04+ Cluster Bulb Swap & (abandoned) DIC Project

**Bronco Boy** · 09-20-2016

Looks good. Glad I have bulbs cuz me and soldering don't play well together.

**WarStryker13** · 09-20-2016

I'm excited to see the finished product, so I can decide whether to do this myself... I guarantee my attempt will take much much longer. Lol

If you find this to be fun, I'm probably going to beg you to do one for me. Lol

**SaukRapids** · 09-20-2016

Thanks. Jeff's got some serious skill with an iron. Mine don't look that nice. The products he mentioned are definitely better than what I used.

Here are the masked leds for a bad ABS module. The tape lifted a bit overnight, but I pretty much left it.

Testing. The pattern on the right is changed later and explained. Those two remaining red lights in center are swapped after this, but the rest of the indicators are left stock. Edit: I did end up masking these better. The LEDs leaked a tiny bit of light from under the tape you can barely see.

It's kinda hard to see, but the right side gauges ended up looking not quite right. I changing a couple LEDs from green to blue on the right side. Otherwise, fuel was totally blue and temp almost completely green. There's some odd light pipe things behind it that separated the colors.

I changed out the seat belt to blue and MPH to green.

And finished. All buttoned back up.

I'm very glad I went with a red LED for the boost gauge. Here's the overall appearance.

It had definitely been an adventure so far. I changed it around even more later. Lol

**WarStryker13** · 09-20-2016

Looks bad ass.

One thing I will mention, if you switch over to metric at any time, the kph light is directly across from the mph light.

**J57ltr** · 09-21-2016

Man that looks sexy as hell I like it. Now to do the DIC and radio........

**SaukRapids** · 09-23-2016

Originally Posted by J57ltr

Now to do the DIC and radio........

Uhm, about that..

First it needs to be removed and the black tabs pressed in to separate the case.

Then this cable comes off the smaller board for the buttons.

Two ribbon cables. This was during reassembly. It's easier to guide the ribbons in as you lower the board putting it back together. Then press the tabs to secure the cables. There's a black mark to make sure they're fully seated.

I lifted the board off and some little reflector things fell out. I'd advise not to touch the surface of these. I handled them by the tabs only, which also only allow them to be inserted over the paper reflector one way. The tab on the reflector on the right (red arrow) needs to be opposite the tab already in the white frame. (So there's one clear tab on each side of the ribbon cable connector in the white plastic frame.)

After the white frame is removed by pressing the tabs, here are the LEDs for the display. My first impression of this is that it would probably look terrible if the LEDs aren't nearly flat. It might look wavy or uneven, but maybe the light's distributed enough though all the reflector pieces. I'm still on the fence there.

The button LEDs look familiar.

This looks like an issue. I guess I can use some blue ones if I want purple buttons, lol.

Hrmh.. I'd really, really advise not accidentally touching this part. (Like I did.)

It's not plugged in. Dots do things here when it is.

Pad view of the LEDs.

Ok. Now, I found the LED's already. I can only find two sites for them.

The first is Kingbright, a manufacturer I think here in the US. - http://www.kingbrightusa.com/categor...SMD+LED&Page=1

A second site lists another variety of Kingbright, plus another manufacturer that needs a 10 weeks lead time (lol). - http://www.mouser.com/Optoelectronic...yp37eaZ1yvleoo

It looks a little different, but those are also two pad LED's. I'm moving next weeked, finally! I can maybe look at this in another few weeks. I only have one DIC right now too. (giggity)

If anyone else gets to it first, pics would be sweet.

**SaukRapids** · 09-21-2016

Well, I wasn't quite satisfied with how the colors mixed. I repositioned some to let the OCD show a little more, lol. Drawing corresponds to the color changes. (Edit: This is the final layout for the color scheme I was looking for. Be careful if you choose more than one color. I used a color chart to make sure blue and green mixed ok.)

