DIY: Guage Colour Change
04-Feb-2005, 11:22 AM
#1
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Durham Region
Posts: 2,548
DIY: Guage Colour Change
DIY Guage Colour Change.... 96-98 Civic
hey all i was asked a couple of times in how to do this.
it was posted before i beleive a but doesn't hurt to do it again....
it is easler to buy replacement leds as they are brighter, but the colour choice is limited, by doing this you have enddless possibilities...
Materials Needed:
Screw Driver
*Bulb Paint (not glass paint) in your choice of colour
Time
Other Note:
The 96-98 Dash takes 2 #74 Bulbs and 2 #194 Bulbs
Current Guage Setup
Old Guage Setup
- First step is to remove the dash trim below the steering wheel, it is not a step that you have to do but it does make it easier to remove the clips which hold the guage in place after. there are two screws holding
the dash trim closer to the floor and i believe a couple more up to after that it will pop out.
- after that you have to remove the two screws holding the black guage trim in place... they are on top of the guages, there are alos to clips on the bottom which you have to unclip. be very careful as they are easily brocken and can be a pain to remove.
- after you have removed the trim there will be 4 screws holding the guage in place one in each corner, remove them and put aside.
- take out the cluster, be careful to to pull to hard as there are electronics honding them... duh... lol also be careful with the trim around the steering whell, the plexiglass on the guage is smooth and can cut into your trim on the fcar, so don't rest it ontop of your steering wheel.
- after you have pulled it out, unplug all of the electronics. and in the house you go.
- there are 4 bulbs, 2 #74 Bulbs and 2 #194 Bulbs, replace those bulbs with you aftermarket bulb. (the honda ones will come out and they'll have blue bulb condoms on them to make the bulbs appear more white instead of amber) the other bulbs you will have to take off, take off the honda condoms then paint them with your *bulb paint. then let dry over night.
- make sure you use bulb paint, simple window paint will not work as these bulbs get extremely hot. i tried using window tint and the paint simply crystalized, burned, then smoked the lights... smoke everywhere... so make sure you find bulb paint at your performance store to avoid this problem.
- after bulbs have dried put them back into the guage. then reverse the steps in putting the guages back in.
- so replug wiring, screw in the four guage screws, then replace the guage trim, clip back in, then screw the two screws, then replace dash trimming.
- the end result...
and yes the center bulb is out i know that... lol
hope this helped a couple people out...
hey all i was asked a couple of times in how to do this.
it was posted before i beleive a but doesn't hurt to do it again....
it is easler to buy replacement leds as they are brighter, but the colour choice is limited, by doing this you have enddless possibilities...
Materials Needed:
Screw Driver
*Bulb Paint (not glass paint) in your choice of colour
Time
Other Note:
The 96-98 Dash takes 2 #74 Bulbs and 2 #194 Bulbs
Current Guage Setup
Old Guage Setup
- First step is to remove the dash trim below the steering wheel, it is not a step that you have to do but it does make it easier to remove the clips which hold the guage in place after. there are two screws holding
the dash trim closer to the floor and i believe a couple more up to after that it will pop out.
- after that you have to remove the two screws holding the black guage trim in place... they are on top of the guages, there are alos to clips on the bottom which you have to unclip. be very careful as they are easily brocken and can be a pain to remove.
- after you have removed the trim there will be 4 screws holding the guage in place one in each corner, remove them and put aside.
- take out the cluster, be careful to to pull to hard as there are electronics honding them... duh... lol also be careful with the trim around the steering whell, the plexiglass on the guage is smooth and can cut into your trim on the fcar, so don't rest it ontop of your steering wheel.
- after you have pulled it out, unplug all of the electronics. and in the house you go.
- there are 4 bulbs, 2 #74 Bulbs and 2 #194 Bulbs, replace those bulbs with you aftermarket bulb. (the honda ones will come out and they'll have blue bulb condoms on them to make the bulbs appear more white instead of amber) the other bulbs you will have to take off, take off the honda condoms then paint them with your *bulb paint. then let dry over night.
- make sure you use bulb paint, simple window paint will not work as these bulbs get extremely hot. i tried using window tint and the paint simply crystalized, burned, then smoked the lights... smoke everywhere... so make sure you find bulb paint at your performance store to avoid this problem.
- after bulbs have dried put them back into the guage. then reverse the steps in putting the guages back in.
- so replug wiring, screw in the four guage screws, then replace the guage trim, clip back in, then screw the two screws, then replace dash trimming.
- the end result...
and yes the center bulb is out i know that... lol
hope this helped a couple people out...
04-Feb-2005, 12:05 PM
#2
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Toronto,Ontario
Posts: 289
Another awesome diy.
04-Feb-2005, 01:49 PM
#3
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Scarborough and Mississauga
Posts: 7,065
good writeup, when the uppre bulb is installed the whole speedo lights up right?
04-Feb-2005, 04:38 PM
#5
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Durham Region
Posts: 2,548
ty, ty, ty...
yes when the upper bulb is in it will all be lit up, i have recently replaced the bulbs with led replacements and it makes your guages way brighter...
yes when the upper bulb is in it will all be lit up, i have recently replaced the bulbs with led replacements and it makes your guages way brighter...
04-Feb-2005, 05:13 PM
#7
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Durham Region
Posts: 2,548
well the pic that is shown was taken after the diy,
i should take a newer pic as it is now much brighter as i have led lights now instead of normal bulbs, also my guage's have changed i now have a euro dash cluster...
i should take a newer pic as it is now much brighter as i have led lights now instead of normal bulbs, also my guage's have changed i now have a euro dash cluster...
04-Feb-2005, 10:35 PM
#8
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 7,745
how do u install the LED lites???
04-Feb-2005, 10:52 PM
#9
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Durham Region
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the led lights are replacements for the stock guage bulbs, its as simple as puling out the bulb from the guage, and repplaceing it with the new bulb...
the led bulb has a socket that is the same as the stock bulb
- as long as you buy instrument replacement LED's
i beleive ii got them from superbrightleds.com
but theri ar many on e-bay and so on,
the led bulb has a socket that is the same as the stock bulb
- as long as you buy instrument replacement LED's
i beleive ii got them from superbrightleds.com
but theri ar many on e-bay and so on,
05-Feb-2005, 08:45 AM
#11
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 7,745
Originally posted by BBProductions
the led lights are replacements for the stock guage bulbs, its as simple as puling out the bulb from the guage, and repplaceing it with the new bulb...
the led bulb has a socket that is the same as the stock bulb
- as long as you buy instrument replacement LED's
i beleive ii got them from superbrightleds.com
but theri ar many on e-bay and so on,
the led lights are replacements for the stock guage bulbs, its as simple as puling out the bulb from the guage, and repplaceing it with the new bulb...
the led bulb has a socket that is the same as the stock bulb
- as long as you buy instrument replacement LED's
i beleive ii got them from superbrightleds.com
but theri ar many on e-bay and so on,
05-Feb-2005, 09:29 AM
#12
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Durham Region
Posts: 2,548
np bro... its easy plug and play, ontthing about leds are that their are not a wide variety of colours maby like 6 at the max, so you are limited, if the colour of led isn't available you can always get whiteleds then paint them, or you can paint your stock bulbs like shown above...
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