My fix for cluster needles
08-21-11, 10:56 PM
#16
92-94 needles are clear & illuminate orange
95-96 needles are painted red
97-00 needles are painted orange
97-00 cluster uses florescent backlighting.
98-00 clusters have gated shifter pattern.
92-95 support outside air temperature
97-00 support mpg.
97-00 sisplay screens are made of real LCDs and not the seven-segment calculate display.
They say the 92-94 dimmer switch on max allows a voltage that's damaging to the needles. I can neither confirm or deny this. I can confirm setting the dimmer to low does preserve 92-94 needle life. I have yet to see a burned out 95 & up needle.
95-96 needles are painted red
97-00 needles are painted orange
97-00 cluster uses florescent backlighting.
98-00 clusters have gated shifter pattern.
92-95 support outside air temperature
97-00 support mpg.
97-00 sisplay screens are made of real LCDs and not the seven-segment calculate display.
They say the 92-94 dimmer switch on max allows a voltage that's damaging to the needles. I can neither confirm or deny this. I can confirm setting the dimmer to low does preserve 92-94 needle life. I have yet to see a burned out 95 & up needle.
Last edited by account2x; 08-21-11 at 11:00 PM.
08-22-11, 11:14 AM
#18
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That's really nice I'd say, it actually creates an illusion that the blue light is fading, if it's not too much to ask, can you redo the distance pic without the flash? I kinda like your idea, it's something original. It reminds me of an IS-F cluster with the blue light fade. If there's only a way to hide the LED bulbs this would be a killer.
This is also nice, but for people like BigBang, he's in college if I'm not mistaken, and a little tight on budget, this is actually a great innovation. And for people like me, who just wanna keep that '95-'96 theme on my SC I wouldn't do this kind of conversion.
It's just like, I want the '97-'00 body kit, but I wanna keep my '95 fog lights and I don't like the small grille in front.
This is also nice, but for people like BigBang, he's in college if I'm not mistaken, and a little tight on budget, this is actually a great innovation. And for people like me, who just wanna keep that '95-'96 theme on my SC I wouldn't do this kind of conversion.
It's just like, I want the '97-'00 body kit, but I wanna keep my '95 fog lights and I don't like the small grille in front.
thts a very good fix 
this kinda gives me another idea, id remove the glass and get an SMD LED strip and mount it on the top so u cant really see the LEDs and its be under the glass so almost make it look stock and itd be about the same price, if not cheaper cuz autozone has led strips for 19.99 and thats 2 strips so ud have an extra strip to mount some where or sell off to some one OR u can cut the led strip and solder on some wiring and place it different places (cutable to 5 or 6 pieces)
jus my thoughts either way i like it
this kinda gives me another idea, id remove the glass and get an SMD LED strip and mount it on the top so u cant really see the LEDs and its be under the glass so almost make it look stock and itd be about the same price, if not cheaper cuz autozone has led strips for 19.99 and thats 2 strips so ud have an extra strip to mount some where or sell off to some one OR u can cut the led strip and solder on some wiring and place it different places (cutable to 5 or 6 pieces)
jus my thoughts either way i like it
08-22-11, 11:43 AM
#19
get that and remove the cluster glass/plastic w.e u wanna call it, and stick one of the led strips inside right above the gauges, wire it like you did before and then put it all back together, a lil clearer? lol
08-22-11, 02:05 PM
#20
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http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat.../77426B/image/
get that and remove the cluster glass/plastic w.e u wanna call it, and stick one of the led strips inside right above the gauges, wire it like you did before and then put it all back together, a lil clearer? lol
get that and remove the cluster glass/plastic w.e u wanna call it, and stick one of the led strips inside right above the gauges, wire it like you did before and then put it all back together, a lil clearer? lol
08-22-11, 02:25 PM
#22
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08-22-11, 03:18 PM
#23
08-22-11, 04:41 PM
#26
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I know some people have their own opinions on it. But to me, my goal is to be able to see my needles without having to spend loads of money. Yeah I could probably spend even less soldering or doing all that sort. But doing this was simple with not much effort. So IMO it works in my books. Not to show it off or anything haha.. just works..
08-22-11, 07:19 PM
#30
LEDs unlike incandescent light bulbs have a very narrow viewing angle. Unless extra fine attention to detail is taken you'll end up with a cluster that looks like this.
The needles themselves are very finely aligned onto the meters. Removing them brakes this alignment. Recalibrating needles is very tedious. Sometimes it's almost impossible to get them factory accurate.
Search lextech to find issues. Not everyone was happy with the results. Assuming you have a perfect LED conversion cluster it would still be worse for the following reasons.
- 7 segment "calculator" display versus liquid crystal display
- No MPG readout
- Weird indication light placement - ABS and Oil Level inside the tachometer ring
- No headlight indicator light
- Non-gated shifter pattern without the illumination surround
Given the uncertainty of having someone modify a cluster versus swapping in a direct factory part the latter is clearly the safer choice.