LED Dash Indicator Lights - for 90-93 Accords
By Mike Maset   -   aim: cpm1xe
I gotta say this wasnt totally my idea, the concept came from a guide i saw for a different generation accord.  i did it my own way and took pics, but i wish i knew the name of the guy who originally posted a DIY so i could give him credit.  READ EVERYTHING before u do anything!

	to get the guage cluster out u gotta remove the black trim from ur dashboard/radio area.  u need to pull  ur air vents and buttons out (like the hazard and rear defrost buttons) and take all the screws out.  refer to a guide to do this. once u got the cluster out, remove the clear plastic front by unclipping it from around the sides of the cluster.  pull off the black trim piece, revealing the bare guage faces. (to do this u need to pull the little rubber knob thing off the end of the odometer reset button).  REMEMBER where ur gas meter is!!  its the only meter that retains its position when the car is off. flip the cluster over and remove the white back piece, dont remember how many screws there are, until u see whats in the pic to the left.  i circled the 12 screws to take out- there are 2 different kinds... take them all out, but dont mix up where they went!    as u unscrew them, support the guage from the underside, cuz it will fall out if u dont. (the speedo is connected by wires, so itll be loose, but wont come all the way out)
	flip it back over, and ull find 3 colored filters- a little one where the gas light is, and 2 bigger ones on top of either side of the speedo.  this pic is of the top right one-  peel off the old filter (held on by a little adhesive).  get one of those flexible blue plastic binders from officemax and cut out a shape to match the old filter. try to use a plastic that will diffuse light... like if u hold it up to the light, u cant really see thru it, besides a big splotch of blue light- if u can clearly see thru it, try to find a better one. to hold the new filter on, use a little transparent tape on the top and bottom edge- somewhere that u wont see when its all back together.  on my LX one of the spots doesnt actually have a light, u can use that space to put the tape on.  be creative.
	same with the left side.  this pic makes the blue plastic look really clear- and thats because it is. i took these pics before i found a better blue plastic.
	this was my own personal touch, i put blue electrical tape over the green part of the "maintenance required" wheel, so itll show up blue instead of green.   this is totally optional.
	"low gas" light- u gotta cut out a shape that u can push into the hole and have it fit snugly, so it doesnt pop out... if u wanna use tape or a little glue, be my guest.
	look back at the back of the cluster, at the big circuit board.   theres a couple screws still holding the board down- take those out and remove the board to get to everything underneath.  to the top of the cluster is another small circuit board- thats the one we are interested in.  twist all the little black knobs to the left and pull them out- they are the bulb holders - and unscrew the circuit board.   lay everything besides the bulb holders and the small circuit board. this is the inside of the bulb holder w/ bulb removed.  the idea is gonna be to get each of the LED leads to touch the metal connections inside the bulb holder.  more detail a couple pics down.
	LED size comparison.  u can use the 3mm kind if thats what u got, but the 5mm ones are the same exact size as the original bulbs so thats what i went with.   i used 3.3 volt, high intensity blue LEDs that i got off ebay for pretty cheap.   you need matching resistors-  for a 20mA 3.3volt LED u should use like a 600 ohm resistor for each LED...  use this LED CALCULATOR (the "single led" section) to find out what resitor u need that matches the specs of the LEDs u got. add some to the ohms to be safe, the only thing it will do is make the LED SLIGHTLY dimmer. like if it said use a 470, try a 600. supply voltage is technically 12volts.  my LEDs were 20 Milliamps and 3.3 volts. also, resistors come in different wattages.  i used 1/2 watt resistors because thats what i had alot of, but the LED calculator says that you should be fine with 1/4 watt resistors (which are a little smaller- check the packaging before you buy)
	to get the LED to fit in the bulb holder, u gotta bend the leads like this, to match the shape of the original bulb.  also to fit correctly, u need to separate the leads from each other just a tad.  you will see what i mean.
