The bulbs for the HVAC are the same for all years (00-03). Its really pretty simple, personally I think its easier than the cluster. While your at it, you can put the cellophane over the screen to match.

 

What I meant was the bulbs for the shifter, I was just saying I skipped HVAC because of the hassle even though it's not terrible. Any idea if shifter bulbs are the same across?

 

Thanks for the great thread guys

 

The shifter bulb size on the 2000/2001 is T10 Wedge (194, etc). I don't know if the 2002/2003 is the same, it's not listed anywhere in the FSM or online that I can find. I'd assume it's a T10.

The gauges are a T5 wedge.

As for getting it off, it was a bit of a pain but not too bad, and no fear of circuit board damage

 

Did my cluster today, crazy difference it makes. Do it you wont regret it

 

TunerMax could you give a brief instruction on removing 00/01 auto shifter to access the bulb?

This LED movement has really given my bland interior some well needed taste, now for AE door sills and 350z dead pedal!! But anyways, heres what I have as of right now...a lot of which inspired by the org.




I still need one more LED for the small screen on instrument cluster


Not sure why HVAC looks so dim in 2nd photo, the first one does just justice. But I recently changed color of the HVAC screen. Two sheets of purple cellophane.



Changed the clock as well, two sheets of purple.



I just finished up soldering up all connections for these today. They are 9" strips of 24 blue wide angled LEDs. Tapped into 12v outlet and wired to a blue LED switch. I drilled a hole through the bottom, and filed down the edges of the coin holder to fit the switch. Then I painted it to black to match. They are EXTREMELY bright, although they aren't visible from outside the car cuz of my dark tint, which is good lol

 

00/01 you have to lift the silver bezel over the black tabs that look like they clip in to hold it down. Theres 2 tabs on both sides and they were pretty tough on my friends car. Then you have to pull up on the entire silver piece and hope it doesnt snap (theres two long silver "arms" sticking out front and back that will bend enough in order to pull the silver part up) and turn it sideways to access the bulb, The silver piece will remain around the shifter arm the whole time. The 00/01 has a T10 base and the 02/03 has a T5 base


this link has a picture of the tabs you need to pop out http://home.comcast.net/~kcmurphy72/i30/HVAC.pdf

 

 

Thanks man appreciate it. Thats what I figured, just wanted to confirm before I started yankin' on stuff lol. I just gave it a test run, my pry tool worked perfect to undo the tabs. Now I wait for my bulb...

 

BEST 30 minute modification ever!!!

Warm White L.E.D.'s

Before:


After:


Pics taken with HTC Eris (CM7 GSBv3.4)

 

Haha, I have that same Eris phone and the low light pickup is terrible which is why the difference even bigger than some past pics. That said, it's still a damn huge jump in brightness.

Glad it worked out for ya!

 

Gonna tackle HVAC next. OEM bulbs never worked the same after I installed aftermarket headunit several (several) years ago. Had to tap side of center console to get them to work 100% sometimes.

Just never took time to rip it apart...

 

Which LED's exactly did you buy? This is exactly what I'm looking for, just increased WHITE light, not the blue stuff.

*EDIT* I'm assuming you ordered the 74-WWHP3 from here:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...2F74-xHP3.html

 

yes flawlez that's what he got. I did the same a couple weeks ago and got the same result

 

Yup, 74-xHP3 SMD LED Bulb in Warm-White.

74-xHP3: Wedge Base LED bulb

74-WWHP3: Warm White

 

Since we kind of jammed a discussion about the Clock color into this thread, anyone up for a segue into the little mood light over the shifter? Honestly, I didn't even know it was there until about a year ago... mine is really, really dim. This might be a 5.5 thing, or a MT thing... IDK.

Does anybody else know what I'm talking about?

 

You'll find it when you pull the AC control. It uses a plastic prism too disperse the light onto the shifter. Mine had a layer of film on it which was making the light very dim. Bulb should be easy enough to swap out, but I like low light levels inside when I'm driving at night. I don't think I would want anything brighter than the AC control LEDs I installed.

