hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

well I got the 5-led bulb. Installed it today, the pictures look blury because for some reason the red was messing with my camera and I couldnt find my tripod.








Before:


After:

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

I havent drove at night yet, so I dont know how it is yet....but thats a lot of red now...lol. I still think I might get blue.

shineynitelite

looks sweet.

dragon084

bad ass.

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

Here is another....looks kinda pinkish, or faded red. Hmm hasnt really had that wow factor yet....still might get that blue!

Musulsa

I know you've figure this out but: that bar light that you installed over the gauges is what is what is killing the lighting effect near the top of your gauges. Since you have a blue light bar, blue leds would work best. The blue and red are interferring with each other.

Would you try posting some pics with the light bar off? I bet the coloring comes out much more evenly.

-=-=-=-=-
edit:

Also, for those of you who find a *slight* dead spot near the "80mph" mark... you can replace the tiny LED that fits there with a size #74 bulb. However, a size #74 LED will NOT fit there without some modification to the bulb. A size #74 incandescent bulb WILL fit fine.

You can get colored #74 bulbs here:

http://autolumination.com/74.htm

Scroll about halfway down the page. The colored incandescent #74's are $0.99 each. Again, do NOT get the LEDs unless you are comfortable with modding the LED shrouds yourself.

Musulsa

For some reason the gauges always come out looking ice-blue or electric-blue in the pictures, but in real life they are a much darker and deeper blue.

Musulsa

Sorry for making the pics so big - I ran outside and snapped them at 4 megapixels then upped them without thinking. Photobucket downsized them a tiny bit, but I really should have resized/cropped to 640x480 at least.

I also apologize for the blurriness - I didn't feel like whipping out my tripod for some quick pics.

Sorry folks. ^_^

Outlaw

I'm feelin the gauges minus that neon blue bar above them. The color kinda reminds me of the BMW stock ones.

Musulsa, that is the exact look I'm looking for but in white. What LED bulbs did you use and where can I get them in white? Also, how much and how difficult is the modification that needs to be done to the LED to fit? Thanks.

Musulsa

To get pure white gauges takes way more work than red or blue. That is because the gauges themselves have a slightly blue-green tint to them. If you replace the bulbs with hyper white leds, you won't get white gauges. You will get VERY bright stock-colored "blue-green" gauges.

If you want pure white, then you have to remove the gauge film and use acetone or something else to remove the blue-green tint from the gauge film. Good luck on that.

No mods are needed to replace the 4 standard 194/168 bulbs. The mod I referred to above was to replace the tiny #74 bulb that rests just above the 80 mark. It is optional for those who find they have a dead spot.


-=-=-=-=-=
edit:

scroll near the bottom of this link to find a picture of someone with hyperwhite leds in their stock gauges. You will see the blue-green effect I am talking about:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...9&page=4&pp=25

nippon_wa

looks awesome guys

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

yeah i knew that light bar was messing up the color. I am going to disconnect it tonight and see what i get then. I still like the blue though.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Looks nice, I can't wait to see it without the blue overhead light. I have done my whole interior with bulbs from that site. I used all Green.

kevin79925

what leds? i didnt see any leds in the first 2 pix... just jessica alba(my wife)

shineynitelite

whats the dimmnessss on both of your guys lights?

when i put in the red ones i had to put in the white ones on top that reflect down becuase like musulsa said it looked faded on top.. also i didnt use led's i used normal bulbs so it was way worse

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

its not blue light though. Its a blacklight bar. but it just looks blue in the picture for some reason.

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

haha...no that is my wife! haha you like my mouse pad..lol

EPS CL

Nice pics. I noticed you got them from superbrightleds.com and went there. 22 bucks out the door for blue, baby

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

that site rocks, I replaced every last one of my interior bulbs with LED bulbs from that site. Haven't started on the console yet.

Nato

musulsa... your gauges always come out looking so good... for like the 4th time.. DOES anyoneone know how to remove the green film?! where do i do this?.. where is the green film?..
I have the white bulbs behind the gauges and its the exact same color as before..i really wanna remove that old film

klepto

nice guages musulsa, i replaced mine with some blue led's and it looks just like yours

nice guages and mousepad hybridnrg

cl_jay

i dont think anyone knows exactly how to remove the tint, because i dont think anybody has done it. it would be great if you found out or tried different ways and found out how, i would def. prefer bright white gauges

DivineCL

Man I Jessica Alba.

Anyways, the blue LED set-up Musulsa has is HOT!

Musulsa - Where (link) can I get me the same LED's and for how much?

Musulsa

3 possible sources:

$6.99 each ($2.50 sh)
Total for 4: (#30.46)
http://autolumination.com/194.htm

$5.00 each ($3.79 sh)
Total for 4: ($23.79):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

$4.14 each ($5.00 sh)
Total for 4 ($21.56)
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR
(Near the bottom of the page. Just do a "find" for 194. The pic is a green looking bulb)

Looks like superbrightleds is the lowest price. I've always bought from autolumination, but that's because I didn't know about superbrightleds.com until just now....

autolumination led's are VERY professionally packed though and the shipping is pretty quick. Dunno how superbright packs theirs. That plastic baggy makes me nervous.

DivineCL

Thanks.

So, I'll only need a total of 4 LED's for the gauge cluster?

