Salty

iTrader: (14)

i tired both the wide angle and opaque bulbs in every color mentioned in my 1st post. The opaque bulbs are better hands down. the smaller led's size 74 IIRC are in one style only. To make them opaque i used some small grit sandpaper.

Wutzdatbehindu

iTrader: (2)

Why do you say that Red/Amber don't work well for the cluster? would it be a better route to go and get the condoms? I'm guessing no because it won't match the red of the HVAC/Keyring/stereo.

Also, not sure if u mentioned it Salty but what about the stereo? I'm sure there is a D-I-Y step by step somewhere in I-club but I was wondering why you didn't include it in your post. And could you direct me to it if you know where I can find one. Also, is it possible to change the actual display of the stock stereo? where it displays the station frequency or the CD track time? Thank you!

Wutzdatbehindu

iTrader: (2)

BTW, I meant the LCD...lol, couldn't think of the term. oh and would they be 74's or 194's? I found this when I did a search. If these are condoms, they look great! But the guy did say that it looked brighter so I'm not sure.

https://www.i-club.com/forums/showth...ght=LED+stereo

Salty

iTrader: (14)

BECAUSE OF THE GREEN FILM... READ EVERY POST.

sorry i'm having a bad day...

Again, read my posts... If you want a ****ty looking setup then rock out with your **** out and use the condoms. I have tired condoms & direct replacement LEDs on every bulb in the car so that's all i'm going to say about that....


CLICK ME

CLICK ME TOO

Salty

iTrader: (14)

To tell you the truth i have never done the stereo LCD's because i bought an aftermarket one. On that note, I don't want to give you any wrong info. Do some searches for 'stereo' , 'LCD' or whatever to get some better info.

sorry, eric

kravdra

I probably missed something and apologize ahead of time. I know you did this on the wrx. Now that thats out of the way, I have a couple questions. I figured the bulb sizes and stuff would be the same, and ordered the recommended bulbs. When doing it however, the 194's were too big for the HVAC, and the 74's shine out the top and therefore wouldn't light the fiber optics though the right size. Any ideas? Also the speedo stuff was very wierd. Firstly, I backlit the clock with blue, and it looks awesome!!! however, the rest didn't work, one of the bulbs i bought for the HVAC, the 194, fit into 1 spot perfectly. However the 74s were too small for the spots behind the speedo and tach, and don't produce a lot of light, making the gauges way to dark at night. The 194s however wouldn't even fit in the hole. Any ideas? Anyone know where I could by bulbs halfway between the two sizes, autoluminations only sells those two sizes (i think)? Any help would be aprreciated. Oh yea, I have a '99 OBS, so if anyone else has done it, what did you use. Or am I just crazy and missing something. Thank you

wagon christ

Use some sandpaper and remove the dome part of the lens. The shorter you make the lens the wider the spread of light is. You need a leave about a millimeter of plastic above the actual diode though. Sand the sides of the lens too for a bit more scatter.
Do this and the effect is much more even. My cluster almost looks oem now and matches my cd player very nicely :banana:
The hvac unit is still a bit patchy, but it's quite liveable.

netzr0

thanks for all the great info and links.
i just did my STi HVAC with the bulb covers. (aka condoms)
Took about 40 minutes, and was very easy.
only bad thing htat happend was that i pushed to hard when setting my console back together, and broke a clip.
everything still fits fine.

thanks

Daios

iTrader: (9)

I have yet to do mine... i just need to order the leds... there was two 74 size bulbs in the HVAC in my 00 RS, forgot how many in guage cluster but for sure one 194 size bulb in there

Salty

iTrader: (14)

They should unplug when you depress the latch-clip thingy, right? Not too sure about the 99RS but i know my MY03 WRX was a PITA to manipulate at first to reach the plugs.

If you can manage to keep the cluster in a tilt it at an angle to reach the bulbs then that would be better because you'll want to insure each bulb works before re-installing it.

wagon christ

As I recall there were two #194 (the larger ones) in there and about 5 or 6 #74. Get the inverted ones if you can. If you can only get regular focused LEDs, sand the lens flat to get wider dispersal or you'll get bright patches and large area that are unlit.
You'll still end up with a clock that's barely useful in daylight, and an odo that's barely useful at night. The blue gauge needles and blue 'red zone' on the tach are a little hard to see, but it's liveable.
Remeber also the LEDs are polarized. You fit them into the bulb holders and refit them into the dash. 50/50 chance you have the polarity wrong. Take it out, rotate 180* and try again.