Too bad this will only take care of the speedometer. .

I dunno how you guys would be able to drive like that. Blue speedo and orange everything else.

[bbs350z]

thank you lineup!!!
i will most likely be ordering the new cluster then to save time and money, seeing as it will cost roughly the same to diy the cluster itself as buying a new one, which will save so much time.

Too bad this will only take care of the speedometer. .

I dunno how you guys would be able to drive like that. Blue speedo and orange everything else.

im sure you could order all the individual parts from an 08+ but thatd be very expensive. the rest of the cost on top of the cluster should just be led's, and possibly labor if you pay someone to solder them in.
the rest of the led's on the inside i believe can simply be swapped out. the window switch ones i will start with because they are the simplest, and almost identical to my z's setup. the center console control portion i believe is just clear/white buttons with orange led's and the led should shine through it. i will test it out with a colored flashlight to verify this, and go from there. everything else should be fairly simple with the exception of the steering wheel controls (as mentioned above) which i may just leave orange for the time being

*one downside* may not be able to dim these once they are done, as i cannot in my z (as far as the swapped led's-not the new cluster)

[bbs350z]

on a side not, a recent shot of my z's interior to get an idea





i believe i have remaining led's i can start swapping over

[mr_luv]

Is this dead or still active and in progress? I would be interested in doing it.

[06M4.5]

dead