Well, I am proud to announce that I have made my cluster BRIGHT AS HELL!!!! Clicky for the HOW TO



http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/758364/2

 

Nice work, how did you make it?

 

Well, it was a 3 step process. First, I took off the cluster face and snaded down all the blue paint. Then, I took out the OEM bulbs, made the holes bigger with a dremel, then soldered 194 bulbs into the larger OEM ports.

 

write up man.. do it for the rest of us

 

I have the pics ready to go...I will get on it ASAP

The pics just don't do it justice...it's bright as hell!!!!!

 

Looks killer bro, I love the way the little lights below the HVAC controlls are bright, this little light on the Max is pretty cool- I love that little gadget. Hook it up with a nice writeup on the HVAC, I'm doing my new cluster little diff.

 

Thanks! It's the most satisfying mod I've done yet! Should I just make a new thread for the HVAC and type it out?

 

less talk more HOW TO!!!

looks hot!

 

I promise I will have a write-up done by tommorow evening at latest. My g/f and I have alot of running around to do before the new year, so I gotta prioritize

 

Hey looks nice, i wanted to do this since the day i bought my maxima. Patiently waiting for writeup.

 

it's cool man!! look good!!! but ur SES light is on..hehe!!!

 

Very nice...I like it a lot. I just have to find time on a weekend to do this now.

 

***UPDATE***

I tried putting in 194-style LED lights, and just to let you guys know -

It looks blue and not white. Just to let ya know...

 

wow That looks greath.....

 

man busta. i am waiting for the instructions for the shifter light and defogger

 

Dammit, I have been putting that off forever! Ok, I will see what I can do about having them up by tommorow.

 

beautiful man...that looks killer.

 

Busta, did you try out LEDs for your cluster yet?

 

Dude, it looks like TOTAL @SS. It makes the cluster look rice-a-roni blue, NOT what I am looking for. Looks like the best way to go is with a standard hyper-white 194 wedge bulb.

 

did you happen to take a picture of it?

 

How about the heat problem - isn't 194 bulbs generates more heat than OEM ones?
It look very cool I was looking for something like that since I bought my Max.

 

Nah, totally not even worth the time it would take to upload it. Believe me, brotha - it looks TERRIBLE. The light is near identical to what you would find on the indiglo overlays...only this time, you will have an OEM face to your gauges. That's all good and well if you wan't that look, but not what I was aiming for. Also, it should be noted that anyone using LEDs for the swap will have to make the hole for the bulb sufficently larger as most LED bulbs will hve a larger diameter than yuour standard filament bulb.

 

Ah, glad you brought that up. Yes, it does get VERY hot, and will can start to melt the plastic of the overlay. However, that is why you have to make the attachment wires long enough so that the bulb fits in the hole, but does not rest on the overlay.

After some play with the wire length an bulb positioning you will be good to go. I have been running this setup since December with no problems and a ton of night driving.

 

Well, I tried my own version of this, using 194 bulb holders taken out of some of those $2 side marker lights you can buy at the auto store....same idea as the original, but wanted to see if I could make them so I could change the bulb in the future without soldering. To use the bulb holders, I had to do some minor creative soldering on them to replace the original grounding strip with a wire instead....keep in mind, you still have to dremel out the holes to fit the bulbs, and solder the wires...

Also, noticed that there are 5 dash gauge lighting bulbs (3 bottom, 2 top) in my dash assemby (?) instead of the three mentioned here.

Anyhow, just wanted to test this out, so I did only the fuel gauge lighting, using some cheap-o "xenon white" 149 bulb from Wal-mart (I use the same bulbs in my door lights, and they are a nice white..)

Well, as you can see in the last pic, for some reason the lighting is a light blue, and not particularly bright....so I will have to try out a different bulb, obviously....(these are 5-watt) that puts out a whiter, brighter light. Note in the last pic that I only did the light on the fuel gauge, not the others....

Anyhow....just an idea for doing this a "slightly" different way.
so here's what I was talking about:

 

do u bite your nails????

 

haha yeah....only during football season though

 

LMAO I was going to ask the same thing.

 

You guys can't take the stock blue bulbs a dip then in Transparent Blue paint?

 

just saw the HOWTO, man that looks sweeet!!
cant wait to do mine!! thanks Busta.
BTW where in jeresey?

 

I'm about 5 minutes from Philly - check your PM box!

 

Busta...which bulbs are you using, Polarg?

 

and remind me again of the sand paper. why do we need it?

 

Yep, Polargs

At least from what I experienced, the ends of the 194 bulbs are made of metal that will not allow for the solder to adhere to its surface. It is copper underneath, which the solder will adhere to, after some of it is sanded off.

 

Hey Busta, I ordered some UV bulbs to experiment. I'll post some pics when I do the mod.

 

I FORGOT TO ADD SOMETHING TO THE HOW-TO

There is a blue film on the back of the faceplate that I stripped off...I will add it this weekend!!!!!! It is not hard, I will add how to calibrate the needles and everything.

****, ****, ****!!!!! I can't believe I forgot to add this, I apologize to everyone for this

I did this after I added the bulbs, I have the pics but did not add them yet.

The mod will still look bright without it, but not as bright as mine unless this is done.

 

That may look good with the faceplate stripped...the backing is actually white when stripped and will reflect quite nicley.

 

common Busta. how much longer are you gonna make us wait?

 

I feel terrible about leaving this part out SO...I will do it as soon as I get home. I will have it up no later than 9pm.

 

hmmm...that is probably why my bulbs are showing light blue instead of bright white!!!

 

Yeah, that's how I remembered it. I put my bulbs in, turned the lights on and saw blue...that's when I knew something else had to be done!!!! T-minus 2.25 hours till I start getting the rest of the HOW-TO underway...