Different Bulbs and the Different Clusters

Since I got a few requests, I'll do one sometime tomorrow.

i would like a how-to aslo on this.

Ok. I don't have any pics, sorry. I'm going to explain how to change the stock gauge color and needle colors. You are going to need:

5 #74 w/o base LEDs from superbrighleds.com
a small screwdriver, flathead
a regular flathead screwdriver
a phillips screwdriver
some form of glue
clear needles
razor blade
allen key/sqaure bits

I highly reccomend getting Tyler's gauges instead of trying to scrape the green off and doing overlays... FYI.

Step one: taking out the cluster.

1. Drop the steering wheel to the lowest tilt postion.
2. You need to remove 5 screws (phillips). One is behind the defroster swtich, on the right, pop out the defroster switch holder. 2 are on the top of the black above the gauges. The last 2 are behind the Contour logo in the dash, pop that out. Now remove the whole black piece.
3. There are 5 more screws holding in the gauges. Remove those.
4. Once the cluster is out, pop off the two multiplugs with a flathead screwdriver.
5. Now the cluster is finally out.
6. Pop off the lexan cover by pushing in the black tabs... pita.

Step two: taking out the gauges.

1. Remove all the retaining screws holding the gauges in... I used a square bit. An allen key should work too. I belive they are officially torx bits.
2. Remove all the gauges, and seperate them.
3. Remove the needles by putting a spoon on either side of the needle and prying up.

Step three: getting rid of the green.

1. Use the small screwdriver, and pull of the black cover. If you are using Tyler's gauges, you can forget the next.
2. Scrape all the green off with the small screwdriver. Takes a wicked long time. Hold it up to the light to make sure you got it all.
3. Glue the gauges back down. Be sure you don't put the glue where the numbers are.

Step four: changing needle color.

1. Scrape the white strip off the needle.
2. Color in just the bottom with a sharpie... this color will show up in the day.
3. Putting the needles back on is up to you... to ensure they are calibrated right.
4. Screw everything back together and put the lexan cover back on.

Step five: changing cluster color.

1. Pull the 5 bulbs that control the cluster color. If you aren't sure, hold the cluster up to the light when you pull a bulb and make sure it isn't for a warning light. The bulbs simply twist out.
2. You need to get the light bulb out of the socket. They don't come out easily. 4 out of my 5 broke. They explode too, so be careful, wear eye protection, little glass shards are mean.
3. Be sure all parts of the old bulb are out.
4. Take your LED and bend the metal wires all the way out. It should look like this.

----O----

5. Put the LED into the socket, and push it down tight.
6. Twist the LED back into the cluster w/ the multiplugs in and the parking lights on. If the LED doesn't light up, take it out, and put it back in 180 degrees turned.
7. Everything should looking good, put all the dash parts back together!

Some problems assoicated with this:

- The LEDs aren't too bright. I did mine in red, which is one of the brightest colors.
- The needles light up dimly. I liked the way they looked though.
- You get some bright spots... on mine, they were only on the speedo. I busted off the plastic light tunnel things on the speedo and it fixed it.

If anyone needs any more info, PM me and I'll see what I can do.

On step four:
I used testors model paint to color needle, I heard that the sharpie makes colors brighter than what they look like (red looks like pink when needles are on and so on.)

Also can you explain step five in a bit more detail.

Thanks for the write up.

Edit: I may be stupid but can you give us a link for the #74 LED we need. Thanks again.

Originally posted by Kerry2Kool4U:
On step four:
I used testors model paint to color needle, I heard that the sharpie makes colors brighter than what they look like (red looks like pink when needles are on and so on.)

Also can you explain step five in a bit more detail.

Thanks for the write up.

Edit: I may be stupid but can you give us a link for the #74 LED we need. Thanks again.

I used the same color sharpie for the needle color as the LEDs. I wouldn't use sharpie soley for that color; ie, I'd have LEDs of the same color or something.

What else did you need to know in step 5?

http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini-wedge.html at the bottom.