It completed a more graduated color scheme. The camera picks up a purplish shade on the RPM and Fuel gauge that isn't noticeable with the eye. You'll have to trust me on that. All three areas look exactly like the speedometer now.

I'm not big into grandiosity, but this turned out absolutely stunning. Whenever the car's Bermuda Blue gets redone, this will look phenomenal.

Seriously, thanks for following along. I hope this gets more people to try it. It's not that bad once you get in there.

My last tips are that the needles all have a counterclockwise stop. Simply, mark or picture where they were turned all the way left by hand before removal. Barely push them back on, just enough to stand. Start them much too high on the indicator lines and turn them counterclockwise until you feel the motor shaft stop. Slide the needle to your low mark. If there is too much resistance, lift and start again. Hold alignment steady and press down. Just send it all the way home, it won't bind or anything. I used my fingers to pull them off. Just be careful not to bend the shafts, which are surprisingly sturdy. Have some extra LEDs. Might as well since they cost a quarter and waiting would be horrible. The site I referenced for them has a few colors in 1210, and it is a two pad solder package. There are four pad LEDs on that same site that aren't right, but appear exactly the same. Notice the notched corner on each LED. Those are for polarity and need to be in the upper right corner on all replaced LEDs (assuming you're looking at the faces as they were in the car.) I'd be willing to help with questions, etc. Just send a PM.

Back to it then. This project is done.

**WarStryker13** · 09-21-2016

it's majestic.

**Bronco Boy** · 09-22-2016

Very colourful.

**J57ltr** · 09-22-2016

(Cough, cough) DIC and radio (Cough)......

**98grand** · 09-22-2016

Man that looks great!!

**spazzz** · 09-22-2016

Very nice

**J57ltr** · 09-24-2016

Did you try Digikey as well?

**SaukRapids** · 09-25-2016

I have now, lol. I couldn't find much when I narrowed it down besides a few from Dialight. That's the one with 10 weeks lead time.

I did notice this, though. The left are the blue the LEDs for the cluster mod. The right pane is a Kingbright part from the second link above. The intensity for stock color, like red or yellow is a bit higher than blue. A less intense blue is probably fine for the screen.

Right now, I'm really thinking about what to do with the DIC buttons.

**J57ltr** · 09-26-2016

How about these? they are 300mcd (edit: looked at the wrong one it's 220 mcd)

http://www.newark.com/kingbright/ka-...0nm/dp/83T2870

Or here's the whole page the ones you are looking for are about 7-8 down, looks like they are all in stock.

http://www.newark.com/webapp/wcs/sto...&storeId=10194

Jeff

**PaintChips97** · 09-26-2016

I'm glad my whole car's theme is red, everything came how I'd want it lol. Too much for me. Looks fantastic, though!

**SaukRapids** · 09-26-2016

Thanks, chips. That profile pic, lol.

I'd been wondering if the same part(s) kept coming up at different places. That's indeed the case for the right angle LEDs for the DIC display. However, Kingbright's own site only lists a part number AA4040QB S/D. The brighter LEDs we both came across are part number AA4040QB S/G. Whether or not those would be too bright in blue, I don't know. I have a potential order from mouser that includes both the S/D and S/G intensities.

I'm wondering about a split color on the display/buttons now, not sure yet.

**Nyc93** · 10-13-2016

Sauk,

How much would you charge to do this? I'm just south of you in Rochester and been wanting to do this very bad. And your multi color setup looks amazing and I want it.

**xxpappas13xx** · 10-16-2016

Ive had this saved for a while if any info helps from it http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...8+color+change

**SaukRapids** · 03-07-2017

Agreed. You can also see they didn't have any luck changing the buttons. I really wanted to change out the whole console, radio n all.

The link in this quote shows the swapped DIC you might be referring to. Maybe some year or other car had white or clear buttons, but at least these two don't. It's been frustrating and disappointing deciding to leave it alone.

Originally Posted by xxpappas13xx

Ive had this saved for a while if any info helps from it http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...8+color+change