How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I think this site needs more step by step "how to"s. So I made this one.



Use this link http://www.mikefordmustang.com/write...er-mustang.php for the basics. Even though this is for a SN95 and not a Mach 1 everything is the same up until you get your gauge cluster loose from the car.

There are two plugs that you need to press clips in with your finger while you wiggle them loose to get the gauge cluster loose from the car.

Once you get the cluster loose from the car and flip it over to take out the bulbs you will run into a white case around it (see below). Use a star screw driver to get the brass screws out.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...32v/gauge4.jpg

At this point you are ready to take out the bulbs. You need to turn the white clips attached to the bulbs counter clockwise. They are small so a pair of needle nose pliers helped me alot.

For me the bulbs were a MAJOR pain in the *** to get out the clips at first using only my hands. I then used a work set of gloves that have rubber on the fingers. Whatever you do make sure you don't squeeze the bulb too much or you could break it. Instead get a good grip with two fingers on the bulb, hold the white clip with a pair of needle nose pliers and pull apart.

Now you are ready to put in your LED bulbs. It should look like this...

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...32v/gauge2.jpg

Install the LED bulbs back into the gauges but do not install the white case around the back of the gauges yet. I'm going to tell you a short cut...

Go install the gauges back in the car with the white case missing BUT BE CAREFUL not to hurt anything behind the gauges!!! Now plug in only the plug that is closest to the passenger side. This will allow you to see which bulbs are working and which aren't without having to take everything back apart. It should look like this...

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...32v/gauge1.jpg

Now turn the lights on and you can see which bulbs are working and which aren't. For me at first only the far left and far right ones worked. I had to pull some back out and switch them around and some I had to just play with the LED bulb in the clip and how it was seated. After they all light up you are ready to reinstall.

You will need to unplug them again to reinstall the white case. When you unplug the only plug in you used to light them up, again...BE CAREFUL. The white case keeps the green motherboard from becoming detached from the gauges. So hold it gently so it can't detach and move the plug side to side, not up and down like you normally might.

After this you can use the first link again and just reinstall everything like you took it apart. Then your gauges should have gone from this....

STOCK
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...32v/gauge5.jpg




to this
























NEW
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...32v/gauge3.jpg

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

The bulbs are here http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b....html%23ipanel and are the 74-xHP3

Now if you get the "cool white" bulbs your gauges will look like this...

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...32v/gauge6.jpg

I like the factory look of white, just not the dim look. So I figured out you need to get the "warm white"

The cool white is more of a 6000k HID look and the warm white is a pure 4500k HID white look.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Excellent. I will be doing this. Thanks :CHEERS:

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Nice! Thanks for this!!!

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

man thanks for the write up, i would agree for sure need more how to's and write ups, helps out alot, this one should become a sticky, also i'll prob be doing this soon, just alot better for seeing it and looks great,

would be kewl to switch mine to yellow, that would be nice,

again thanks for the write up, really helpful

ASh

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

does the dimming feature still work?

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

How many bulbs do u need to order ?

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Hell ya. Thanks man :CHEERS:

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

yes

5

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

ive been thinking about doing this... what i really want to do is get rid of the green stuff in the center of the dash.. how do we ditch the green illumination of the heat/ac/trac control etc

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Id love to make everything blue in the car. Problem is my boost gauge is green to match the green gauge cluster and the green center console. Would be nice if all of it was blue. Just seems like alot of work and I dont think you can change the stock stereo to blue.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Just ordered mine! :eyebrows::eyebrows: I'm guessing the bright white ones were the "warm white?" I didn't see any other white it could be.

Thanks for the write up and part #:hail1:

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

i would like to do yellow, i guess simple question can yellow be done, i'm guessing it is what ever choice of bulb you go with and that is what you get???

ASh

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

When I bought mine I saw the colors were:Soft white, Cool white (kinda blue), red, green (lime) blue, amber (yellow..) or purple. My order came out to $20.44 shipped.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

sweet i think i'm going to try the amber(yellow) ones, i know my amber fog light bulbs worked great, so i'm sure it will be the same for this, i just hope it looks good at night, more of where its easy to see everything and not hard, that is the only reason i did HID's on mine, is cuz its just so hard for me to see at night and when its raining and other people on the road just hard to see so the HID's help me out alot

ASh

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

if the amber looks like the blue up in the picture above than it should work fine, i'll be placing my order soon, not in a rush, just glad someone did a write up on this and showed some pictures

ASh

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Very cool, I had no idea we could even change out the bulbs. By the looks of it I will probably not be able to go with red because then it will all just be red, kind of a boring look picturing it :(

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Anybody know what type of led buld we need for lights around the A/C knobs area?

