hello Fargo,
forgive me if my format is all wrong, im kidda new with forums. Fargo, looking at the last pic its seems the cluster are bright enough.
Radio shack is where i get my LEDs oh also from ebay. Radio shacks LED are call Super Brites and do not come with resistors but a bit more expensive. or try Ebay, simply type in "is300" and search for any aftermarket accessory LEDs on auction....they come in different colors and for different applications but all are the same a will do. if u order in quantity you'll find some LEDs with a slighty different shade of blue and we both what blue we want in our cluster...yes that dark brite blue. its actually really hard to see the difference unless u had both LEDs lit up on a white wall with the lights turn off; thats how close we're talking about. i dont think the retailers on ebay notice this but this issue is for another time. dont take me wrong, out of ten LEDs maybe 1 or two will be different. its extremly hard to tell so keep that in mind....yes i know what ur thinking "picky ***** are'nt we" but hey...if u have a job to do, might as well do it right!!
from ur last reply, u said " sometime they come out purple" maybe this will help. in the instr cluster, there are three main parts, oh and by the way, the is300 out here look slightly a bit different. left part u have guage for rpm, middle ur speedometer, and right odemeter, fuel gauge..etc. for the left and right part of the cluster, if u remove the needles, the thin blk plastic sheet cover comes right off revealing the inside of instr cluster. i hope i havnt lost u!!! if you take a close look at the backside of the blk plastic sheets, you could see tiny dots, more in some areas..shades. hold sheet up to a light you'll see what i mean.
well those dots come right off with really fine sandpaper thus allowing more light to illuminate through the display. notice the more u sand the whiter the plastic gets. make sure to sand only in the areas needed. "purple"...lol ive been there, and now could i chuckle about it.
as for the heater/air cond panels ive also used LEDs but there is not much room to work in explains why my heater panel not nearly as bright as my instr cluster. when i get the chance i'll problably redo it. this reminds me, make sure the LEDs u purchase comes with a convex cap. the cap allow the light to illuminate a wider area oppose to a spotlight.
as for the radio...well thats a whole different ballpark. have u seen what lighs up each buttons and knods? tiny tiny LEDs "mini wall mounts". trying to fabricate an aftermarket replacement for the radio is going to be hard. u can find these tiny LEDs on the Web..try google.com with a steady hand and very sharp tip soldering gun those LEDs come right off and u can replace them with blue ones. u could also do the same with LEDs behind the Liquid display on ur radio. this could be done because ive done it. as u know how costly this has been of a project, bear in mind the heater and radio will burn the same size hole in ur pockets if not bigger!!.. reason i stopped my project was because i needed a break and now its a year and a half later. seem like it was yesterday, reading about volts, ohm, equations...it could drive a person insane.
im going try to barrow a friends digital camera and send u some pics, but meanwhile i hope this helps. i took the day off from work because i wanted to replace the radio with aftermarket brand only because my stock indash cd doesnt work anymore and i bought an ipod. but after writing to u last night, i checked out other is300 forums and found out u could wire an aux input to the stock radio....damn..wht to do?. kidda knew those 6-CD indash player were'nt going to last to long. its a shame not to keep interior of the altezza stock!!! dont u think?
quick question, were is the ignitions barrel? ...forgive me again, im not really a car guy either.
Good Luck
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one other thing, make sure you have the right resistors for 12volts applications.
