************ Please read this before continuing. **********
************************************************************************************************************************************************************* This post and thread was originally created back when LEXTECH was a reputable seller with what appeared to be a good product. Sadly, I learned the hard way that the service and product was a sham. I will leave the rest of this post as is and let other be the judge for how things progressed. At this point, I wish I had never sent my original 5-speed cluster to LEXTECH. There is currently a single needle that still works and ZERO of the LEDs are still working. I would strongly advise AGAINST sending or buying anything through LEXTECH.

Buyer Beware.
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************


Let's start from the top.

I have a 1992 Lexus SC300 5-speed with dying needles and backlighting. The fuel gauge needle was the only one that worked and it would start flickering a few minutes into a drive. The coolant needle was half dead with the rest of it barely flickering. The speedometer needle was on its last limb. RPM needle was dead on arrival when I bought the car. Not even a flicker of light.

I used the same camera throughout this whole process to stay consistent and I used NO photoshop touchup.

Exhibit 1. I would apologize for the ****ty pic but it was really just the dash and its poor lighting. It was that bad. The backlighting was weak and very yellow. Time to take it apart and send it.


I opted to do the "32" upgrade with blue needles and also went for the blue ODO and time.
Item arrived at Lextech's office on January 12th in the late evening.
I was told "5 business days" once it arrived. Took a little longer than expected. Fast forward to today, February 4th. USPS knocks on the door. LOOK WHO ARRIVED!!!


Took it out of the box I sent in, noticed immediately that my dash had a rattle noise to it. Uh oh. Also, one piece of plastic fell out of the dash.


I panic. Hope the inside is fine. Took apart the back.


Found the source of the noise. USPS does not use planes or trucks to deliver packages. They literally have a chain of mailmen that dropkick your box to each other across the United States. I should have requested that they sent it Fedex or UPS. My fault. Not enough damage to warrant a claim. After removing the random pieces of plastic that broke off, I examined the back and the ribbon cables, saw NO damage there so I put it back together and threw it on the car.


It looks GREAT!!!
Super happy with the needles and backlighting and overall pleased with the work.


My only critique would be the Blue ODO and Time. The film they overlaid was not placed properly. How do I know? I now can't read my ODO in the daylight. There is a wrinkle in the film that cuts right across the middle and makes it virtually unreadable in the sunlight because of glare. Plus, the color is quite a bit off from the needles. If I were to do this again I would skip the blue ODO and clock. Even for a measly $20 it wasn't worth it.

However, otherwise, despite the long turnaround time and ODO issue this is DEFINITELY a worthwhile mod and I would definitely trust them again in the future. There is NO reason to just "get by" with broken needles when Lextech can fix them beyond what they were new for well under $250 bucks.

 

looks great! yea kinda hard to trust shipping companies with stuff like this. USPS and FedEx havent given me too many issues, although speaking from first hand experience from UPS, they did abuse a few of the boxes so best thing you can do for any shipping issue is plenty of bubble rap and hope for the best.

Any plans on upgrading the climate controls to match?

 

That's next. Wanted to "feel out" their work before I sent more of my parts to them.

 

Looks great!

 

Looks like four lightsabers on the dash! Impressive, most impressive

 

those lights look very nice indeed! great upgrade

 

I guess im the only one that is going to disagree but IMO the color is a harsh and shows alot of hot spotting IMO.

 

It does have that distinct hot spot on each needle. It is an improvement over what I had before so i let it slide

 

lol! looks good.

 

if you want something to arrive in one piece, use FedEx. USPS is a "get what you pay for" service and everything sent via UPS is "subject to a 6-foot drop" at the processing facility - as told to me by a friend working at one. Plus, they literally THROW packaged out of the trucks onto the processing line.

 

I agree. I Fedex'd mine over there. I didn't know it would be USPS return. I have a few family members that work or worked for USPS and I'm well aware how they handle their packages

edit: Sorry, I used UPS. Not Fedex.

 

I sent mine usps priority over a month ago and they stopped answering my emails so I assume I just got hosed by them

 

I tend to believe it, this was the best model I ever built up until 2005....



UPS modifications...


It was in an 18x18x18 box, wrapped in bubble-wrap, and lined with foam! However, they did pay my $5000 insurance claim without question...

 

Dear god! how did you get that kinda cash outta that model? was it made outta gold and silver?

 

You are not alone. I have a Lextech modded cluster and it was not quite what I expected. I will be selling it as soon as I get my 97+ cluster installed.

Plenty of people like the way they look, but it's not for me. OP, I am glad you are happy with it.