Much brighter in person. I'll try and get a radio shot to compare it too. BRB.




Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N

In comparison with radio







Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N

Kewlness............
glad to see people getting out there and doing theirs, and then also finding other ways of accomplishing the task........
Thank you for the red color.......
and you gotta do something about your window switch, is so damn dim.......
hit me up an email, and i might help you with that, if youre interested



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

Buzz122, you've got mail!




Gotta keep on livin', L-I-V-I-N

Alright, something is going on . . .

What exactly did you do to your HVAC to get your knobs THAT color blue? My knobs are painted blue for the time being, and I replaced my lights with the #74 blue LED's that I posted that you said "would work". This is the result . . .



The blue is actually slightly darker in the picture then what it shows. All the pictures surrounding the knobs are visible, but it is a very dark blue (still looks badass though). Anyways, the blue did not turn super bright like yours . . . So what did you do to yours besides change the lights, cause as most have seen, thats not all there is to it.

Oops, sorry. I meant to say the blue is slightly brighter in the pic then what it shows, not darker, lol. We really need an edit button around here

damn it.................
i was typing here and i accidentaly hit the escpape key, and lost everything.........



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

OKI, oki, the secret is out of the bag, and i dunno how much longer i can hide it from you guys, since most of you have figured out that mine does look brighter.

It's actulally really simple once you look at it........

The story goes like this......
You have this clear piece of plastic that diffuses the light from two LED's onto three knobs... simple yet effective...... well, not quite effective...... some of you that have worked with illuminating plexiglass, might know this, but for the rest of you, i'll explain it........ I'm gonna try and stay away from getting to technical....

So, the basics: light diffusion.......
when you shine some light trhough a clear plexiglass piece, the light will go in, bounce around a bit, and escape whereever it will come perpendicular to a face. If its diffused, letsay you rub some sadpapaer on one of the faces, it will seem like that face will just "LIGHT UP"...... in that case all of your light that hits that face will get diffused.....
The goal here is to trap the light in, and direct it in the right dirrection.....
Question, how do we get back the light that were loosing at the edges.....
'quite elementary my dear Watson"....... foil...... yes i said aluminum foil.
Take a piece of foil, and wrap it around the clear piece, that is behind the black cover of the HVAC........
you will need to trim it afterwards, and here are some hints to do so:
a) the holes for the lighs are through and through, but you only have to trim out the back side of the light holes.
b) only trim the the backside of the knob, where theres a hole.
c) the front side of the knobs, you trim the whole recessed piece.
you should be able to understand the concept, once you take it apart.

Now for those that want even more light on their HVAC's, after they have wraped it, and have taken care of the "lost" light, youre going to have to pull out your recently replaced LED's.
Once they are out, You grab some sandpaper, and sand the sharp flat corners of the the bulb to a round tip, as opposed to a flat top. This will give you even more light dispersion to the sides of the bulb, as oposed to just the front.

Now, GO out there and get your HAVC's lit up in all sorts of rainbow colors, and get em brighter than they have ever been, and be proud of your mod, show it to the world..................................................

what are you waiting for ????


Hope that helps...........
and i hope a few of you are not gonna come after me, and yell at me for having them take their HVAC's apart, the SECOND time........ he he..........



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

Well, I'll be the first to say your a doushe. You post basically an FAQ how to change the HVAC and you post your pics as an outcome or result and tell people all you have to do is change a bulb, now 4 pages into the topic you decide to tell people how to REALLY make it that bright . . . Thats pretty ridiculous and has me annoyed since you specifically told me my "setup should be good to go", now I have to take apart everything again . . .

Ok, sorry about the doushe comment . . .

You are a sneaky little s*it though, lol

So when you wrap the plexi in foil, all you are doing is basically trimming where all the holes are on the back, and the front (so the light shines to the knobs)? Then sanding the led's so they round off. Sounds simple enough . . . What grit sandpaper?

