BXX Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Well, been working on it all day yetsterday and about an hour this evening, Figure I prolly got another full 8 hours to finish it. Bought a bunch of 3mm blue LEDs off ebay to change all the lighting in my CS. So far, its going alright. Got a few snags. Worst part every is having to de-solder the bulbs off the boards and figure out how the hell to git the LED and resistor in the spot the engineer only designed for a little bulb Yeah, ive had to get creative. Only other problem, knowing the polarity because LEDs dont light up with polarity reversed.. Its not as easy as you think DIC is kinda easy except space is the worst outta all of them. Still got to fix a few parts where bulbs wouldnt fit. Door switches, prolly the easiest if you are creative enough. Gauge cluster, cake walk. Assuming you are hard wiring the LEDs to the circuit board. Retrofitting the bulb holders isnt the best option and take ten times as long Climate control unit.. Ugh.. there are lots of bulbs on it. But alas!! about half of them are LEDs to begine with, so no issue with having to add a resistor to the space by the bulb. This is half completed as we speak. The only other problem area I am having is the damn HUD switch. Upon reassembly, I didnt catch that the contacts for the dimmer had been bent and shorted out on the board.. Soo, thats now in the garbage. Luckily, I have a spare HUD dimmer switch.. Well, no pics so far, I will post them once everything is done, which hopefully is tomorrow evening. -Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ismellrealbad Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 holy shit ton of work. im anxious to see pics n i hope everything comes out alright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted September 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 holy shit ton of work. im anxious to see pics n i hope everything comes out alright. Well, so far the gauge cluster, door switches, and console shift indicator look badass!!! Yeah, its more work than most people can even comprehend until you end up doing it. I expected it to be this much work as I know the inner workings of the parts (ive torn them apart before) Ive hit a few snags on the DIC, but nothing a little more resoldering and relocating cant fix.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89SupremeCutty Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 pics now! lol sounds like it's gonna looks badass when it's all completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venom Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Hurry up so you can do mine next man!!! Cant wait to see the finished project. You coming to town anytime soon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted September 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Hurry up so you can do mine next man!!! Cant wait to see the finished project. You coming to town anytime soon? Its far from donw, but I gots some teaser pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted September 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Rob, I dont know when I will be down next... I have most of my harness ripped outta my CS. Im actually swapping in most of the GPs DIC/HUD harness setup. I wasnt happy with my made from scratch one that actually caused some serious issues today. Hopefully Sunday I will have the harness grafted into the car. The DIC is done, except 2 bulbs are giving me issues and I still need to have my harness completed before i can test out the backlighted bulbs in it for polarity. The Climate control unit is still only 1/3 done. Yes, I know my buttons are messed up on the driver side, I snagged some MINT ones from pull a part today to put in their spot. I didnt get to it today though. Ken brought up a point about using 1 bigger resistor inline with the wiring that goes to each unit for the interior lighting of them. Sounds good in theory, but no very good in practice. I wont get into why, I will let Ken figure this out on his own. Its just best to put the resistor right next to the bulb. Just get used to tight space issues, hence my DIC problem. And yes, this is a lot of frustrating work. Rob, if you want me to do this for ya man, its gonna cost you a 3400 engine and the wiring harnesses from pull a part I need for my TGP.. Anyone else that wants this done, just the cluster will run about $80. DIC, ha, try $160 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venom Posted October 1, 2008 Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 I was actually just wondering when you were gonna be around so I can start doing it myself once you show me how you wired them up. Does look pretty sweet. Im only interested in doing the cluster and DIC at this time because I did the rest in the white LEDs I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Posted October 1, 2008 Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 very jealous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted October 1, 2008 Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 can you link us to the LEDs that you used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted October 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 can you link us to the LEDs that you used? Dont know how to work the search function on ebay?? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=370085319868 Those are the 3mm blue ones I bought. I also got 5mm white ones (they have a nice blue tint to them) for the actual courtesy lighting.. I havent snagged pics of that yet. very jealous! Dont be My poor car is tore apart, wiring harness in peices waiting to get an actuall GP harness grafted in, DIC and Climate control arent done yet. SWRC arent done yet. Honestly, its an awsome project, but not somehting you wanna get into with only a day per week to get it done. Its costing me a lot of late nights so far and my GF bitching about me not spending time with her... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted October 1, 2008 Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 can you link us to the LEDs that you used? Dont know how to work the search function on ebay?? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=370085319868 no, I just wanted to see which you chose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted October 1, 2008 Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 I bought myself a set of the white ones and they arrived not too long ago. I'll be starting that project very soon on the Bonneville. