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EA82 Dashboard BackLights Upgrade to H.I.D. White L.E.D.´s


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Thanks Jeszek! I read the tally wrong, I only counted 12, but saw the extras. Thats a pretty cheap mod :) which is good, plus I need to replace my low fuel light anyway, stupid thing doesnt work :(

 

Still deciding upon different colors, I love the white look but I do want red :headbang: and then maybe the white for the fuel light, those would stand out from eachother.

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I did a similar mod a few years ago on Murphy, the $500 1987 GL-10 Turbo Wagon. This mod was the direct result of the reality that I HATED the stupid digital dash that came with the car. When i decided to play with the color scheme, I had in mind the typical BMW dash of the day, with red needles and orange background.

 

When I was doing the digital to analog swap, I got a dash from an 86, which has a clear cluster inlay instead of the green backing for the 87 and up. The needles on those are also clear, so I got some of the orange ones from the 87 dash and swapped those out too, figuring they would give me a more interesting color. For the general dash color, I used standard orange marker lamps. They worked well enough. LED bulbs for auto were still pretty exotic and hard to get. I wanted to give the needles a red color. This was a challenge. I had to get some regular LED's and drill little hole to seat them in the clear plastic. I positioned them so that they shined behind the needles. Here are the results.

 

WP_0003721.jpg

 

I also changed the cluster buttons to a red color. That was done with clear bulbs and cutting some red gel normally used in theater lighting.

 

dash2.jpg

 

 

The other side has an LED, but it didn't work as well. It doesn't light up all the buttons evenly like a regular bulb does.

 

 

It all worked pretty well, but now that there are bulbs made specifically for this, I might have to redo mine!

Edited by Sonicfrog
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One word- amazing. Gotta say every idea I have you seem to have a write up for. And very detailed at that. ...

 

Thank you! :)

 

 

... I'm coming up with 7-T10 bulbs and 15-t5 bulbs total. Hopefully this is right. ...

 

... I read the tally wrong, I only counted 12, but saw the extras. ...

 

 

Well, as I Explained:

 

 

Despite that Each Lower Red Colour Stripe has Four T-5 Bulbs, one for each rectangular area; not all of them are Needed.

 

The Left-Side Stripe has in Use, the Rectangular portions for: "Charge" and "Oil" the other two aren't transparent from Factory in my "BumbleBeast" so, no more than two T-5 Bulbs were Needed there...

 

The Right-Side Stripe has in Use all Four Rectangles, which are: "Rear Gate Lock" , "Stop Lamp" , "Brake Fluid" ... I Placed three T-5 single tip LED Bulbs for those and left the fourth rectangle without bulb in purpose: it is the "Check Engine" Light and since I removed all the Pollution Control sensors, etc... when I Swapped a Weber Carburetor, it will be On all the Time ... :-\ ... So No Bulb there! ... :D ... Just the Socket as Dust Shield...

 

 

Also, you'll Need seven T-10 LED Bulbs if your subie is the EA82T and its instrument Cluster has the "Turbo" Light and drawing only; if not, only six T-10 LED Bulbs will be Needed, as I already explained that:

 

 

In the Followin' Photo, I show you Where are the Bulbs, what are they use, and the Kind of Bulb, for the Instrument Cluster:

 

 

20-InstrumentClusterfromBehind.jpg

 

 

and only the ones with the EA82T engine has the Turbo Light...

 

 

Turbo.jpg

 

 

...so, despite that there are seven slots for seven T-10 Bulbs, Usually only six are used ;)

 

 

Kind Regards.

Edited by Loyale 2.7 Turbo
Misspelled Word, Again... My Head thinking works Faster than my Fingers writing ;)
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So, Jeszek, sorry to steer away for a second (not 100% steering away)

 

But I have a green dash in my 1986 GL Sedan... I thought you had said early EA82s meaning what I thought was 1985-86 and then someone said 1987+ got the green dashes... Does this mean mine was swapped out and Ill have to remove the green tint first?

 

Edit: Answered my own question, Ill probably just get an 85/86 dash if the tint is going to be a pain lol.

Edited by 92_rugby_subie
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Well, you can Use White LED Bulbs and that green will look Cool! :cool:

 

Please Look at the "Kilometers Per Hour" green tinted Numbers, under the "Miles Per Hour" untinted ones, on my "BumbleBeast" instrument Cluster, to have the Idea.

 

Also you Might Use Green LED Bulbs to enhance the Cluster's Colour, it will be Nice.

 

But other Colours will somehow "Fight" the Green Tint and could have weird Results. In Example: Red LED Bulbs behind a Green Tint, should still look Red but with some kind of Brown tint...

 

Why don't you Try? ... it could be Nice! ;)

 

Kind Regards.

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I Posted a Complete Writeup, explaining Step-by-Step with Pictures, the Procedures about How to remove the Dashboard and Remove the instrument Cluster without breakin' the old plastics ... :) ... and How to Retrofit the Led Bulbs on the analog EA82 instrument Clusters.

 

You can reach it, ~► Here.

 

Feel free to comment / Ask questions about that, in this Thread.

 

I Hope that will be Useful.

 

Kind Regards.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Life sucks Murphy as modded is exactly what is fitted to my Brumby,Brumbys come with a very standard dash here and I upgraded mine to the sport dash as fitted to EA81 sedans or wagons in hiline trim models they are exactly like your modded dash in murphy standard with orange lighting etc so no mods needed.

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Excellent writeup...

 

Thank You!

 

 

... Where did you get those instrument cluster pics? They are so clear. I have never seen official Subaru documentation with so much clarity. :clap:

 

I'm not Sure about which pictures you ask... But I take all the Photos, either with my Photo Camera or with my Cellphone's camera.

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Those T-10 LED bulbs does Not have the Surrounding Leds, they only have LEDs in the Top, so they doesn't spread the Light beam very much; that is the Reason why certain areas on your instrument cluster does look darker, such like the area between 55 Mph and 75 Mph... (I explained that here in previous posts) ...but it looks nice!

 

Kind Regards.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, did the cluster on my 87 GL, turned out great (well, except my gas gauge quit after I put it back in, not sure what I did). The green cluster, at least the one in mine, does have the green sleeves over the four back-light bulbs, in addition to the green tint. The turn signals did not, though. I haven't done all the other bulbs yet, but I plan on doing it soon. It's not very clear, but I took a picture of my dash with half LED, half incandescent. It was on my phone, so quality isn't great, but it gives an idea of the difference in light output.

 

Cluster%20half%20LED%2c%20resized%20and%20sharpened.jpg

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Incandescent (standard) Bulbs on the Left and LED Bulbs on the Right... Yes, that Shows the Difference very well; thank you for sharing your photo, please keep us updated with any progress you made. icon14.gif

 

The turn signals doesn't have green tint? ... interesting!

 

My untinted cluster has green tint on the Turn Signals.

 

Also, the Gasoline Gauge stays in the same place, no matter if there is imput or it is out from the car... so I don't believe it is Wrong; I kindly suggest you to let it stay where it was prior the cluster removal.

 

Did you use Green LEDs or White LEDs?

 

Kind Regards.

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The turn signals were tinted in the cluster, but did not have the sleeves over the bulbs, the other four had both

 

The gas gauge was working in that picture, I took that before I put it all back. I think I got it back, but I'm not sure yet

 

I used white multiple LED bulbs, they look just like the ones in your pictures. They look great. Thanks for the idea, it was pretty easy. I did it with everything but the speedometer cable still hokked up, but I don't have the covers on the front of it (broke when I had it out for the transmission swap).

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  • 1 month later...

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