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.