SN: I received your gift. I haven't installed it yet, but I wanted to say thanks!

 

I actually squeezed a cool white bulb in there, the ones we're using for the gauges. Looks good now. Clear prism thing disperses the light, no blue tint like the gauges, so it actually looks Cool White.

 

Rochester, you purchased an extra (spare) T5 HP3 right? Put that sucker in there, it will fit

FYI, all 5th gen's have that light.

Oh and another tidbit of info, those HP3's should fit in your Keyring too, albiet installation in the key ring may require you to remove the piece of plastic because the HP3 may be just a bit longer. You'll see what I mean, I haven't tried the HP3 in there yet.

I'm waiting for pictures, I"mm pretty sure you guys are going to start buying 6 instead of 4 once a picture or two gets posted.

 

Yep. I have one extra cool-white, and now I have 3 extra warm-whites that I don't need.

Still haven't figured out how to remove the climate control stuff. Maybe I'm slow... took me forever to figure out the cluster removal process, LOL.

 

I received a new coupon code for v-leds.com via email...good until 6/10/11

Enter 'vleds15' for 15% off

 

I finally got my LED bulbs and did this today. Wow, what a difference. Anyone who thinks their factory lighting is adequate needs to see this in person.

Now I need more bulbs for the climate control and the key ring. Hopefully my new headunit and dash kit get here soon too, my whole dash will be good to go Anyone have any how-to's on the door switches or are they soldered in place?

 

In this thread a few members have had a go at that very project, search on my friend

 

Yessir, we chatted about it. They are a solder in item. I offer a full conversion for $100 if you're not comfortable/able to do it yourself.

 

I stopped keeping up with this thread back on like page 4, I've missed a lot!
Is there a write-up? I would be interested in seeing what was involved. I did a lot of LED soldering when I had my '95 way back when.

 

I haven't seen one done, that's not to say one isn't in existance. Have a look over the notes in this thread.

In short though, you're best just jumping into it, once you have the LED's needed it's fairly straightforward. On the 02/03 you can use SMD's or 3mm LED's in the front boards without adding resistors (the stock resistors are integral to the board). The rears use a 3mm LED and you'll have to solder resistors onto them.

 

Before I sign off.....

Found this: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/479058...-maxima/page-3

Just picked up a soldering iron the other day, so I think I might take a stab at it, at least the fronts. We'll see.

 

Looking at the link that MAXXED shared, it looks really similar to the 4th gen. setups (they came with two different styles of LEDs in the switches depending on the year; my '95 had regular LEDs vs. my '98 had SMT LEDs I think). The fronts look like a piece of cake. Maybe I'll do the fronts myself and mail you the rears to do
Thanks so much for the link!

 

Just placed my order for these cant wait....seeing everybody else's like Damn it...then you drive at night like this is wack time for a upgrade....

 

Look at all of you getting excited over some LEDs

 

The cheap bastard in me loves that spending just $15 improves my driving experience

 

I also find myself in this boat. I mean MAYBE $50 tops for every single light in my interior to be LED, c'mon.

 

This guy.

For those of you who don't recognize luvlexus101... I've seen his car. LED's are everywhere. In the car, under the hood, in the trunk, etc.

We affectionately refer to Greg as "Puddlelights".

 

 

Ow, my eyes!!!

That under-the-hood light is pretty cool in person. It's almost straight, too.

 

Seriously, am I missing?

I put in the bulb, it doesn't work. I flip it 180, it doesn't work. Am I being stupid, is there a small detail that I'm missing?

 

^^sometimes the "wires" for lack of better term..that come up along the sides of the wedge base can get misaligned and not make contact with the socket.

 

Make sure you don't incidentally turn the socket 180 also. I think I did that once. Then, I discovered there was no need to pull the led back out. Just turning the socket 180 will switch the polarity. You bought new sockets, right? Are the leds tight in the socket?

 

These new sockets are the wrong ones.

 

T10 instead of T5? Easy mistake to make. Sucks.