2001Millrunner

My ashtray light bulb went out, so I took off my center radio bezel and took apart my guage clusters(temp,heater/thermo control) It uses small interior bulbs(not LEDs, small interior bulbs) with green condom thing that covers the bulb to emit green light. I was thinking why dont I just swap out factory bulbs with these http://autolumination.com/74.htm and play with the guage cluster colors? I'll prolly add reverse indiglo guages later down the road and have blue/violet color combo, sorta like the Audi/Volkswagen look. I know that there's a post about this before but this method wouldnt require soldering/fabricating, just direct replacement of factory bulbs. I dont know if this would work. I'm sure someone will chime in if this would be a bad idea.

HaveBlue

I'll be doing the same. I found that site a few months ago after completing a conversion to LED. The LEDs don't produce quite enough light for my liking.

MTL_4runner

LEDs are not as bright as filament lights in general.
You need more of them to produce the same amount of light.
The dimmest colors are also the most popular (ie blue, purple and red).
You may need to do some fabbing to either add more LEDs or up the voltage to them (thus making them brighter).

2001Millrunner

Maybe someone can tell us how to get those rubber condom thingies to cover the bulb. I think i might try electronic parts store or something that gives same effect. I could also probably look into bulb paints that's hi-temp resistant that way i can just use the existing bulbs and cut cost, maybe even doing it for my friends.

HaveBlue

I think I have 15 or 16 crammed behind the climate controls. I used a Dremel tool to drill small holes in the clear plastic light diffuser. Everything lights up and everything is visible, just not overbearingly bright the way I like.

2001Millrunner

do the Gauge cluster(Tach,Speedo) use the same light bulb? you took this apart before so i take it that you already know what it looks like inside. BTW where is the thread that you had about the mod? I cant find it anymore, i think it was called "I've got the blues" or something maybe it's too old to look for

2001Millrunner

well? haveblue??? do you know about the guage cluster bulbs???

Henryv

Hi, I recently changed the bulbs behind the instrument panel, the heater a/c controls, the key ring and while I was at it I also did Butnut's blue turn signal mod. There are three 194 bulbs behind the instrument panel and the two turn signal bulbs are 74's. Behind the heater controls are two 74 bulbs and one 74 behind the key ring thing. I didnt want to do the blue interior but a superwhite xenon look that superwhite led's provide, however I was not up to drilling and soldering like wildbill did in his other post so I tried the led bulbs at autolumination. It took me a few tries (and a few bucks) but I got it to look pretty good. Now if you want bright light, Mtl is right. Led's are generally not as bright, especially if you divert the light which you will need the led bulbs to do. I was going to just use piaa superwhites behind the instrument panel but could not find 74 bulbs to match the color because piaa does not make 74 bulbs and generic ones were simply not the same color. With this said, I got best results with the inverted lens 194 led bulb for the instrument panel which light up pretty evenly to my surprise ( I had tried the oval lense and regular frosted led bulbs that didnt light it up evenly). For the key ring hole, one 74 will look great becuase of the magnifier thing. The heater a/c control, there is a difference between years because 97 and under there is one bulb with a magnifier thing but in my 98, there was no magnifier thing and two bulbs instead of one. Anyway, for this I used 2 74 led bulbs that had their lens flattened and that dipersed the light more evenly but still not enough. (autolumination did not have the flattened 74's so I got it at superbrightleds.com, which if you did this, I would recommend getting all your bulbs there to save on shipping) To remedy the dispersion of light I kinda did it ghetto style and glued a small piece of foil on the flat end, which helped reflect the light back so the end did not have all the light, and got some thin pieces of stainless steel things at a hardware store and glued it on the back to reflect the light forward in places where it was a little dim. All in all I'm pretty satisfied with the results but if youre a perfectionist may not be enough for you. Definitely makes the interior of the runner look different than others and is easier than drilling and soldering and stuff which is good for someone as lazy as I am. Only thing is I didnt do the a/c switch, wich is still green, and is the only thing bothering me now so someday Ima get to that. Sorry for the long post and if its confusing.

2001Millrunner

Thanks for your help. I am not going to use LEDs but colored bulbs or find the rubber bulb cover to change the color, I like the even look. I'll AIM you if you dont mind and ask you more Qs I need to figure out some more stuff, thanks

Henryv

Hey no problem and even though I'm no expert feel free to aim me and I'll try to help out any way I can. Since you're going for a colored look I'm pretty sure the colored bulbs should look fine for you and hopefully you wont have to experiment too much like I did.

butnut

Those colored bulbs 'look' good. Lemme know if they work. Don't wanna discourage anyone, but I tried just about everything to get blue bulbs...condoms (sized to fit...194 was all I found), stained glass paint, bulb dye, blue Sharpie...all with poor results. I have a few spots for those 74 bulbs. The 'non' LEDs would be better right? Wish I could change the color of my PRNDL under the speedo.

2001Millrunner

that's what i was thinking, because even if i put blue over the bulbs it will not have CLEAN blue color. right now im looking into getting blue gel for stage lighting and apply on the back of the interior panel (sorta like window tinting method if you know what i mean). that would put out more defined and clean blue color while still using existing bulbs. What do you think brian? I dont know if i've explained this clearly

butnut

Someone mentioned that idea. What panel are you planning to color? The PRNDL is colored plastic.

2001Millrunner

I really dont mind about the gear indicators being green... I'm mainly talking about the climate control lighting. on the back it has white film to define the factory green color, so all i need to do is cut the gels into small pieces and put it on. I havnt taken apart the dashes but im sure i can do the same since gels will be clear and are heat resistant so we wont have much fading problem

LSUMatt1514

I hope to start this "blue bulb" conversion soon. I wanted to wait until the Speedhut gauges were done, so I could do the dash lights, the gauges, and my satellite radio install all at the same time. As for the gear shift indicator on the instrument panel, would a blue bulb shining through that green tint around the "D" not produce a teal looking color? The only two areas that I am worried about are that and the heater/air conditioner controls. Hopefully someone else will start this mod at the same time and we can walk one another through it. Later.

Matt

LSUMatt1514

Have ya'll given any thought to the clock? That's one I'm really not sure about. I plan on taking some measurements when I've got the dash torn apart, but here's the one I'm looking at for a replacement.....

http://www.dakotadigital.com/Detail....-1/product.htm

I've got two of their gauges already. They're nice, just kind of expensive. Ya'll let me know what you find on the heater/A/C controls as well. Later.

Matt

2001Millrunner

I hope that clock is a dual-mode. i would hate to be blinded by that clock at night if it doesnt dim...

LSUMatt1514

2001MillRunner,
It is. Do you wanna start this conversion at the same time so that we can walk one another through it? My Speedhut gauges should be here anyday now, but I'll probably start on all of this this coming weekend. Later.

Matt

2001Millrunner

no i havnt started this yet as it isnt that urgent. I'm gonna take my time on this. I'm also waiting to see some pics of reverse-indiglo gauges that you guys ordered to see how that turns out. Im in the process of looking into LEDs and lighting gels and trying to compare the results....Still pondering but most likely would go with lighting gels and take off the Green rubber cap on factory bulb. I'll keep you updated as i do this. and be sure to keep us posted on the speedhut gauges!

RebuiltRunner

LSUMatt, think I may have just told you a bunch of stuff you already know and then directed you to this link ...

Guys, even with the theatre gels, you might still need a brighter bulb. I played with a sapphire blue gels with my lights and it dimmed things down quite a bit.