Swapping out Cabin Lights

[Duffman]

Okay, for those who have been watching the Gen 1 / 1.5 Aftermarket Upgrades forum, several of us have been working on swapping out dash / gauge / HVAC lights for a while. I've either swapped out, or figured out what I need to get in order to swap out every light in the cabin. Here's where I'm at so far (pictures below):

Replaced Gauge Cluster Lights (5x194) with Super White Xenon bulbs - not quite as bright as the different LED attempts I made, but the light is uniform and comes out slightly grey.

Replaced Keyring Light (1x74?) with a wide-angle Super White LED - bent the prongs of the bulb back and jammed 'em into the back of the wire harness! Will eventually replace with White LED, but until then, this works fine.

Replaced HVAC Control Lights (2x74?) with two Super White Xenon 194s - again, bent the prongs back and carefully wedged them into the back of the wire harnesses. These will also eventually be replaced with White LEDs, but for now this is good enough! Interestingly enough, when I removed the Green Lightbulb Condoms from the three top buttons (A/C On/Off, Interior/Exterior Air, Defrost), the left and right buttons turned orange and the middle one turned green...er.

Removed Green Lightbulb Condom from Cigarette Lighter (1x74?) - will replace with White LED later on.

Replaced Reverse Lights (2x921) with Chrome-covered Super White Xenon bulbs - looks AMAZING!

Replaced License Plate lights (2x194) with narrow-beam White LED bulbs. Real freakin' bright!

Replaced Maplight and Dome Light (Had to guess on the bulb types) with Super White Xenon fuse-style bulbs. MUCH Whiter.

Ran 6" White CCFL tubes under the front driver/passenger areas, and 3" White CCFL tubes under the seats. Makes for a nice illuminated entry, since you only see the night and not the tubes themselves. Useful, without being glaringly bright. Right now they only come on with the doors opened (or with the unlock button on the remote entry). I like 'em...

As for what's left - I need to pull four LEDs out of the HVAC controls and resolder my own LEDs in their place. I'm going to put a red one on the Defrost light, and white ones in the On/Off and Int/Ext buttons. I'm also going to grab a couple smaller white LEDs and replace the tiny tiny tiny incandescent bulbs that light the On/Off and Defrost buttons. I want to replace the nig... ahem, "Afro-American Engineered" lights in the Keyring and HVAC with white LEDs, as well as the Cigarette lighter and the Change Drawer light. I'm also looking into putting some more bulbs in the gauge cluster to brighten it up a bit, or perhaps some white EL-Wire around the back of it to help brighten things up. I'll try to get a DIY up for some of this when I have time.

[hskrsolara]

Looks great! Do you think you can post links to the exact bulbs that you purchased?

[SolaraBlue]

looks real good. are the guage needles included in the 5 194 bulbs?
get some damn gas in your car!

[cklinh]

Replaced Reverse Lights (2x921) with Chrome-covered Super White Xenon bulbs - looks AMAZING!

Those DO look amazing... did you get the lights from autolumination? (I see they have a "Silver Chrome Super White" bulb...)

I want to know the exact bulb you got, cause I need the brighter reverse light for the reverse camera.

[st.augsolara02]

nice job man..looks better than the ugly green we got. im gettin some LEDs for the gauge and changin the HVAC think of either blue or white..if u figure out how to get the a/c, int/ext, and defrost buttons changed let me kno

[Duffman]

SolaraBlue - the white needles are from a 97-01 Camry I found at a Pick 'n Pull.

All of the bulbs were purchased thru http://www.autolumination.com/ - excellent service, and if you have the money already sitting in your PayPal account, the turnaround is REAL quick.

The two 194s I have in the license plate lights are Super Star Super High-Flux Low Profile LEDS (second bulb type down on the 194 section of their site):




The five Super White Xenon bulbs I used in the gauge cluster (and ghetto-rigged in the HVAC controller) are the 10th bulb type down on the 194 section:



For the reverse lights, I got the chrome Super White Xenons, the second bulb type down on the 906 / 921 section. You can also use a 194 here - they have the same footprint as far as the plug-in type, though the 921s will draw more power and be, as a rule, brighter:



For the small #74 bulbs in the bottom portions of the gauge cluster, in the shiftgate on the gauge cluster (for you auto tranny guys), and in a few other places (keyring, two in the HVAC, and such), go to the 74 section - the first ones, on the top, should work here.

There are some other, odd-sized bulbs in the HVAC unit and in the change bin light. The change bin light will take a #74, but I think the HVAC button lights will need to be done with custom-soldered LEDs. Not impossible to do, but a chore to be certain!

[Duffman]

get some damn gas in your car!

I'm babysitting a 300ZX Twin Turbo pushing 14.5 lbs boost (12.5 in the 1/4), a Maxda 626, and a Yamaha XS1100 Midnight Special. Until the 626 gets low on gas, I'm driving that - it's still got the other guy's gas in the tank.

I'll fill mine up when I have to

[hskrsolara]

wow, awesome job...this should help a bunch of guys out!