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Shifter LED Tutorial
11-16-2004, 07:19 PM
#1
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Shifter LED Tutorial
Materials Needed:
7 LEDs (choose your appropriate color, I used red)
1 resistor (I'd personally rather be safe than sorry ;P )
Krazy Glue
Extra wire
Optional Materials (To Make Life Easier):
2 Female RCA Plugs
2 Male RCA Plugs
Tools Needed:
Needle Nose Pliers
Flat Blade Screw Driver
Phillips Screw Driver
Electric Drill
Wire Cutter
Drill Bit Comparable to LED size***
Solder
Soldering Iron
3 heat sink crimp-things.. (I don't know the proper name, heh)
*** If you order the "super bright LED" from Oznium.com, the drill bit size I used was 13/64ths.
Removing the Shifter Panel
You'll only need both of the screw drivers, needle nose pliers, and the wire cutter for this task, so leave the rest on your workbench for now. My console is a 97+ console, so you first have to remove the two screws that are under the console's lid. Put the gear into D so the shift **** is almost perfectly straight up and down, and use the flat bladed screw driver along with the needle nose pliers to remove the staple/prongs that hold the shift **** onto the rod. Remove the shift ****, and then simply lift the entire shift plate panel out from the rest of the console. Don't forget the unplug the cigarette lighter, and the bulb. While you're at it, go ahead and take the wire cutter and cut the wires to the bulb (give yourself atleast a few inches from the bulb, you'll need it). After this is done, go ahead and take your tools, shift surround panel, and that lil' bulb to your work bench. LED time!
Well, now that you have it all on your workbench (and hopefully warmer than it is in your car, gotta love Michigan winter..), go ahead and remove the white panel that has the actual shifter letters and such on it, 4 phillips screws hold it on. I personally just eyeballed it and figured the 13/64ths was about right, and it worked out ok for me, but you might want to try measuring and what not to see what size drill bit you need. The hardest part in my opinion is getting the hole right. If you looked at mine, you'd laugh because mine is all zig zagging all over the place cause every time I drilled the hole for the next letter, I'd adjust to try and get it more centered and I'd be off for almost every single one until I got down to the 2nd gear's number. I measured how far it was from the side, and the center of the hole should be approximately 1/4th of an inch from the edge if I remember correctly. That helped a little bit, but unfortunately I didn't think about that until half way down the shifter 
Oh well. As for gluing the LEDs into place, my dad happened to have a 12 volt battery charger in the basement, so we rigged that up with some leads and one of the extra resistors (if you got the LEDs from oznium, you get a resistor for every LED but you only need 1 for the shift plate) on the positive side. It worked nicely, since the charger was 12 volts and the car is 12 volts, rigging the positive lead to the resistor, then another lead from the resistor to the positive side of the LED, and then one lead from the negative side of the LED to the negative prong on the battery tester, it was an easy test to see if the LED would work in my car. After we had this primative testor rigged up, it worked out really well. I coated the top of the LED with krazy glue and the opening of the drilled hole as well. Then I lit the LED with the testor, stuck the LED in, and pointed it so it'd be centered on the letter (since my holes were off, haha). Hold it in place for a minute or so for it to dry, rip your probably glued skin off of the bulb, and presto one bulb down, 6 more to go! Obviously, repeat the steps for the rest of the bulbs.. coat them with glue, light the bulb up, and aim it in the right direction. Once you're done gluing all the LEDs in place, the next step is to get them all wired up! Wiring your Shift Plate
This is a pretty easy thing to do, especially if you have experience with soldering. I don't, but I did a decent job if I say so myself. To wire it together in a series, I simply took my needle nose pliers and bent the leads of each LED to the respective lead of the LED next in line, and then just twisted the tip around the next LED's lead. After you have all the leads of the LEDs (tongue twister) together, you have to use the heat sink crimp-thingie to prevent the heat from the soldering iron from overheating the LED. Luckilly I was using a low-heat soldering iron, but I still used the crimp-thingies anyway. I used three, since each joint is T-shaped, I wanted to protect each end of the T to get too hot (and overheat the LEDs). After locking the heat sink crimp-thingies onto the respective leads, simply solder your joint together and presto. Repeat the steps for the rest of the leads! Also, as a safety precaution, I also soldered one resistor to the positive side. Once you're done with the leads, go ahead and solder some extra wire to your leads so you have more to work with, and some flexible wire too instead of the leads. Pimp It So It's Still Removable!
This is where those optional RCA jacks come in. I realized that once I soldered the wires from the LEDs into the wires from the bulb, I'd have some serious issues if I had to remove the piece again. I didn't want to have to cut the wires every time, so I found some RCA jacks that my dad luckily had laying around in the basement. Go ahead and solder the positive wire onto the inside the prong of the male plug. After that, solder the negative to the outside "shell" of the jack. Repeat the process for the bulb that you cut, just so the bulb can plug in too. Now when you want to remove the console for whatever reason, you can still unplug the bulb and the LEDs. At this point, go ahead and screw the white shifter panel back into the console piece. Final Steps
Go ahead outside with your soldering iron, solder, and phillips screw driver. I took some of the extra wire and soldered wire to both of the female RCA plugs so the negative was connected to the negative of the other plug, and respectively the same for positive. Then I took one of the plugs, but resoldered it with the correct wires for the power wire that the bulb was connected to. The gray wire is positive, and black is negative, so don't mix them up. Once you have your two female plugs wired up to the main power wire, go ahead and plug your LED and bulb in and test it out! It should work, if not check your wiring and make sure there's no shorts or bad connections. I personally used that testor every step of the way to make sure the LEDS kept working. If they turn on when you turn your parking lights on, SUCCESS! Now just put the console in reverse order you took it out. Plug the cigarette lighter back in, put the console panel into place, put the shift **** back on and I just used the butt of the screw driver to pound the staple/crimp back into place. And lastly, screw in the two screws under the console's lid and you're done! Overall it took me quite a while, but I was figuring it all out as I went, so hopefully this should shave an hour or so off your time. Pictures
11-23-2004, 01:35 PM
#3
GTcars - Post God !
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you can get LEDs at radio shack but you have two major problems 1) overpriced, and 2) they aren't bright. Go with Oznium, trust me you won't be disappointed. I actually just put an order in for more LEDs from them, just to keep on hand.
12-06-2004, 10:48 AM
#5
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OK well I am a hard head and dont listen to what people that have experince say I just order the leds I will get back with you when I get them in! I ordered 15 super bright blue 4000 mcd for my gauges and 7 super bright red 8000 mcd for my shifter and ac panel. Does anyone know where oznuim is located what state? just wondering how long it will take to get to me in flordia?
12-07-2004, 05:18 PM
#8
GTcars - Post God !
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Mine are 8000 mcd too, but I personally used one for each letter. I mean, it's up to you, really. Try with 5, add some power to it (12 VOLTS.. dont use 110 lol) and see if it's bright enough for you. It's not like my way is the only way. 
But trust me on the oznium thing, they are the best.
But trust me on the oznium thing, they are the best.
12-08-2004, 05:03 PM
#11
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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But trust me on the oznium thing, they are the best.