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted October 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 I bought myself a set of the white ones and they arrived not too long ago. I'll be starting that project very soon on the Bonneville. Dude, its a lot of work only because you will have to de-solder bulbs from the circuit boards and solder in the LEDs with resistors in their place... You will have to be patient with it or it will get the best of you.. Well, tonight I think I will get the Climate control unit done and the DIC fixed. I gotta get new wiring diagrams (mine were printed and got wet in the garage) so I can get the harness grafted in real nice.. I really need the working illumination and dimmer circuit so I know which way to solder in the LEDs on the DIC.. I think I got them right, but I cant remember Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ismellrealbad Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 looks awesome. you couldnt pay me to do this myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 can you take some pics? I'd like to do this next summer when i have 3 months off! I'd like to see how you connected the bulb and resistor and the led's to the cluster. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 I bought myself a set of the white ones and they arrived not too long ago. I'll be starting that project very soon on the Bonneville. Dude, its a lot of work only because you will have to de-solder bulbs from the circuit boards and solder in the LEDs with resistors in their place... You will have to be patient with it or it will get the best of you.. Well, tonight I think I will get the Climate control unit done and the DIC fixed. I gotta get new wiring diagrams (mine were printed and got wet in the garage) so I can get the harness grafted in real nice.. I really need the working illumination and dimmer circuit so I know which way to solder in the LEDs on the DIC.. I think I got them right, but I cant remember I know what you mean. I think I'm going to start with something smaller first. I have an idea with the vents in the Bonneville that I think I'll try out. I'll keep you guys posted in a new thread. The regal will have to come around eventually as far as the climate control goes, as nearly all of the LEDs on that are burned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted October 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 Oh sweet jeebus!! Im finally done. After 5 hard hours of grafting in a Grand Prix Instrumentation harness (cluster,dic,hud,switches) and another 6 hours of soldering, testing, soldering, testing. I am DONE!!! The biggest pain in the ass is the climate control unit!! There are 8 leds already on board, but the actually backlighting isnt leds, and there is soooooo little space to work with. The bumbs almost sit in the buttons, so the resistor right beside it WILL NOT WORK!! I had to take the cathode, bent it 90 degrees from the led, causing it to lay flat on the circuit board. On the reverse side, the resistor was soldered, laying it flat on the circuit board. There was hols in the board that I used to run each to to solder them together, effectively having everything flush. Bad thing, those holes were basically used as dowel locators for the front panel. A small snip with fingernail clippers eliminated them, allowing everything to sit flat.. Anyone doing this, make sure you have some black liquid electrical tape. I used this to coat the very tip of the LEDs since they have a certain degrees of view for most of their intensity, and the dead on view straight through the buttons is too bright. This is only for the ones that are very close to the buttons or whatever they shine though so it doesnt almost blind you... Another thing, you might notice some brightness differences here and there. This is due to the LEDs either dont have the tips coated enough with the liquid electrical tape, or you dont have them pointing directly up... For most of you, this will be PLENTY acceptable and will barely really notice it after a bit. On a flip side, I dont have the SWRC buttons done, I will be eliminated them as soon as I find a nicer steering wheel that doesnt have them (a different style wheel all together, im looking for once from like a Torrent or Cobalt) I will post some pics up tomorrow evening.. BTW, it looks BADASS!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: definately PWNS reverse glow gauges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted October 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 crappy cell phone teaser pics.. I had the setting to low res for some odd reason and it washed the blue on the dic and made it look white.. Normally my phone takes great pics for what it is, but oh well, here yall go... This is what all the hard work and about 30 hours of time gets you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89SupremeCutty Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 definately bad ass!!! looks great and it definately pwns the reverse glow gauges i have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 That looks bad ass. Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venom Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 Looks good Bob, cant wait to start the project myself LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted October 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 When I get a chance/feel like it, I will pull a few things apart to recoat the tips with the black electrical tape, apprarently I didnt cover a fwe of them enough or it got rubbed off while assembling everything.. Other than that, it looks schweet!! Excuse the crappy pics, I still dont know how to use my new camera at night very well yet. The camera kinda washed out the slightly brighter spots and made them look a different color.. They are also not much brighter, but the camera really made them intense :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Posted October 12, 2008 Report Share Posted October 12, 2008 that looks like fun............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted October 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2008 that looks like fun............... fun was not the word while doing it... More like hell im glad its done though, well worth it. I may refine a few things as far as brightness variences since I didnt coat some of the bumbs enough and didnt angle others correctly im gonna try to get more pics tonight since I have learned to use my camera much better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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