Originally posted by Matt R:
4. Take your LED and bend the metal wires all the way out. It should look like this.

----O----

5. Put the LED into the socket, and push it down tight.

That transition in step 5, I think I get it now seeing what the leds look like.

Also I took out some bulbs from my cluster to wire the indiglos:

How do you take out the bulb, I've been trying for ten mins or so.

If you get lucky, they will pull out. I used a pair of pliers. Most of the time, they explode. Then you need to take a small screwdriver and pry all the parts of the old bulb out. Like I said, be really careful when the bulbs pop.

not gonna lie, i think those twist but, i could always be wrong-- theres a strong chance i am haha

They twist out of the cluster, but pull out of the base. Most of the bulbs on the car just pull out.

I was working on this, I have pics of the cluster with the led bulbs in it.

I also have a few things that will make you think twice about this mod also.

The only noteable bad thing about this mod is that the bulbs that are offered at the current time are single led, not wide based. So they shine straight ahead, and dont spread out like the normal bulbs do. However they are much brighter, you could say a night and day difference

I have emailed a few companys that make leds to try and get custom 4-5 led wide based bulb made.

If you have a connection with a led company or know someone that can make them themselves please contact me ASAP!!

Ill try and get those pics up tonight.

Thanks,

Tyler

Originally posted by SHAutoTrends:
If you have a connection with a led company or know someone that can make them themselves please contact me ASAP!!

Auiotour might have some... he was undercutting Superbrightleds a while back.

Reading into this more, I may have bought the wrong bulbs for my cluster... I have eight 194 six white led bulbs that are BRIGHT. I put them in the a-pillar guages and OMG I got a headache like 10 minutes after putting them in. I hear some guages take the 74 base bulbs, so damn!

EDIT: I suck again! They are indeed #74 base bulbs... BUT... I may be able to trim enough material off a dead #194 LED setup to make it fit... I'll find out!

Superbrightleds.com lists those bulbs as wide beam:

74 Wedge Base LED bulb
Small Wedge Base LED bulb (74 type)
3/16 inch wide base, 13/16 inch overall length
Flat tipped LED produces wide beam angle
$ 1.19

I know they aren't a "true" wide beam, but they are better than a regular plain LED. They produce kinda a wide circle as compared to a narrow circle.

Originally posted by Matt R:
Superbrightleds.com lists those bulbs as wide beam:

74 Wedge Base LED bulb
Small Wedge Base LED bulb (74 type)
3/16 inch wide base, 13/16 inch overall length
Flat tipped LED produces wide beam angle
$ 1.19

I know they aren't a "true" wide beam, but they are better than a regular plain LED. They produce kinda a wide circle as compared to a narrow circle.

I have 2 of those, except in the larger #194 size... they came in today with the rest of my LEDs. They are lower output than the 6 led #194s, but that's to be expected since it's only 1 LED. They also produce almost no light forward, unlike a normal LED. They work PERFECT for my footwell lights... nearly as bright (if not brighter) than the incandescent lamps.

-------------------

Anyway, now to my little thingamajig.

You can fit #194 LEDs in the instrument cluster... You just need to trim both the #194 base AND the socket. They fit perfectly in the hole, which leads me to believe that you can put those "1 forward LED, 4 side emitter LED" #194 lamps in for more even coverage.

Ok, for this, I used my trusty cheap-as-they-come-military-issued Leatherman (mostly the sharp knife [OW!] and the file) and five #194 six white LED lamps.

These are (from L to R): #74 blue LED; #74 incadescent; #194 6-white LED

You need to take the knife or whatever tool you choose (Xacto would work swell here) and trim the plastic down nearly, but not all the way to the leads... Also notice I cut the nub off the bottom center. This was mostly to cut back on my thumb's misery... I don't think it will affect it fitting in the socket if you leave it on.

This lamp is halfway done...

