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[Instrument Cluster Modification] A brief guide to upgrading your needles and LCD

69K views 186 replies 45 participants last post by  Crisandres 
#1 · (Edited)
I've received lots of questions regarding how to do the needle/ LCD display mod. There's a thread a while back that was started by riceburner, aka Bob. He contributes a lot of time and effort to make this happen. I have to give him tons of credit for it.

In this thread, I will briefly go thru the modification for those who don't have time to go thru 20 pages worth of information. But again, credit to those people who participated there, they are the ones who came up with these precious information.

I'm not an engineering nor a handy guy, so if I can do this, i believe everyone can do it.

I will go by this order:
1) Instrument cluster Removal
2) LED needle mod
3) LCD display mod


before you start anything, make sure to wear a pair of gloves to prevent shorting anything in the circuit board.

1) Instrument cluster removal
a. pop all the screws indicated in red arrows
b. pull the cover straight into you shown in blue arrows
c. now you have an exposed instrument cluster, loose 4 screws around it and disconnect the 2 wires at the back. (the black plug seems to be hard to unplug, don't worry, just wiggle it left and right as you pull and be patient, it will come out)
d. taduhhh! done!



2) LED needle mod
a. break the adhesive that glues the cover on the cluster

b. pull the needles out "gently"

c. remove the plastic needle trims and the outer plastic trim "gently"
d. remove the cluster sheet

e. now turn around and remove all the screws shown in red arrows

f. pull the cover (you'll have to break the warranty seal, but hey it's over the 7 year warranty anyway so who cares :coolnana:)
g. at this moment you really have to have your gloves on so you don't short the board you are about to see.
h. pop two more screws shown in red and unplug the EL lighting sheet plug shown in blue

i. now you have the main board exposed

j. Here's the detailed info on LED ring soldering provided by riceburner (Bob) http://home.comcast.net/~riceburner..._instrument_cluster_LED_ring_installation.pdf

3) LCD display mod
a. pop the 4 screws shown in red

b) remove the stock one and drop in the new one. It's as easy as that! (make sure all the pins sit in perfect buy plugging in the connector to see if all numbers are lit up and shown)

a couple notes:
1. try to plug the board back to the car and see if the LED and LCD work first before you put everything back. It'd be frustrating to find out something doesn't sit right and you'll have to remove all these bolts and screws all over again.

2. always wear gloves, if you short something, you are screwed.

3. soldering can be difficult for the first timers like me, find someone who can solder to solder the LED ring for you if you are not confident doing it.


now put everything back and enjoy the new look of your 10 year old clusters!

before and after differences! :coolnana:
day time


night time



Here are the choices for needles: (I haven't had chance to try anything other than these 4. so there are plenty of other choices I believe)

from top to bottom:
1. Dodge Intrepid needle
2. needles from forum member (I found 100 quantity for $50 on Alibaba, $1 a pair lol)
3. Harley needle
4. Harley needle painted in Fluorescent Red
Personally, I think #4 is the closest or most identical to what Lotus use in 2008+ Elise/Exige clusters.



Useful Resources:

LED needle mod (Approx. $35 +shipping):
You’ll need two things
1) Harley Needles (New Harley Davidson Speedometer Gauge Cluster Pointer Needle Only 16241661 | eBay)
2) Riceburner’s LED needle ring (riceburner98@gmail.com) and his installation guide (http://home.comcast.net/~riceburner..._instrument_cluster_LED_ring_installation.pdf)

LCD display mod (Approx. $21 +shipping or $11 if you solder your own pins):
1) go to Newhaven 2x16 LCD page (2 x 16 Characters)
2) Pick a color you like and add “-D6” to the product number. (example: NHD-0216K1Z-NSR-FBW-L-D6)
3) Plug and play

How to paint your cluster needle:
http://revlimiter.net/blog/2013/03/how-to-paint-gauge-needles/
 
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#10 ·
Looks good. Wish I had done this a few months ago when I had my dashboard apart to replace the switch pak module.

Does the gas display bar type indicator appear different? In the picture with the 105.9 odometer reading it appears that their is a black line in part of the display.
 
#11 ·
Hows the lcd at night i dont see it. Plus the original night time version is different than your day time version! The increments and dash lights are different
 
#14 ·
Thanks Terry for a great write up!!! Very clear and concise.

It is on my to do list this winter. :)
 
#18 ·
I found some pretty cool and useful stuff for the mod, hopefully it'll benefit some people here.

Fluorescent red paint and orange paint
Flourescent Red 1oz Needle Paint for Instrument Cluster Gauges | eBay

Fluorescent Orange 1oz Needle Paint for Instrument Cluster Gauges | eBay


also, my buddy uses the needles from Doge Intrepid. He got the entire used dash for $30 or less and took the needle apart and it fits perfectly. For those who don't wanna use the Harley needles or don't want to paint them red/orange, this is another solution to it.
98 03 Dodge Intrepid Instrument Cluster Speedometer Panel P04760402AF | eBay

 
#19 ·
If I recall correctly Kamsden used the needles from a Pontiac GTO (newer body style).

I plan on using the needles from a GMC Yukon/Chevy Tahoe, liked the looks better and on ebay you can get them for $15 shipped. :D
 
#23 ·
Got mine from Terry. These are definitely OEM quality...and I don't mean Lotus OEM. More like BMW OEM. It's probably the only part on my car that isn't going to fall apart. I got the aluminum surrounds and the gauges finally looks like it matches the car.:clap:
 
#31 ·
whats the difference between the standard header?
 
#32 · (Edited)
The standard header uses pins that are too big to fit the receptacle Lotus uses on the circuit board.. The cluster needs the machined round pins (from Mill-Max) rather than the typical square-post type of pins that would plug into breadboards, Arduinos, etc... You can get the pins from Digikey / Mouser / etc, but if you're ordering just those it's probably $10 in shipping anyway..

Mill-Max type pins: (Digikey P/N ED6816-ND 'should' be gold plated pins)



Standard square pins:
 
#36 ·
can't believe he sold like 40 needles in a week lol I just checked, New Harley Davidson Speedometer Gauge Cluster Pointer Needle Only 16241536 | eBay

this one might actually work better! the original harley needle in the discussion is only 3mm longer. this one is almost identical to it except it's 3mm shorter. there are 10 available so jump on it quick.

The LCD company also just receive a huge order from us lately and the current lead time is 2 weeks.
 
#40 ·
I just made a little comparison between some of the needles that can be purchased from eBay/Alibaba:

from top to bottom:
1) dodge intrepid
2) purchased from forum, but can be found from Alibaba, $50 for 100 needles.
3) Harley needle
4) Harley needle painted in fluorescent red

#4 is the closest to what's in the 2008+ elise/exige clusters.
 
#45 · (Edited)
if you chop the stem part of the needle partially, they'll all clear the space for plexiglass ;)

Terry, what paint did you use to paint the Harley needles? This picture is exactly what I'm looking for.
Nessel look at post #18 for your answer
looks like someone answered it :)
just FYI, i find sanding paper useful for removing the existing paint.
Also, it'd be good to blue tape/mask the sides.
 
#43 ·
Nessel look at post #18 for your answer
 
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