First, props to KayJai in this thread for all of his info. It was from this info that I decided to do this mod.

Used: 2 blue 3.7v 20mA 2600mcd 5mm LED's ($1.50 for both)
This took me about 30 minutes including removing and reinstalling the door panel.


First you need to pop the door panel off, which most of us already know how to do.
Once the door panel is off you will need to pop the window switch out. It simply pops up (versus down which in turn would make it fall inside the door panel if the panel were on)with a little prying on the tabs holding it in.

Once it is out you need to pop the top gray trim piece off, it should look like this afterwards



Now you need to take the window switch buttons off. There is a black plastic rod that slides thru them. All you need to do is poke the rod with something small and then pull it out. Keep in mind the window switch buttons are spring loaded, so it is a good idea to push down on them while removing the rod to keep them from flying away.



You will need to desolder the two joints above circled in red in order to remove the circuit board the LEDs are on. Once it's desoldered you can remove it by gently prying on it with a screwdriver. It may help to pry while you have a hot soldering gun on the joint. Once it is removed you need to flip it over and desolder the existing LEDs circled in red (below). The big red arrow pointing down is for reference for the polarities of the LEDs. The LED has a big metal flange inside of it on one side. That big metal flange faces the direction the arrow is pointing.



Just do everything in reverse to put it back together and your done. Hopefully it should look something like this:



My digital camera does not do this mod justice. It is really a deep, rich blue, not a washed out bluish green color.

I would have posted some more thorough pics but I am quickly running out of much needed space on my web server.

Good Luck.

[ February 09, 2003, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]

 

looks good! too bad i suck a soldering! so i guess i'll never get mine done!

 

This was the first time I had soldered, so go for it.

 

HOLY CRAP BATMAN! wink

Props to doing the DIY
I used to point peeps over to the spicycar korean webpage, but it's gone now sad.gif

But this is just as good!

 

Thanks KayJai!

I really would have liked to have posted more pics up though. Oh well, maybe I'll upgrade my hosting plan and get some more space.
The only other pics I have are where the screws are to take the door panel off, and pics on how to remove the window switch unit from the door panel. Both of these steps are very easy to figure out, so I omitted them for the sake of saving space.

 

that looks great! i wonder if i'd have to change the resistor also in order to put orange LEDs in... the orange LEDs draw more current than most other colors. thanks for the DIY!

 

Phorq,

I thought I saw some orange LED's with the same specs at Radio Shack when I was there. I have to go back tonight to get more to do the passenger side so if I see some there I'll let you know.

 

Nice job AllBlackTibby, I was going to post a DIY for these but didnt have a digicam or regular camera to take the pix with, I did mine in red and they are hella bright. Urs look real good also. Props

 

Solo-Baric wut color would u like urs?? If u sen me ur window switches I'll do it for ya. for a small fee.

 

Hey BIO,

I wanted to do mine in red originally but I could not find red LEDs with the specs recommended. What type of LED did you use, i.e. how many volts, mA, MCD.

Also, does anyone know what the minium and maximum is that we can use withouth having to put in a new resistor?

One more thing.....I want to re-wire just about all interior lights with LEDs (except behind the gauges), including my dome lights. Has anyone done this before and if so, any tips? Also, would someone be willing to explain to me the mathematics behind figuring out what type of LED/resistor combo to use depending on the output voltage??

Thanks a bunch!

[ February 10, 2003, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]