A fully trimmed lamp next to a virgin lamp

In case you missed it

, here they are again

Ok, on the sockets themselves, you will need to first of all trim all the inside corners off to accomodate the fatty part of the 6-LED lamp. You will also need to slightly trim the side of the inside (the inside part of where the assembly holds itself to the circuit board...).

What happens here is the round part of the 6-LED lamp (where the resistor and bottom of the LEDs and other crap is at) will not allow the base to sit far enough down in the socket, and it will "pop" back out fairly easily. You need to trim off all 4 corners and trim some excess on the flat part to accomate enough of the circular part so that the socket contacts will hold the lamp.

After wearing my tumb down to the bone, I figured out if you use the open side of the cutters in a pair of needle nose pliers, it makes it SO much easier!

Here is a virgin socket on the left, and my modified socket on the right

I circled where you need to trim since my wording above is pretty confuzing (even to me!)

Here is a shot farther away for some more detail or something

Ok, doing this will help hold the big mutha LEDs in the socket when you decide to turn your Konis all the way up and drive around Detroit...

Remove the clipy deals by using a small object (the tip of the knife works good) and depressing the small clip you can see on the part where you grab the socket to remove it. You then work the contacts out and bend them out so as to put more pressure on the base of the lamp. If you've ever removed pins/sockets out of a harness connector, this will be cake to you.

The top contact is fresh out the socket, the bottom contact is bent and ready to be reinstalled in the socket

To avoid the "flashlight" effect as much as possible, you will need to diffuse the light coming straight out of the LEDs. I used the handy dandy file in my Leatherman to file them down to where they were translucent. You may also paint them, but that may diminish light output.

Filed one on left, fresh one on right

This is just showing you the finished product compared to what you started with.

#194 6-LED lamp assembly on left, #74 incandescent assembly on right

Now for the pics of it in action!

This is the best "before" picture I have... There is 1 LED setup dead center, but you can see how dim the rest of the cluster is in comparison... in fact, the stock lights are so dim, they are barely readable in pictures.

And this is the finished dealio...

Cluster fills da pic yo... don't worry about that dang ol CEL

From the driver's point of view...

-------------------

Ok, I was also playing around with sticking the newly made LED setup in different lights to see what it would do. Well... both the white and blue LEDs SUCK HARDCORE in a red indicator light. The light is VERY dim in this situation. Mostly because these LEDs produce very little red light. The red film blocks out most of the blue light, and is the same reason why they would suck in your taillights (unless they were in the cool guy clear tails

).

BUT... they shine amazingly bright in the blue and green indicators. I didn't even think of trying any yellow indicators, but I don't think it would look too good.

Well, here's before and afters...

High beam before (stock incandescent lamp)

And after with either white -OR- blue LEDs (this pic is actually the #74 blue base led pictured at the top, but the 6-led #194 setup produced similar results)

Little fuzzy, but driver's point-of-view

Here are the turnsignals, incandescent #74 and 6-led #194, respectively (in the same pic even!)

--------------------

Here was my other projects for the night... the 3610 4-led Festoon base bulbs I bought since I had a license plate light out

Before/after (still sportin the CEG frame, even though it doesn't quite fit these plates

). Note that I could see the illumination in my well lit car park!

And in near-total darkness

Here's a comparison shot of #194 incandescent vs #194 6-led in Autometer Phantom guages (I shoulda put the single wide angle LED in the bottom for a comparison, but oh well!)

-----------------

Now check this oddity out...

Ok, I only had the white plug jacked in for ease of installing the lamp assemblies.

Well, look what happens when you turn the ignition to "Run" with the black connector disconnected.

Ignition "RUN" / Black plug "DISCONNECTED"

Now look what happens when you turn the ignition to "Run" with the black connector connected.

Ignition "RUN" / Black plug "CONNECTED"

Pretty weird, eh? The one single lamp that illuminates the fuel guage and right side of the speedometer will very dimly light up without the black connector. Jack in the black connector, and viola! The lamp goes out and the indicator lights illuminate.

