[mrsinister2424]

I found this over on mustangforums.com. I'm sure some of you have seen this before, but I figured I'd throw together some literature so you guys can see what I did.

I've wanted to do this for a long time, and finally got around to it. I changed my dome light, gauges, ac control lights, and license plate lights with LEDs. Super easy to do, and looks WAY better than before.

Here's a basic how to:
How to Install LED lights in your Mustang Gauge Cluster

The difference is this car is a 98 style. With 99-04's the bulb sizes in the cluster are different. The AC controls and the license plate bulbs are the same though.

Bulb types:

license plate--------- 194/168 base wedge bulbs
dome light----------- 212 style festoon bulb
ac controls---------- 194/168 base wedge bulbs
cluster-------------- 74 base wedge bulbs

I got my LEDs from here:
Super Bright LEDs ? 12 Volt LED Car Bulbs

Because I have an after market overly on my cluster, the tint on the back of the overlay is a light blue color. So I bought white, and it looked like a cyan. Then I bought blue and it came out like in the pics. The AC controls have a blue tint on the back of them, so if you put white LED in it, it will come out like my pics show, a deep blue.

The reason the gauges in our cars look all green and shitty stock is because the bulbs give off a yellow color naturally, and yellow+ blue = green.

I am not sure of the color of the tint on the stock overlays, so you'd have to take your cluster apart( takes MAYBE 5 mins), and hold it up to some light. Whatever LEDs you put in will change the color depending on the tint on the back of the overlays.

Also, the dome light uses a festoon bulb. The correct LED for it is this "4410-x9, 44 x 10mm festoon, 9 x 3mm LED, 30 degree beam."

The colors I ordered was:
cool white- dome light
cool white- ac controls
blue- cluster (74-xHP3 wedge based LEDs)
cool white- license plate

All in all, this took me about 45 mins taking my time, and enjoying my modding. Cost me maybe 30 bucks in LEDs, well probably like 40 because I ordered white, and then didn't fucking like it.

Anyways, do this at your own risk, don't bitch at me if you fuck up your own shit. Enjoy!

Here's shitty cell phone pics:













Appreciation in reps Took a few mins to write this

[RyanGT]

Thats pretty cool. So it basically makes the writing/numbers brighter on the gauge cluster (then of course the hvac shit)? Would be cool to have numbers little brighter, with the back lit darker.

[mrsinister2424]

Yes, depending on the LEDs you use, they should be brighter, and you can get colors that are more "true". The hvac bulbs take like 10 mins to change out, super easy. Overall it came out really badass IMO, that green baby shit color doesn't really do anything for me.

[sharkbait]

So with this can i make my dash glow purple instead of like a green?

[RyanGT]

And you did the map/mirror lights too? How did they turn out? (never looked how to get in there).

[mrsinister2424]

Originally Posted by sharkbait So with this can i make my dash glow purple instead of like a green?

Well, kinda, you'd have to figure out what plus whatever your overlay tint equals purple, I can't think of anything plus green equals purple. It'd probably look like diarrhea if you put a colored bulb in, but idk.

Originally Posted by RyanGT And you did the map/mirror lights too? How did they turn out? (never looked how to get in there).

Look at the pics.

Not the map one, just the dome light, I don't use those stupid map lights, so I didn't change it. They are the same bulb, it looks like though, I think you just have to unscrew it from the headliner, theres a few phillips heads that hold it in.

[slonlow2000]

I done this in my blazer awhile back, been thinking about doin it in the car with my left over bulbs. There are no purple, your normal led colors are red, amber, blue, green, white, and UV (purple). Now the UV does look like purple, but its so dim that their very hard to see in the car, since the human eye doesnt pick up on ultra violet very well.

I know photobucket dont work here for w/e reason, so this may not work, but heres my blazer with blue leds.


Now I got a few hotspots like the OP does, but their more noticible in the pics that in person. Ebay is alway a good place to look for bulbs in bulk, thats where I always get mine.

[RyanGT]

And could you mix colors in the cluster? I haven't been that far into the cluster before... Don't know if they would overlap and look gay.

[RyanGT]

I don't have a dome light hehe

[sharkbait]

Stupid purple car... cant even have matching dash lights..

[Huxley]

i am so doing this. @_@

[sharkbait]

Would this
Mustang White Face Reverse Glow Gauges (96-98 GT) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!

and red bulbs make purple?

[slonlow2000]

OP do you have a pic of the bulbs you used? Cause it says the 99-04s used #74 base bulbs in the cluster, but those are very small bulbs, and you cant get the 5led bulb in a 74 base?

[slonlow2000]

Originally Posted by RyanGT And could you mix colors in the cluster? I haven't been that far into the cluster before... Don't know if they would overlap and look gay.

You can mix colors, but there will not be a clean cut line between them, they will blend, I have an example of that, but once again its in a blazer cluster, some concept tho.



This is blue fading into stock

[MikeJones]

lol. This is pretty cool. I wonder if you can do the ford racing electric gauges to light up the same matching blue.

[RyanGT]

Yeah it looks like how the aftermarket gauge thing i have isn't the same concept. It just glows the whole face plate, not just the numbering like the pics. :/

[Stephen4036]

how did you get your odometer to not be green?

[RyanGT]

Is the dome light considered a map light, or courtesy light on their look up bulb guide?

[mrsinister2424]

Good god, this got alot of replies quick. Ok.

Originally Posted by sharkbait Would this Mustang White Face Reverse Glow Gauges (96-98 GT) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping! and red bulbs make purple?

No, those are overlays that sit ONTOP of your already existing gauges. Your lights wont shine through those, those have light strips running on the back of the overlay. What you'd have to do to get a different overlay is replace the original, which means pulling the needles off. Not hard, but you just have to be a little careful.

Originally Posted by slonlow2000 OP do you have a pic of the bulbs you used? Cause it says the 99-04s used #74 base bulbs in the cluster, but those are very small bulbs, and you cant get the 5led bulb in a 74 base?

Uhm, well the 99-04's DO use the 74, and the bulbs ARE small. What I did, as I stated in my original post, is that I used the 74-xhp3 LEDs, which have 3 leds on one wedge. I ordered the single ones first, and as you stated, had lots of hot spots, and it wasn't very bright. The 74-xhp3 light everything up MUCH better. I'd definitely go with those.

[RyanGT]

Gave you rep for this, and answering the questions