Interior mod with white LED is almost complete.

[DrLove]

I found that CASTRO did the same on a camry cluster.
But the camry gauges have transparent needles, not red/orange like Solara. It looks even better.

look:


And this is my Solara:

[YESCA]

you got the wrong style 194 bulbs for the instrument panel lights.
go to superbrightleds.com
and order the 5 wedge light that will give you even light dispersement.

I have those on my Gen 4 Camry, and you still will get the hot spots. I fixed that by putting a reflective tape on the back of the cluster so the light would be even all around. Sounds kind of janky but no one sees it and it is bright as hell. Sort of makes it look like the Nissan or Lexus dash lights. Foil will work just as well.

so did you cover the whole back side of the gauges with the reflective tape? Or, just the edges?

Nope, just around the top, and I found the tape at my local hardware store. you can use tin foil as well. Just make sure it looks nice and even.

[Ransom8707]

thats a great looking interior there everything matches up perfect im sorta jealous i never got around doing all the bulb changing on mine but sorta looks like a spaceship with alot of buttons, gauges, and screens
nevertheless how difficult was it to change the AC, clock, and shifter bulbs? im thinking of doing a blue maybe white theme but first i wanna know if its a difficult task

[DrLove]

Gauges= Super easy. 4 screws.

HVAC= Medium.
Remove the headunit bezel, 4 screws. Hard to find 74 LED who will not do hard light spot, mine were doing light spots, so I use an Ikea white strip LED that I've never use, for less than $10 you can find one in an electronic part store. I did a hole and connect it to the cig lighter light.

Clock= Easy.
Remove the headunit plastic bezel, 2 screw to remove the clock piece, 2 more to open it, cut a color plastic of your choice of the exact size of the clock display LCD. Put it back and voila. You can't put a white LED there or any LED, it's a LCD so you can't change it, but you cant cover it to make it blue or red, the stock green is pretty ugly when all the other light are white!

Shifter= HARD. I had hard time to remove this one, and to plug it back was almost impossible, the cable socket is so short. I cant explain how to do it, you need to remove the radio bezel, the plastic around the shifter, etc...etc... took me 40 mins.

Key ring= easy, but use a 74 LED, first I wanted to save some bucks so I cut the wire and solder a white 5mm LED..bad idea..after 2 weeks it started to blink.. so I finally solder it back with a 74 SMT LED.

Cig lighter= easy, a simple 74 LED..but the socket has a blue plastic part inside i,so it was looking pretty bad, so I just disconnect the light. cig lighter still working, just dont light anymore. It would work with a blue theme,but not with a white theme.

Defrost/AC = not done yet..
I know that autolumination.com sell LED that fit, it's a special LED socket, very rare, but because Im from Canada I need to buy for minimum $35 or they dont ship. The cheap solution would be to solder a white LED and resistor, or use my 3 left 74 LED..I bought a second HVAC unit on ebay for $15,so I have another set of DEFROST/AC buttons,if I mess the first one! hehe


The hard thing is not to do the job,it's more to match the color of the different LED type (194,74,etc..). I guess it's easier to get a good match with blue or red LED.

I'm sure that UV LED would be amazing too...kind of purple look..
Im sure it would be unique and nice.

I didn't change the light bulb inside the car for LED, I will probably not do it.

[hskrsolara]

hmm...I installed the white 5-led wedge type from superbrightleds in my gauge cluster and it looks very dim, and not super white. Where did you stick the reflective tape to? It seems to be blocking more light than it reflects...maybe I have the wrong tape?

I'm pretty new to the gauge lighting, so any help is appreciated.

[Toy1mzfe]

for the needle, from experience from my x- hyundai guys, you use nailpolish remover and remove it.

Take q-tip dip it in the nailpolish remover and run it on thr bottom of the needle. this makes it clear.

[hskrsolara]

the needles are fine, its the actual gauges themselves that are dim...jeff are you sure these are the bulbs you used?

[lilm]

for the needle, from experience from my x- hyundai guys, you use nailpolish remover and remove it.

Take q-tip dip it in the nailpolish remover and run it on thr bottom of the needle. this makes it clear.

Did this on my first solara just be careful you do not pull to hard. And on one of the gauges i couldn't get a little bit of orange off right at the end.

[hskrsolara]

any suggestions?

[woa_its_j3ff]

any suggestions?

thats quite odd bro.
I have red myself, and it's fairly bright, I'll take a pic tomorrow night if I Can remember and PM it to you man. and yes I am sure thats the kind I used. I'll see what I can do.

[AllShowNoGo]

My gauges are white and my auto hvac is white aswell. The reason the gauges arent bright is there is a light green tint over them. Certain colors like red and blue show through no problem but white seems to have a hint of green in it. As for the hvac, it has no tint making it very white...

[hskrsolara]

^^exactly, its like a dim green color. Any way to combat this? I know guys ou there have very nice white gauges, I just need to find a way to get there. In the meanwhile, my dash is spread all over the garage and the wife is getting very impatient.

[DrLove]

I don't have "little green" color with my white LED gauges, I would say that it's a bit "white-gray" and you canot get a perfect white, it's not an "optitron" gauges like the new toyota & lexus. I also "dim" mine or they are too bright at night. I use 1W white LED. It makes little "hotspot" but it's 1000 times better then the green color..when I remember how ugly it was compare to now,I cant go back to stock with the gauges hehe. My HVAC are pretty bright, I used a white led strip.the result is great!... But for sure red or blue LED would be more easy for the color match.

[trdkamuri51o]

jeff just let it go.. seriously

not everyone wants to drop 100 bucks for some lights that they only see a few hours at a time.. nor do they wanna go overboard..

his look nice enough...


as for the OP good lights.. i gotta do my hvac but need more LED's

[DrLove]

If somebody wants the #74 socket I have some left, so you can add some to the HVAC to make a uniform ligh there. In he HVAC You will 2 sockets, but you can add other by drilling holes. $5 each, it's pretty rare I find mine at one place after lot of search..