I know this has been beat to death, but I have been looking for the past hour or two for a thread I found a few months ago on swapping the cluster, climate, and defroster bulbs on 96-98 civics.

I have looked in the FAQ and I can only find the one by Bauley. There was a newer thread with End All or something to that extent in the title (I did try a search with those words) on dash lights for the 96-98 civic. If someone knows the thread I am talking about and has a link, that would be extremely helpful.

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1862248
there ya go

 

I just recently tried this on my 97... good lord it turned out horrible and i did everything you should... i even tried 3 different kind of bulbs. I would suggest not wasting your time.

If you do it I would like to see pics for sure

 

which method did you use?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ridin98civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1862248
there ya go</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is the thread I was looking for. THank you!

And I will post some pics when I am finished.

I did the painted method in my old 92 si, and I do agree that it turned out nasty. But I am willing to give the colored bulbs a shot.

 

Colored bulbs do the job. I painted mine and they were a waist. I bought a cluster which had colored bulbs, what a difference that made. What you could do is take off the bulbs and check out your local parts store to see which one looks about the same size. Can't really mess up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mr_nemesis2003 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Colored bulbs do the job. I painted mine and they were a waist. I bought a cluster which had colored bulbs, what a difference that made. What you could do is take off the bulbs and check out your local parts store to see which one looks about the same size. Can't really mess up.</TD></TR></TABLE>

colored bulbs will NOT light evenly with color. This was one of the methods i actually tried. What happens is with the smaller bulbs, they emit the color light at a different brightness and emits a different color.

The colors end up NOT matching.

I also tried 2 different kinds of led bulbs to try to get the light the same color all around. Turned out there were too many non lit spots... and i'm picky so that didn't work for me either. I just gave up after the 3rd try or so.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Oprah’s Minge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

colored bulbs will NOT light evenly with color. This was one of the methods i actually tried. What happens is with the smaller bulbs, they emit the color light at a different brightness and emits a different color.

The colors end up NOT matching.

I also tried 2 different kinds of led bulbs to try to get the light the same color all around. Turned out there were too many non lit spots... and i'm picky so that didn't work for me either. I just gave up after the 3rd try or so.</TD></TR></TABLE>

So what did you end up doing? Going back to stock? I don't really like or dislike the stock color. One of my lights in the climate control is out, so I figured why not change out the bulbs?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SikofFalln &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So what did you end up doing? Going back to stock? I don't really like or dislike the stock color. One of my lights in the climate control is out, so I figured why not change out the bulbs?</TD></TR></TABLE>

just try it, im sure you'll like it. my buddy painted his gsr bulbs red (i guess like the jdm cluster) and it lights up 100% evenly and looks identical to the jdm cluster.

they're just light bulbs, whats a few bucks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pr0ject93hb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

just try it, im sure you'll like it. my buddy painted his gsr bulbs red (i guess like the jdm cluster) and it lights up 100% evenly and looks identical to the jdm cluster.

they're just light bulbs, whats a few bucks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what I was thinking.

 

so did you try it yet?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Oprah’s Minge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so did you try it yet?</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha i was wondering the same thing the other day.

update us damnit!!!

 

i did this with amber bulbs from autozone in my 95 coupe. turned out great.



only problem is i couldnt find the right size bulb in amber for the fuel/temp guages so i left the stock one in. it's not too bad in person. i was gonna do the climate control too, but it's a real bitch trying to take it out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pr0ject93hb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

haha i was wondering the same thing the other day.

update us damnit!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

I just ordered the bulbs. So hopefully by Thursday or Friday I will have some pics up. And I went with the glass amber bulbs. LED are just too expensive.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SikofFalln &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
. LED are just too expensive.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha, 5 bucks for 20 is too expensive for you? Ebay is hella cheap for led's andthey come pre-wired with resistors too!

 

updates?

hehe i'm all into this thread, mainly because i couldn't get them to look nice no matter how hard i tried. lets see what you got!

 

Damn, I'm slacking. You all beat me to my own thread.

 

Used a red sharpie marker $2 and they look great and match pretty good with my EK4 cluster just make sure that the blue sheath is removed use a razor blade and cover every spot of the bulb with the sharpie and let dry before re-installation. Good Luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C chilotz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Used a red sharpie marker $2 and they look great and match pretty good with my EK4 cluster just make sure that the blue sheath is removed use a razor blade and cover every spot of the bulb with the sharpie and let dry before re-installation. Good Luck</TD></TR></TABLE>

You don't have an EK4 cluster if you had to remove blue condoms.

 

I have an EK4 cluster from the UK in MPH and as far as the cluster your right . I didn't mention the cluster's bulbs being changed out I recall explaining how to do it for any bulb that he wanted to give an amber look I did it for my center council and it matches good with my cluster. The EK4 cluster does not have the blue condoms I know that. Thanks for pointing that out instead of helping out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C chilotz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Used a red sharpie marker $2 and they look great and match pretty good with my EK4 cluster just make sure that the blue sheath is removed use a razor blade and cover every spot of the bulb with the sharpie and let dry before re-installation. Good Luck</TD></TR></TABLE>

I tried this with a blue sharpie... didn't work and ruined my bulbs.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Eran &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You don't have an EK4 cluster if you had to remove blue condoms.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I had to remove those damn things... they sucked. they were like glued to the lightbulbs. with it removed all it did was make my bulbs a brighter white... even with sharpy on them. I think i have a freak cluster.

 

My bulbs should be here in the next day or two.

 

I did the amber cluster back in November. I just went and bought the right bulbs (my luck i found 2 already amber) and sprayed them about 3-4 times with the Orange testors spray paint. Reinstalling them i wanted the Fuel/Temp gauge to light up the same brightness so i shoved a big one ( i cant remember the sizes of the bulbs right now) in place of it. lights up great.

Im gona redo it tho (doesnt match anything else now) with just the colored bulbs (or maybe sharpie) cause i did my radio with orange sharpie with 5-6 coats and lights up exactly how i want it. Im just worried of the sharpie burning off to fast on the cluster.

 

So OP got it done yet, or failed miserably?

 

I ordered the dang bulbs on Monday, they shipped on Tuesday and they are still not here! I leave to go out of the country for work this Monday so I don't know if I will get pics up. It would be hard to do with out the dang bulbs!