Hey, now, i never complained that mine was too dim from the get go....... the first pic on this thread is with just the bulb replacement...... and thats IT !!!!!
the olny reason how mine got even brighter, and that was at the time of installing my CF trim, because of people complaining about how dim theirs is. I just only recently looked into that whole deal......
Next, i'm sure you would have, and in fact you did, say something about that it's still too dim........ most people would be happy with theirs....... i hope....
but you GOT PAINTED KNOBS.......... and that just kills it.........


he he.............

sneaky maybe........ ingenious, absolutely........... he he
you ought to thank me for even saying anything, cuz i could have kept my mouth shut...........punk.....


J/K




wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

Now, if youre really crafty, and happen to have a dremmel around, and do some light sanding of the clear piece in some strategic locations, that might also help you out a bit...........



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

I actually have a dremel, lol

I knew there was something to it, I just didn't know what it was exactly. I remember reading about sanding LED's to make them brighter, but I've never done it. What grit sandpaper do you use for something like that anyways, probably 300+, right?

When it gets nicer out this week I'll probably take apart my interior again and mess with that plexi piece. How does that come out? I know you unscrew the HVAC and pull that out. The HVAC face is connected via these two little clips, just take that off and the plexi is behind it? Also, when I took my HVAC out, I could only get that thing out by like 5/6 inches. It sounded like something was stretching in the back, is there something holding it in?

My clear knobs are on their way, so that'll be cool. Let Operation Foil begin! MUAH!

Exodus 259 wrote:When it gets nicer out this week I'll probably take apart my interior again and mess with that plexi piece. How does that come out? I know you unscrew the HVAC and pull that out. The HVAC face is connected via these two little clips, just take that off and the plexi is behind it?

Yes, when you take off that face, the clear plexi part will pretty much fall right out.

There was one person who i told this to, but i can't remember who it was....
i never heard a word back from him, i wish he could post up his results on that, if he did do that ....
it's kinda pointless i guess when i'm the only one who has done that......



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

Eh, the hell with who you told it to, tell it to me! lol

i just posted it......



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

Well, its supposed to be nice out tomorrow, so I'm going to try this . . .

Now, fogie up the details!

What grit sandpaper . . .
When you wrap the back of the plexi in foil, you cut holes in back of all the knob openings. What other openings do you vut, and what do you do about the little picture icons? Do you cut openings for them as well?

can we get some pics of this. im really confused?? im sure ill get if i see just ONE pik

the grit on the sandpaper can be pretty rough, only because the plastic is really tough, i personally used a stone...
The biggest thing was just getting it from a flat surface, to a regulary rouded LED....
What i did, is wrap the front, and the back of that plastic piece......
mostly what you want to do, is get the edges.....
The picture icons, i never cut for mine, only because i can't see them lit up anyways, because i have the carbon fiber overlay, with the icons..... if you don't have that, then you can cut out where the icons are at......

Sorry, no pics....



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

Alright, so in summary, wrap the whole piece of plexi in foil, and cut out the front & back holes that the knobs go in and thats about it. Gotcha!

don't forget the back side of the holes where the lights go... thats the most important part



wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav

*insert huge gay wink face*

I'll post updated pics today then since its nice out.

buzz122 wrote:There was one person who i told this to, but i can't remember who it was....
i never heard a word back from him, i wish he could post up his results on that, if he did do that ....
it's kinda pointless i guess when i'm the only one who has done that......

You had emailed me about using aluminum duct tape somehow, but not what you posted with foil. Regardless, I haven't done it because I haven't had time (and probably won't until spring break) and I want to do my cluster at the same time, and I'm awaiting pics on what the multi-directional LEDs look like in there.

actually, yes.......... the best thing to do, would be to purchase that metal duct tape from Lowe's, but the easiest way, is just to wrap it in the foil....
same thing, just one has a sticky side to it.......




wait for it... wait for it... NOW GO!! ---> '02 LS Sport <---
Yahoo IM : buzz122 AIM : buzz122cav