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Kind of along those lines, my Wife's G35 has orange instrement lights and it makes the redline really hard to see. Just FYI. I think it would look cool, but I stayed with white because other than the Bullitt and Cobra R, no other Mustang up to 2004 was equipped with White guage lights. :worship:

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Installed mine today! Went with green to match my Aeroforce Gauges. It sure was a pain in the a$$ to get all the LEDs on.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Now THAT looks good my friend!!! Did you try my shortcut to checking all the LEDs?

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Thanks! Yup I sure did

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Thanks! nice how-to, just ordered the cool white LED's for mine

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...o/df04a1e3.jpg

Mine turned out really nice! I didn't take off the white cover on the back of the cluster for fear if messing up the mother board. I was able to remove and replace the bulbs with needle nose pliers. At first, only one bulb didn't work, so I bent the clip towards the white base of the fixture and it worked just fine. Thanks for the write up and buying info!!

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

This was the FIRST mod that I did to my Mach. I also put a red and blue LED in the AC knob It looks sweet! .... STILL havent been able to get git of the **** GREEEN odometer tho!

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I like that color:D Thanks for the link for the write up and bulb info OP.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I bought the bulbs, and am very happy. Has anyone done these LEDs for the rear tail lights? It would be around $120.. There is a video with a Mustang on the site. He has sequential turn signals and you can see the LEDs light up and turn off faster. Hard to see what they really look like though.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...5-T.htm#photos

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Awesome, I'll be going with the cool white to match my AB mach.

I agree, this site needs more "how-to's".

SVTP is FULL of them lol.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I will be doing this soon

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I have LEDs in my streetbikes turn signals and they do blink faster than normal. On my bike I like that because Im switch lanes fast. There is a control moduale they make so that you can change the speed that they blink.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

i need to get off my *** and do this...

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I installed the cool white ones. They seem to match the gauges nicely. I may buy another set of the blue and see what they look like also. Picture came out a little blurry.
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/t...ony40/0023.jpg

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Good lord what is your water temp at?!

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Yes, They match the cobalt auto meter gauges wonderfully. The aftermarket gauges actually almost make it so you HAVE to do the LED swap in order for them to look balanced anyway. I love mine. Just enough color without looking ricey or obnoxious. I also added some in the trunk light harness so you can actually see in the back of the trunk when the deck is up.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I've considered doing this. I put LEDs in the SVO's gauges (gauges, turn indicators, warning lights and high beam) and I am very happy with the results. After I put them in, it became very clear the standard bulbs in a fox body are pretty dim.

The only 2 things to mention: the dimmer switch is not as useful with the LEDs (the difference between bright and dim is minimal), and the blue LED used for the high beam indicator is like a landing light (VERY BRIGHT) ....

If you can live with the dimmer not doing much, it's a great upgrade. But take my advice and don't put the blue LED in (see pics)...

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

just did this last night with some LED's that my brother had laying around. crazy simple, however, i just ordered new ones as the ones he had laying around were both blue and not very bright. super bright, white, 75 degree LED's were just ordered.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

just place dmy order for the cool white ones...should go nicely with my AB mach along with my 6K HID's

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

They look awesome.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

got my LED's in the mail today...install tomorrow!

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Pics when installed, good luck.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Ohh will do!

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

what the hell....figured, I go to take off the headlight knob as the FIRST THING to do and I can't get it off...

I keep trying to pull back on the little metal clip as well as the knob itself but the **** thing won't budge!

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

It is a pain, keep at it. Follow my instructions

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Ohh I've had the whole dash of my old 04 GT apart...i just had to pull harder on the knob...I just didn't want to break it...


I had to play with the tabs inside the bulb housings to make good contact with the LED's to get them to light up. Other than that they are in and look pretty cool. I went with cool white

I'm curious what the Blue ones would look like.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Got em in:

Stock
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6052/6...695868fd_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6060/6...f371b673_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6051/6...711eff27_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6233/6...cdf9856e_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6228/6...b69d5a44_z.jpg

They seem brighter in the pics due to how the camera enhances the low light. I'm curious how the Blue ones would look.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I was just saying "**** THATS BRIGHT!!!"

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

You should wire it up as a shift light...seeing that it's in the same cluster as your tach.

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

I like that idea! I wonder how hard that would be...

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

i love my blue leds! ill try to get ya a good pic tomorrow

Re: How to: LED gauge install (white like stock, not blue)
 

Does anyone know what size LEDs I'll need for the smaller lights in the gauge cluster and for the defrost/traction control/fog light buttons? I'd like to get rid of everything green.

Thanks!