Im making this walk thru because it came to my attention that changing the colors of the 95-99 Jbody cluster gauges is much easier than previously believed .
Any one interested in changing the color of the lights on their cluster needs only to follow these simple steps.
First, take off your dash and pull out your cluster ; DO NOT REMOVE YOUR NEEDLES
turn it over to the back..you will notice 4 green colored sockets.
now slightly turn each one to the left and pull them out
it was previously believed that you had to brake these bulbs out and resolder new ones in..its easier than that...just throw that whole socket in the trash,bulb and all.
go out to a parts store(autozone advance etc. ) go to the light bulb section and pick up 4 of these new sockets in 1/2" size..about 2 bucks each.
simply insert the new LED bulb ( size 194) color of your choice...note : i bought my LEDs from www.superbrightleds.com .. good prices and fast shipping
i suggest the ones with 1 led on top and 4 around the sides for good lighting
simply push the LED in the socket like any regular bulb and place back in the cluster where you got it
now youll need to hook your cluster back up to the car and turn lights on to make sure everything is working good..if it looks like 1 or 2 of the bulbs arnt working you probably need to take that perticular socket out,turn it around,and put it back in..then it should work
after all is said and done your cluster should look something like this....(note: these pics are not of my car but of others who have done fine work and it shows)
remember this is for the 95-99 Jbody cluster only! do not attempt these steps on a 2000 or higher..there is a totally different procedure for the newer models, and if anyone knows the easiest and safest method please post it .
thank you, now i need a stock cluster to do this. what about changing the color to red??? any thoughts
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if you want red in any year car the easiest way is to just use a SUNFIRE cluster..its already red..otherwise..just use red LED's its all the same
i so wish i knew this a few weeks ago. nice how to.
same here i had my hole dash out to fix a heater core, kinda wish i knew
This might not work on the sunfire cluster, as I think the cluster is printed with a red film behind the face. I should rather say that it will work differently if the cluster has the red film. As in, blue LED would be purple, yellow would be orange, etc.
Still, a nice mod though, and not really all that expensive for what it is.
another little hint for the HVAC as well...best way so far has been to brake bulbs to get them out..while this is still pretty affective..ive found that if i wrap a medium size rubber band around the bulb( just once to get grip) i can grab it with a needle nose and pull it out without braking it
...note: pull more than you squeeze or it will still brake. !
fpz24 wrote:thank you, now i need a stock cluster to do this. what about changing the color to red??? any thoughts
The LEDs I used weren't quite as "wide beam" as I would have liked, so I got a bit of a dark area. I'm actually wondering if one of the lamps was out for this shot. Otherwise, red works well.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, April 17, 2007 6:31 AM
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Looks like all the bulbs are working geeky. I used regular red coated bulbs from Victor, and that's how mine look. Red sharpied the two hvac bulbs with better than expected results.
Yes, I did red on my 99 as well. I did the old break bulbs, and connections, yank them out and solder in new. I have on burnt out though that I have been too lazy to replace. I used standard 194 bulbs, thinking of switching to the 5 angle LED's for a bit brighter look.
BTW
this will not work for Sunfires
excellent write up!
WHAT IF....i used white led's and painted my needles blue with a transparent paint? how well do u think this would work?
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i did mine with the wide angle ones like scott (section8cav) did but used red, but i used my stock sockets and did it the way redzed99 did his with the breaking and soldering. got blue ones now too, so i can do the same thing with my blue Z
dont mind the crappy pic i dont know how to use the night time feature on my camera
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Quote:
WHAT IF....i used white led's and painted my needles blue with a transparent paint? how well do u think this would work?
to be honest..if you paint the needles with the blue glass paint and put white light behind it you might not like the outcome..alot of times itll make the color alot lighter than desired..like a LIGHT blue or even greenish..but if you DO go this route i suggest painting the BACK side of the needle as well..this is where the light comes in..if you paint the back and the needle itself it might come out more blue.
[quote=DrÃkÉ]BTW
this will not work for Sunfires
NOOOOOO!! What has to happen with a fire cluster?? (of course its not the easy way...)
i have a question, you said on the back there would be 4 green sockets, but in the picture there is two green one black and one red, is there two more green ones that i cant see, or are those the 4 your talking about
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2092536
there are 4 green ones total..they are the bigger ones..the black one you see is a NEW socket in place of an old one...you cant see the 4th socket in the pic ..there will be a SMALL red one on each side these are for your turn signals..but since the gauge face is actually tinted green for those changing the bulbs alone wont do much
so anyone know how to do this for the 2000+ models?
_Orange_04_Eco_ wrote:so anyone know how to do this for the 2000+ models?
you cant to the best of my knowledge
and good little write up now people can see how easy it really is to do this mod.
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
I SATCHMOE YOU!!!! wrote:_Orange_04_Eco_ wrote:so anyone know how to do this for the 2000+ models?
you cant to the best of my knowledge
and good little write up now people can see how easy it really is to do this mod.
no, you can do it for the 2000+ clusters but you have to unsolder all the bulds and resolder new ones. a pain.
and for the fire clusters you have to take it completely apart and find a way to remove the red tape like insterts that shine red when light hits them. also a pain in the arse,
[quote=DrÃkÉ]
I SATCHMOE YOU!!!! wrote:_Orange_04_Eco_ wrote:so anyone know how to do this for the 2000+ models?
you cant to the best of my knowledge
and good little write up now people can see how easy it really is to do this mod.
no, you can do it for the 2000+ clusters but you have to unsolder all the bubulbsnd resolder new ones. a pain.
and for the fire clusters you have to take it completely apart and find a way to remove the red tape like inserts that shine red when light hits them. also a pain in the arse,
Really? I was under the impression that you cocouldn'tet to the bulbs without taking the 00+ cluster completely apart
as for the fire cluster you nailed it on the head you have to tear that damn film out from under the guage overlay.
In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
I looked in my broken 02 cavalier cluster and theres 6 leds. Im pretty sure you have to remove the needles to do this on a 00+
wow, now i want to do this! good walk through thnx
