Led needles 101 !!!!!!

[John Monnin]

Cool write up, I gave you some REP love for it

[TheOmniscientRT]

Originally Posted by John Monnin

Cool write up, I gave you some REP love for it

lol

ontopic

you dont have to worry about your needles being off if you do it right

just lift the needle over the little peg that it rest on and it will unwind. mark where it stops at and pull the needle off. put it back on and line it up with your marks then lift it back over the peg. done!

[dennis_c103]

Hi Slept,

Looks great. I want to do the same for mine...but im trying to match my DEFI blue racers...

Did you attempt this before sanding down your needles...im wondering if the needles they are transparent enough to glow if i put some white LEDs back there.

Just trying to get things planned out before i start ripping it apart

heres what im trying to match...Or should i just go White for the main cluster...might be to much blue...?? any ideas?

Thanks Guys,

[BondoB]

right hand drive and climate control measures in celcius? Must be a real GTO...Awsome! The led needles are sweet btw. Great writeup

[98slept]

First time i did the led needles without sanding the actual needle it look weird and the needles had a orange-purple color. Sanded the needle and it came out bright blue. The whole needle had equivalent light. I would have prefer to take off the orange tint with some paint thinner or paint remover solvent but i was too lazy to buy it. So i rush at it and wetsand those needles down. And then polish the needles with 3m compound The resistors i wired up are using about the average voltage the leds can produce. Not max or min, just average. I would probably go blind if i had use voltage that was close to the max Im glad i did my leds needles because the stock needles were so dim that i couldnt see them well from the corner of my eye. If you are going to do your needles i would recommend you do them in red and use EL sheet for your actual gauges. I didnt have the cash for el sheets Too expensive. .(dont worry about the brightness you can always get resistors that lower the brightness/voltage of the leds).Dont forget there different shades of blue from different venders. Four of out my 50 leds came out turquoise greenblue and i had to switch those out.


I have some more pics but there all blurry, i need a new camera.



They look exactly like midnight haze's led needles. Just a little bit more brighter.

[dennis_c103]

yeh ive been trying to find some info for matching up my LEDs i dont want to do this only to find that they arnt the same color as my DEFIs. Ive also only found limited info on what exact bulbs are in there...i think ive read that some are #74 it think...but no info on what specific LEDs...my manuals arnt helping much either...I guess i will have to just rip them out and see.

[D2James88]

Originally Posted by Devilmightcry

aren't those neelds spring preload? as soon as you remove them you are pretty much screwed.

He is right they will be a little off but your not screwed my gas and tach are completely right however my speedometer is 5 mph slow up to 45 then it is right on the money past 50, so it corrects itself between 45 and 50.

[VillasenorStealth]

dam i saw these in person and they were dope as shit! i would really recommend them

[Nihil]

Originally Posted by TheOmniscientRT

lol

ontopic

you dont have to worry about your needles being off if you do it right

just lift the needle over the little peg that it rest on and it will unwind. mark where it stops at and pull the needle off. put it back on and line it up with your marks then lift it back over the peg. done!

Important you do it this way! I did speed hut overy lays a couple years ago, you lift the needle over the pin carefully and let it unwind to its relaxed state, mark the housing so you know where the needle lines up, then pull the needle off...

As for your needle mod, you don't have to sand the orange off, I used #00000 Steel wool and the orange paint came right off, you can use white out n paint it so you have white needles and it'll tone down the brightness of the needle as well. Also, the plastic backing on the stock mph n rpm gauges works kinda like a fiber optic, the regular filiment bulb shines in there and spreads the light through out the cluster, what I did was just soldered blue L.E.D.'s in each of the holes that the stock bulbs were in and made sure they were pointed into the plastic edge and my needles are nice and bright.

Here's some pics of mine:


Another tip too...here's my modded Prosport Gauges:


I used Water colors on the White leds and made them blue, in person everything is matched, the pics are kinda shitty. The prosports are a little brighter but the blues all match I promise! I opted not to repaint the needles, they look cool clear with everything in my opinoin.

I'll be doin red on my TT woo hoo!