i should be getting my bulbs today and i should have them in by friday nite

so do #74 LED's like these fit into the stock spot or do you have to modify anything?

Those #74 bulbs will fit right in. Those look the same as mine, only mine had blue casing. When you pop the bulb-holder out, it won't look like they will fit, but they fit right in nice and snug.

NOW!! UPDATE!!!

I took apart everything again and performed operation Foil & sand! Unscrewed the HVAC and pulled it out and took off the face. The face is a PAIN IN THE ASS to remove. I took out the plexi and did what Buzz said. Its a lot easier to understand when you are working on it. I wrapped the plexi in the foil and cut out the two holes in the back for the lights to enter, BUT I DIDN'T CUT OUT THE FRONT. I then cut out the holes in the back & front so the knobs could go back on. As for the LED's, I used a #60 grit sand paper to sand down the edges. It actually didn't take long at all. Only took me about 5/10 minutes each bulb to get the corners rounded out. Once my HVAC plexi was all foiled and ready to go, I put back the LED's, tested them out to make sure they worked, and put back together everything.

In person, there is REALLY a noticeable difference. The light is more focused since it bounces back off of the foil and reflects more so where it needs to be. The only downfall is that I lost my display icons, but you don't really need those anyways. The knobs themselves got a light brighter! Well worth taking apart the HVAC and doing a simple mod. Now, onto pics . . .



This is how they were originally with just the lights replaced. Now given, it was brighter in person, but this works as a really good example . . .

The NEW version:



This is after the foiled plexi glass and the sanded LED's. Now, as an example, this picture is kinda crappy condition, but was taken with literally with the same settings as before. So you can see just how much mroe light is coming through the knobs to make this much of a difference. The only thing I have left is to get my new clear knobs and thats that.

Props goes to Buzz for giving the kickass ideas about the HVAC. Go Buzz!

how many LED's do i need for the HVAC?

As far as I know, for 95-05, there are two.

Holy shnikes. Do yu wear sunglasses at night with those. I thought my red was bright! Effin' awesome. Nice work.




Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N

I have so many lights inside at night, lol. I'm totally used to it. Its funny cause I can drive with them all on like nothing is going on, yet when my friend drove in my car, she mentioned how all the blue is a total distraction and she couldn't see how I drove that way, lol

Thanks for the compliment

Exodus 259- you didn't happen to take a picture of the foil wrapping process, did you? The icons are gone in the second pic it seems, I'd have to trim more of the foil so they'd still light up.

I mentioned how when I did the foil I knew I was going to lose the icons. It didn't really matter to me. I don't see the point to be able to see the icons at night cause I already know what all the knobs do, and with the blue lights in my car anyways, I can see them without trouble, lol

The foil process, its pretty easy, and when you get in there, you'll see. When you unscrew your HVAC and pull it out, you'll see the face is attached via 4 small clips. Good luck popping those, lol. As soon as you do and the face comes off, the plexi is right behind it and it'll come right out when you take off the face . . .

The plexi. Make sure you see how it goes back to the face so you'll know how to foil. I laid out a piece of foil on the table and put the plexi down on it and wrapped it over front to back. The foil will generally hold itself to the plexi when you fold it in and press it to the plexi. I then used a razor knife to cut out the circles I wanted. Things to know about the holes . . .

1) You'll have to cut out the big circles on the front of the plexi so the knobs can go back in. On the back of the plexi, you'll ONLY want to cut out the small circles!

2) You'll ONLY want to cut out the light holes ON THE BACK OF THE PLEXI. The point is so the light bulbs can go in, but the light will reflect directly into the foil/plexi.

If you want to have the icons visible, you'll have to figure out what areas on the foil will need to be cut out. If you do want them visible, ONLY cut out the foil on the FRONT of the plexi. You'll want to cut out the front for this cause you want the light to shine through, but at the same time, reflect from the plexi & foil. This whole thing really isn't as hard as it sounds. This project took me about 30-minutes, only caue I made sure the cuts and folds were really nice

Yeah, I've taken my HVAC apart before, and I understand the idea of what to do. I'm just a visual learner and was hoping for a pic

same but i finaly figured it out. i just need to buy some new LED's cause the stock ones burnt out at the same time. GO FIGURE. it sucks.

