'Tower' LEDS for instrument cluster-- any good?

[Kristan]

Originally Posted by donk_316

I ordered my set from Dan last night also.

+1

Will have to see how they look in my Nismo's - can't be any worse than the current bulbs!

[anthonymcgrath]

are these the ones to go for guys for an R33? Was thinking about getting pink

ZPE Nissan Skyline R32 R33 300ZX Z32 Blue Dash LED kit on eBay, also, Other Car Parts, Accessories, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats (end time 08-Sep-08 04:50:27 BST)

[andyneed4speed]

Woo Hoo! got my LED's today - thanks Dan

They look like they've survived the journey but I haven't had them out of the packet yet. Will probably fit them at the weekend

[G40tee]

am waiting for mine, ordered a fair while ago,
but then again not that it matter atm still waiting for my car to be mapped after rebuild!
too much to do!

[sp1]

well i ordered my led's from dan and they arrived today. So as i had the day off i fitted them. here are few pics (R32 gtr)

[anthonymcgrath]

wow SP1 they look really neat - unified colour scheme - I'm not 100% sure but I'm sure its possible to change the little light behind the clock too if you really wanna hit the lot of em
I've ordered mine a few days back - I just went with white in the end - I just want to get my clocks a little brighter than normal but keep them original so I figure these should do that really well

[sp1]

cheers mate. It was fun taking apart various parts of the dash to fit the lights,learning process of where all the screws are,lol.

You wont be dissapointed with them. climate control panel is probably the most annoying as the bulbs are to long and requires your thinking hat.

Just need to figure if the clock and main climate display can be done.

[andyneed4speed]

Looking good sp1 - red like mine, but I haven't fitted them yet

[andyneed4speed]

Got mine fitted yesterday with a little help from Mr. Chaz_R33_GTR.

Photos are a bit crap coz I couldn't be bothered to find out how to set a longer exposure on my lumix camera - they are brighter than they look

Centre gauges - see how they match my Sony head unit



Main gauges - red as the fires of hell



Centre gauges were a piece of p1ss to do - even got the polarity right on all three first time!

Main cluster was a bit trickier - easy enough to get it "detached" but you can't get it free of the dash because the steering wheel is in the way

So after a tricky bit of fiddling about with limited access to the rear of the unit I got the polarities right and managed to resurrect a couple of dead warning lights and my odometer backlight with the spare bulbs I'd freed up

It's the grey bulb holders you need to change - the bulbs will have a blue condom on them If you get the polarity wrong take the bulb holder out and turn it 180 degrees on the bayonet fitting.

Thanks again Dan - must go and give you positive feedback on Ebay now

[andyneed4speed]

p.s. Haven't fitted my new white sidelights yet - how the hell do you get the bulbs out without removing the headlights? They're buried right in the corner of the inner wing and I can just about get a finger or two on the connector but can't feel where/how to get at the bulbs

[Alex Creasey]

Chaps, anyone know what size the bulbs are in the 3 aux gauges for a 33? Gonna get the tower LED's from Ultra but want to get the Aux gauge LED's too.

Cheers .

[donk_316]

What bulbs for the climate control? ZPE sell em? Need them in blue

[Jags]

I like the idea of these, however, with LED's do they not just shine in one direction only so you get dark spots on parts of the gauges? Just going by the pictures posted. Do they look better in real life?

A bulb diffuses the light in all directions so you get an even light distribution.

[andyneed4speed]

The ZPE ones have 3 LED's in a sort of triangular pyramid at the end so they aren't uni-directional. However, there are slightly darker spots at the top of the main gauges and at the bottom of the smaller gauges and the centre console gauges - but they are a lot better than my photos show.

sp1 doesn't seem to have any dark spots on his R32 gauges. Perhaps I need to play with the orientation of the bulbs - without losing correct polarity!

The Ultra tower LED's which Chaz got have more LED's in a cylinder formation so might give better light pattern but they're very restricted in colour choice - white only?

@ Alex Creasey - the 3 centre console gauges in my R34 have same size bulbs as main dash console - I'm guessing it's the same on the R33.

@ donk_316 - guessing the same for climate control. The LCD odometer backlight on my GTT used same sized bulbs.

[chaz_r33_gtr]

yeah.. the tower ones to my mind give a much better light distribution than the ZPEs but they are limited in colour at the moment.

However, they are that bright that I reckon putting a coloured condom thing over them, like the OEM Bulbs wouldnt reduce their brightness much and give you any colour you need..