Musulsa

I forgot to add:

The 2 door lights and the 1 trunk light all use the same 3022 bulb. Go to superbrightleds.com and do a search for "festoon." Make sure you get the 4-led festoon bulb and not the 2-led festoon bulb for brightness reasons. Blue looks nice in the doors, but for the trunk I suggest hyperwhite since blue looks cool but makes it REALLY hard to see stuff in your trunk at night.

For your dome light it does NOT use a 3022 (the osram guide is WRONG). The 3022 is 30 or 31mm. The dome light is 39mm (#3910 I think). That means you can fit a 9LED festoon in there! Super bright. Unfortunately only autolumination.com has a 9led 39mm festoon. superbrightleds.com has a 6led 3910 festoon bulb though. That might be good enough for most people. For the dome light hyperwhite or blue both look really good.

Also don't forget your map lights. They both take 194/168s. I suggest hyperwhites for those too, BUT you don't need to get the refractor/matrix type leds. Since you want them shining straight down, get a "flashlight" style led array where they are all shooting straight out.

You can get a 6led bulb where all 6 shoot straight down for maximum brightness. superbrightleds.com also has a 9led bulb for 194/168 but it looks thicker than the rest - not sure how well it'd fit in the sockets. It probably will, but I'll let someone else try it out since I am happy with my setup.


p.s. for those of you who want MAX MAX brightness everywhere. autolumination.com now has 6LED 3022's! I'm really tempted to get 1 hyperwhite one for my trunk. The 4led hyperwhite I have in my trunk isn't bright enough for my tastes....

Also I found that the current flowing to all the festoon bulb "sockets" can power 2 festoon bulbs simultaneously without too much draw. I'm currently working on modding my dome and trunk lights to accept 2 festoon bulbs for maximum brightness. It's pretty easy actually. I highly suggest this to anyone who cares.

Musulsa

Yes. You need 4 194/168 type bulbs for the gauge cluster.

But to save on shipping I highly recommend swapping out all your 194 bulbs on your car with leds... You'll do it eventually anyway!



Here's a list of the 194's you can swap on the 1st gen CL:

4 blue 194's for your gauges
4 white 194's for the upper and lower corners (don't use blue! sounds cool but looks gay. trust me I tried it)
2 white 194's for the maplights
2 194's for your license plate lights (suggest not using led's they are too bright)
2 optional white 194's for your rear corners (in the brake light housing)

Here's a list of the festoon bulbs you can swap on the 1st gen CL:

2 3022's in the doors
1 3022 in the trunk
1 3022 in the glovebox (this one is tricky if you don't know how to pop off the glovebox)
1 3910/3423 (39mm) in the dome

Once you pop, you can't stop!

***EDIT****
(oh dang too many posts in one thread in a row. I look noobish.)

EPS CL

Damn, you're the wizz at interior lighting, aren't you? I can't wait for my lights to come in. Thanks again for the awesome writeup.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

The plastic baggies come inside a bubble wrapped envelope from superbright

DivineCL

OK, let me get this straight.

2 door lights/1 trunk light: 4 or 6 LED 3022 bulb 30 or 31mm.
Dome light: 9 LED 3910 39mm
Map lights (What are map lights?): 6 LED 194/168's
Are they the two lights near the rear view mirror?

Thanks for all the help.

Musulsa

The map lights are the 2 lights right by the rearview mirror. I changed them to 6-led 194's but I'm not sure they are brighter than before. They are definitely much nicer looking than the ugly yellowish filament bulb that was in there.

BTW, I just now ordered a 6led 3022 for my trunk. I'll let you know if it's worth the extra $$$.



The autolumination.com led's come wrapped in a plastic baggy which is wrapped in tons of newspaper, which is housed in a thick cardboard box. I don't trust envelopes...

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

To each his own, I've ordered like $70 or $80 worth of bulbs from superbrightled already, they always show up within a day, and the bubble envelope is fine, never had a problem with them.

Musulsa

Oh don't get me wrong. I'm all about superbrightled.com now since their prices are so low...

I just wish they had the 9led 39mm festoon bulbs and the new 6led 3022.

azn5ucka86

anywhere to purchase those chrome rings around the speedometer and rpm gauge? i remember someone said that they were stripped off some other gauge cluster and then mounted? got a link to where i can purchase these from?

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

Hmm well if you are talking about my gauges, I didn’t rip them off any other gauge cluster. I will see if I can find the link again. I did a post about it a while ago, so you should do a search on them “chrome rings.” I got it from ebay, it comes with a metal bezel and rings. I only used the rings though….didnt want too much metal in there.

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

Musulsa thanks for all the info. You are like the LED pimp! Haha. I think that this should be a D.Y.I. If someone hasn’t already done it already.

Specter

nice setup, i have UV light in the doors and blue in my trunk, dome, and glove box.

I also bought all red just incase i get bored of blue since everyone has blue..... ill snap pictures tonight

wilp99

i def aint feelin the blue's, they look alittle boring to me.. the red is aiit if you did like said before remove the black light. i like the stock with black light the best.. i think imma go that route.. where did you get the black light that small at? and how did you mount it? did you just take out the top light bar?

hybridnrg

iTrader: (4)

I got the black light at Autozone...or basicly any auto parts store. Or look online. I think the name brand was Redline or something. I took out the old light bar, and cut the two lil bars holding it there. Cut the wire and that it. There is two metal bars that go across that holds the light there.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I got that kit too, and all I'm using is the chrome rings