Lveyolfe

I'm wanting to install leds in my cluster. Found a few threads but the main one doesn't have a answer to my question..

How do you take off the faceplate so I can flip the bulbs easier from polarity?

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

They can be pretty tough to remove. There are two little vertical screws up top under removable covers, and two at the lower corners that you'll see when you pop out the alarm/odometer panel. You can then pull the cluster forward to disconnect the harnesses in the back, but if it's like mine, there won't be enough slack in the wiring to pull it out far enough to work on (the plugs are very tight).

Lowering the tilt steering wheel all the way helps, but what I finally figured out that made mine doable was to take stuff apart below the steering column and loosen the bolts that holds it up. Lowering the whole column down gave me enough room to work.

Once the cluster is out, you can unscrew the back cover that conceals the various bulbs. For whatever reason, merely breathing on these clusters causes bulbs to stop working quite frequently. I replaced one that was out and ended up with two out...

oldManTan

the face plate is held by the needle motor screws, there are 16 screws on the back of the circuit board, you'll have to take the entire cluster completely apart.

mikef

iTrader: (3)

its not that hard really. or you can send it out to someone to do it for you

TaninAuto

Hi, Tanin Auto Electronix here. We specialize in auto electronic repairs and also sell DIY parts as well. If you decide you want someone to install for you, we can help with that too.

Here is a link to our LEDS:

http://www.taninautoelectronix.com/LEDS-s/1817.htm

Let us know if you still have any questions on installation and we will try to help out!

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

If you look in the thread titled "ice blue" using search and my user id you'll see how to take it apart by page 6 (depending on how you have your viewing setup per page). I recommend using either led strips or making a custom solution where you spread out the leds and aim them away from the faceplate. Otherwise they will be brighter in areas than others. Back in the day when I was building them (before I sold the company to the asshat that ran it into the ground) I had several solutions to the issue and my favorite was strips. More leds and less time consuming. Beware of sellers attempting to sell you any led that plugs in and says it will radiate fully without spotting. There is no such led that can do it effectively. There will always be brighter spots than evenness. eBay can sell you the strips for maybe 10-15 bucks. Good luck!

EDIT: incase you're wondering why, it's because the leds are very close to the faceplate. If an LED claims to have a large radiation pattern, even if it could defract enough light to go in 180 radius, the led is still transmitting over 65% of it's output from the source through the main part of the glass directly forward. Combine that with the fact that the diffused area (sides) of the led are putting out less measured output the further away from the source it goes (where you plugged it in at) and spreading across the face further away from it, with the fact that the led is very close to the face and doesn't have enough room to disperse (ever had a flashlight directly to paper and pulled it back slowly?) it's just a terrible idea. Using the strips you can aim them around the face away from the front and get a nice even light for 10 to 15 bucks and the large number of leds in the strips will always be brighter than the single led in the plug in. PLUS it'll looks much better. I had spent over 7 years perfecting it before I handed the reigns to someone else and got out of it. It's the only way to fly, and it's cheap .

Lveyolfe

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!