	comparison between a prepared 5mm LED and the original size 74 bulb.   if you did this w/ 3mm LEDs, it would be the same process.
	another comparison, showing a bulb on the right and a LED on the left.   not a bad, ey?
	my LED's were focused- like they were blinding from straight on, but from an angle, you could hardly see it.  if you have this kind of LED (which i suggest u should) u need to use a dremel and shave off the top of each LED, so its rough and flat. this is a pic of a few completely done LEDs.
	heres the more annoying part.  each LED needs a resistor connected in series with it... but the way this circuit board is, everything is a trace on the board, and theres no way to fit a resistor in the bulb holder.  it doesnt matter which side the resistor is connected to- as long as how its hooked up is that NO current will be allowed to go thru the LED without also going thru the resistor. i used a razor blade to remove a section of the wire trace from the circuit board, and used it to scrape off the clear green insulating layer from 2 sections on either side of the cut i made, to reveal the metal trace underneath.  make sure the scrapes are close enough together for a resistor to fit, but not too close that everything is cramped.   this pic is an example of the first one i did, i show the other ones later.
	i taped over the cut just to be safe, and soldered a resistor to the 2 bare metal spots.  what this does is effectively replace the wire trace that was on the circuit board with a resistor. this pic is of a 1000ohm, 1/2 watt resistor- which i later had problems with. like said earlier, try like a 600ohm (or whatever the LED calc said + a little more), and u can use a 1/4  watt if u want.  so ur resistor might not be the same size, and will probably have different color stripes on it.
	go back to the large circuit board - it has the "low gas" light on it.  if u follow the traces ull see that one of them goes along a metal jumper wire.  i unsoldered the jumper and replaced it with a resistor, so i didnt have to do any cutting of wire traces. sorry for the bad pic, but u can still see what i did.
	this is the right side of the small circuit board.  the yellow arrows point to where i made the cut in the wire trace (i usually cut underneath where the resistor was gona be), and the red circles are where i revealed the metal and soldered the resistor leads to the board.   USE THE WIRE TRACES THAT I SHOW IN THIS PICTURE.   there is a reason for it, but i dont want to explain series and parallel circuit theory.  u have some leeway on where u actually make the cuts in the trace, but what is shown on the left is recommended.  a couple of these might be alittle unclear or hard to understand from the pic... if u are having a hard time, ill draw a better pic for you. when ur done, make sure u go thru and make sure everything looks ok, nothing is touching anything it shouldnt, and everything is soldered correctly.
	this is the left side of the circuit board, and are all the cut and solder locations.  again, yellow arrow= cut in wire trace and red circle = where i soldered the resistor to.  a couple of these might be alittle unclear or hard to understand from the pic... if u are having a hard time, ill draw a better pic for you. when ur done, make sure u go thru and make sure everything looks ok, nothing is touching anything it shouldnt, and everything is soldered correctly.
	at this point, you should be pretty much done!  put the small circuit board back into the white plastic guage cluster and screw it in.  put the LEDs thru the holes and twist the each holder to the right to secure them (same as u took them out), put the big circuit board back on, then rescrew the guages back in (caution- DONT tighten the 12 screws too much! it will damage the circuit on the back of the guage- tighten enough to securely hold the guage in place).  put the black front bezel back on, screw the white plastic cover onto the back, and pop the front clear lens on again.   if all went well, all ur lights should look like this pic :-D  this pic is kinda messed up, the glare messed the camera up, but u get the idea. **READ NOTICE ON TOP ABOUT LED POLARITY**

because i had the mentioned problems with the LEDs and i was able to find a bunch of blue size 74 bulbs for pretty cheap, i ended up undoing all the LEDs and   went w/ blue bulbs. notice the color is kinda light and washed out- if you use LEDs they will be a better color than this.  but i really was too lazy to undo all the resitors and redo it all again with different resistors again, but you shouldnt have that problem.