So where exactly is everyone buying their LEDs?

i got both sets off EBAY, blue ones for my blue Z(had em for like 1.5 years and still goin strong) and the green one for my black Z( just bought them so i havent put them in yet)



simple minds talk about other people.
average minds talk about events.
great minds discuss ideas

alkatmsu wrote:I understand the idea of what to do. I'm just a visual learner and was hoping for a pic

me to man.. if i see something i can pretty well tell exactly what to do.. anyway.. i should be getting my LEDs next wed, so ima try and do this prolly the 6th..

Thanks Exodus for the write up addition, i think that loosing the icons is not a big deal.. plus it makes the light look cleaner instead of it having to shine through the icons and blurring it all.. u just have 3 circles.. i like it better without but thats me. anyway ill get pics when i do mine.

alkatmsu if u do this before i do, can u get a pic of the plexi?

I'm gonna end up taking the thing off shortly, and i can take pics of how i did mine with that foil tape.........

Exodus 259 ------- > Glad to see it working for you............. and thank you for the pictures and a deeper explanation.

From the begining, when i was explaining it, it seemed cheesy, and why in the hell is anyone gonna take thier HVAC apart to put FOIL in the there....... but as you can see from the idea, to conception, is well worth it...........

As far as the icons, mine are covered by my carbon fiber overlay, so i never worried about cutting those out, but if you want, you should be able to see where the icons should go, from the indentations on the back of the plexi piece..... that should be a good giude for you........




wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

The problem with the icons though is that there are no markings on the front of the plexi where you need to cut. When you pop it out, you'll see how it looks. On the back of the plexi, there are all the indentions you need to cut it out right, but using the foil trick, you can't cut out the back or it won't work right. You can only cut out the front so the light will shine through, but on the front of the plexi there is no indentions or marking. If you have patience you can measure it up. It'll work, its just a tad harder. Personally, I just suggest changing the face all together and making it so only the knobs light up. Thats me though

I wanna see this in red. If I see some good pics of it that way, I'll consider doing it.


My Car Domain Page

Does anybody know if the shifter lights (P R N D etc...) can be replaced like this too?

Burks wrote:Does anybody know if the shifter lights (P R N D etc...) can be replaced like this too?

if you mean the ones on the 95-99 gauge clusters, i think they are soldered in there and not plug and play like the HVAC. so if you have good soldering skills i would say go for it, ive concidered doing it but im not good at that kind of stuff yet so i dont want to mess up a perfectly good cluster



simple minds talk about other people.
average minds talk about events.
great minds discuss ideas

NE new updates or results from people "re-doing" theirs with the newly announced "foil" method ???





wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

I'll post an updated pic later tonight. I got my clear knobs in the mail yesterday, so my entire HVAC is basically done. The blue light focused through the clear knobs makes almost an ice-blue effect, which is actually the same color blue my neon tubes project from under the dash. I'm loving this mod, lol

na im talkin about the lights under the shifter that lights up the P R N D

i tried to read every page but i didnt see anything on it, so im gonna ask, everyone wants there crap brighter, i hate bright light inside the car when im driving, so if i get the led lights and do blue are they still able to be dimmed through the dimmer switch? I like to kep my lights down real low at night, it kinda distracts me when im driving

^^havent done this yet.. but i can tell you from what i know.. YES, they are still wired to the stock wiring w/ dimmer.. i wouldnt see why they wouldnt be able to be dimmed..

If you change the bulbs to either Red or blue LED's and you don't do anything else to the HVAC panel, the light will be dim enough, trust me. Also, you can still dim the light via the switch, but trust me, there wouldn't be a point.