NOTE: CLICK ON PICTURES FOR 1600x1200 FULL SIZE DETAILED PICS

Well, it's 1/4 past midnight... I'd say it's my bedtime! Maybe sometime in the near future I'll get enough balls to play with the needles and put Tyler's guage faces on! I'll do some pics of that too, so these are my "before" pics.

EDIT: now it's half past midnight since I added the circled pic... SLEEPY SLEEP TIME

You Sir are my HERO!!!!!!

Im modding away as I type

You have no idea how many problems you just fixed for me.

One thing that I want to note, the 6led 194 socket bulb that you murdered. It may have been better to use the 5 led WIDE angle bulb. Even though the 6led bulb is advertised to be wide angle its got nothing on the 5 led wide angle.

Tyler

It looks like the license plate isn't lighten up very well... just the pic? Because I would love to get rid of that yellowy-orange stock light and replace it with real white light.

Originally posted by SHAutoTrends:
You Sir are my HERO!!!!!!

Im modding away as I type

You have no idea how many problems you just fixed for me.

One thing that I want to note, the 6led 194 socket bulb that you murdered. It may have been better to use the 5 led WIDE angle bulb. Even though the 6led bulb is advertised to be wide angle its got nothing on the 5 led wide angle.

Tyler

No problem, yo! And I do realize I shoulda bought the LEDs with the 4 side emitters... oh well! I still have a flashlight effect going on (as you can see in the pics), but the biggest problem is that the tach needle is barely lit up at all. I'll fix that soon...

These are the 360�?° phospher coated LEDs... they put out light more bluish than the 6-led lamps.

I used my 13.8v power supply and made a simple circuit with my fingers. I calculated before I made my 2nd LED purchase that I would need 5 of those LEDs to be able to hook them straight up to the car w/o a resistor.

Here they are unlit

Lit with the overhead lights on

Lit with the overhead lights off

Not quite as bright as the 6-led lamps (but still bright), but hey, these illuminate like an incadescent lamp!

Originally posted by Matt R:
It looks like the license plate isn't lighten up very well... just the pic? Because I would love to get rid of that yellowy-orange stock light and replace it with real white light.

It's just the pic... there is now a bluish-white glow on the ground from these lights. I think the last car I had that lit up the ground with the plate lights was my old Grand Prix.

Late for work now

Hey,

I have a 1995 GL without a rpm gauge....and I want to know if there's any way to chnage my stock black cluster gauges to have white one ???....I saw a kit on ebay that you turn on with a switch and it glow and in the day it's white ??? Does anyone try that ??? Is it good ???

thanks

Originally posted by BaggedContour:
Hey,

I have a 1995 GL without a rpm gauge....and I want to know if there's any way to chnage my stock black cluster gauges to have white one ???....I saw a kit on ebay that you turn on with a switch and it glow and in the day it's white ??? Does anyone try that ??? Is it good ???

thanks

Enough, for everyone's sanity here! Freaking search, how many times do we need to say this? How many flippin' times has this been covered? Is there not 2 different threads on top right now about this!!!???? Espeically since YOU STARTED THE OTHER ONE!!!!

ok ok don't need to go crazy...I understand it...I 'll not say anything anymore.....I just wanted to inform myself on that, I don't know EVERYthing on the contour so I inform myself...

by the way...sorry for starting the new post...I'm a newby so I don't know which subject had already been post and I don't want to spend hours and hours just to be sure that I don't repeating a post...

so anyway...sorry

Originally posted by BaggedContour:
ok ok don't need to go crazy...I understand it...I 'll not say anything anymore.....I just wanted to inform myself on that, I don't know EVERYthing on the contour so I inform myself...

by the way...sorry for starting the new post...I'm a newby so I don't know which subject had already been post and I don't want to spend hours and hours just to be sure that I don't repeating a post...

so anyway...sorry

www.Sh-AutoTrends.com

Tyler

Oh yeah now your talkin'!!!! thanks very much...Your website is very interesting...I let you an email on your website so I'm waiting your answer....

see you