Great write up. Going to give this a shot over the next couple days.

 

looks good man.
i think i might switch mine to amber from red, which they are now.

 

Looks good, all i did was buy all new bulbs and paint them orange with testors model paint and it turned out identical to yours. I had to put up with the temp gauge on the climate control being orange though...no biggie to me. Have you done the clock yet?

 

I didn't have to do my clock because it was a JDM amber clock. O'NAPS* did his clock using the taillight repair kit and it looks every bit as good as my JDM clock. A whole lot cheaper too.

fm

 

Does anyone know exactly how many of each size bulbs are needed to do the cluster. I don't want to buy too many, or not enough when I go on my search.

 

Sweet! I want to do this to my climate control as well. I have a VTi gauge cluster thats already amber,so the green of the climate control really throws everything off..........

 

I'm a little confused. I just replaced the bulbs with orange (cap) OEM ones (P/N 79629-SR3-N02). Zero hassle.
It looks perfect and exactly like my EK which came with amber from the factory. Maybe my european assembly is somehow different?



This is a photo I found on HT and I agree it doesn't look right:

 

Interesting. I agree that yours definitely looks better than most, though it the blue still seems to have a bit of a purplish hue to it. Look back at my pics on the first page...the graphic is definitely blue. But yes, I understand what you mean about the EK being backlit with orange bulbs and having a similar graphic. I didn't know you could get the bulbs w/orange condoms from Honda still...that's good to know.

fm

 

Any one know where you can get colored bulbs for the wedge bulb in the rear defroster switch?

 

Not gonna help...those bulbs are white, even in JDM cars. If you pop the switch face off the switch, you'll see that there is an amber coating on the back of JDM switches and a blue coating on the back of USDM switches. I've tried covering the back of a USDM switch with the amber lens repair kit, but it was so dim, it wasn't satisfactory. I just went with a JDM defrost switch and called it a day.

So to do it right, you'll need a JDM defrost switch...I might have one around here if you need one.

fm

 

sick mod have a spare jdm defrost switch?

 

well I actually wanted red. I am using red leds from superbrightleds for the cluster and climate control but the red led in my defroster switch barely works. The color is fine when it works (even though I know the light has to go through a blue coating), but the 3mm wedge led had to be modified to get it to fit in the socket and it never stays making a solid connection =(

 

Very nice, amber > blue any day.

 

I tried a red LED in the defrost switch and could never get a good connection either. Went back to a regular incandescent bulb. I haven't seen a colored bulb in that size, but I imagine they must exist. Wait...check these out...they're 3.2mm, but you might be able to get these to fit. Red grain of wheat bulbs for model trains.

fm

 

False alarm...thought I might have one, but they're all blue...even the one that's still in the JDM cluster panel I have. I have an amber fog switch, so I must have been thinking about that.

fm

 

hmm, those model train lights would be way hard to get into a plastic holder to lock into the switch. I was thinking of maybe buying a new incandescent oem one (clear) and using some sort of red nail polish or something to pain the bulb and hopefully get the same color as I would from a red LED, only this time it would always make a good connection and light up.

 

hmm, what about these caps? http://cgi.ebay.com/20-pcs-assorted-...ht_7834wt_1013

You think they would be able to go over the oem bulbs? (which look like this http://parts.digikey.ca/1/1/1121836-...cnw1-7219.html)

 

Sweet

 

I too am tired of fiddling with LED bulbs. I'm going to have to try this.

 

Really? Are they that much bigger? I've transplanted bulbs before with no trouble. it was only the LEDs that gave me a fit.

I'd avoid nail polish. The bulb condoms you find might do the trick, but I'm not sure how they'll fit over the bulb and stay put. IIRC, it's a tight fit inside of the switch.

fm

 

Since those train bulbs are prewired I'm not sure if you can just cut off that wire and transplant them into the OEM wedge twist lock. Hmm, I might get the condoms and try it, but it would suck if they didn't because I have to buy a new OEM bulb anyway. I threw out my old ones when I put in the LEDs.

 

Looks great fm. I am definitely going to try this method. I think the climate looks perfect. Im being picky about this mod. Would you say I should go with Autozone bulbs? What bulbs did you use for the climate? Thanks.

 

nice ima try this!

 

nice! i recently did this to my hatch just changed out all the bulbs to amber ones came out pretty good..

 

Details?