For about a week i was driving around with hard to see needles on my dash at night time after upgrading my dash lights to blue led's. I finally got sick of not being able to see my speed/rpm's etc. so i removed my cluster and then removed the needles carefully using 2 spoons.
I then noticed the needles were transparent except for a fine strip of orange on the under side of them. I removed the orange strip with nail polish remover and a cotton ear bud (it came off fairly easy)
Then i used a nail polish that belonged to my wife. i decided to go with white. I applied one thin coat and allowed it to dry for five minutes then applied a 2nd coat an allowed it to dry a further 10 minutes.
I then had to clean up the excess nail polish that got on the sides of the needle using the nail polish remover and cotton ear bud, leaving a very fine strip of white on the underside of the needle.
Getting the needles back in the correct place so they give an accurate reading was fun but managed to do so.
Here are some before and after photos:
http://imageshack.com/a/img661/2438/FmWrLQ.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img538/2817/qcGJnu.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img905/9095/OHW18a.jpg

As you can see it made a big difference.
I've only been on this forum a short time so if i havent placed this in the correct section or somebody has already showed how to fix this problem please forgive me.
Cheers

My needles are a solid white so I have no problem seeing them against a purple background.

This is the next step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT60Ngcxgr0

My needles are a solid white so I have no problem seeing them against a purple background.

This is the next step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT60Ngcxgr0

Looks awesome. You'd have a colour changing led for the needle itself. This model magna however uses the backlight of the gauge to reflect onto the needle itself. it would require mods to the cluster on my car. In any case, it does look cool though.
Cheers

For about a week i was driving around with hard to see needles on my dash at night time after upgrading my dash lights to blue led's. I finally got sick of not being able to see my speed/rpm's etc. so i removed my cluster and then removed the needles carefully using 2 spoons.
I then noticed the needles were transparent except for a fine strip of orange on the under side of them. I removed the orange strip with nail polish remover and a cotton ear bud (it came off fairly easy)
Then i used a nail polish that belonged to my wife. i decided to go with white. I applied one thin coat and allowed it to dry for five minutes then applied a 2nd coat an allowed it to dry a further 10 minutes.
I then had to clean up the excess nail polish that got on the sides of the needle using the nail polish remover and cotton ear bud, leaving a very fine strip of white on the underside of the needle.
Getting the needles back in the correct place so they give an accurate reading was fun but managed to do so.
Here are some before and after photos:
http://imageshack.com/a/img661/2438/FmWrLQ.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img538/2817/qcGJnu.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img905/9095/OHW18a.jpg

As you can see it made a big difference.
I've only been on this forum a short time so if i havent placed this in the correct section or somebody has already showed how to fix this problem please forgive me.
Cheers

Where do you get the LEDs from? And how the hell do you get the dash off to get to them? I assume there is a thread on here somewhere about this but I haven't been able to find it.

You can get the LEDs from most auto stores or ebay. Not entirely sure which type you need as I haven't personally done this upgrade

The majority of dash panels are held in by a couple of screws, usually a couple at the base and a couple at the top (need to look up at it from a low angle to see the suckers).
Then it's a simple case of pulling the dash out, unplugging the cables from the rear, popping open the dash cluster unit (may need to undo some screws or push some tabs in), and then you'll have the dash apart to work on.

I know my car (2004 Magna TL) has the LEDs soldered in, so I would have to unsolder the originals and solder in the new ones.
Not sure if yours would be the same, but my guess is it would be.
One way to find out!

EDIT: Apparently the globes are just screw-in. I must've been looking at the wrong part or didn't take it completely apart. My bad haha

Where do you get the LEDs from? And how the hell do you get the dash off to get to them? I assume there is a thread on here somewhere about this but I haven't been able to find it.

i bought these from super cheap auto. i bought 2 packs of 2 (4 led's in total) and they were 16 leds per globe. basically 1 on top and 5 rows of 3 all around the globe. these work much better than just 1 led per globe as these ones spread the blue light all around in a 360 degree circumference as well as forward towards the front of the cluster. i hope that makes sense but if not please say so and i will take a photo of the globe itself and that will explain it better.
(on a separate note how do i upload pics/photos directly to this thread so they display for all to see rather than having to post a link to an image shack photo??)
i have now completed most of the inside of the car including: a/c controls, speed alert display, auto t-bar gear display (on the trans tunnel by your left leg) eg- P R N D 3 2 1, ashtray light, cig lighter light, they're all in blue led lights now and it looks so much better than the factory look. if a moderator or administrator could change my picture posting status so i can upload images instead of links to images i would happily upload all pics of the led lighting upgrade i have done inc. the interior light i changed to a festoon led (bright white led light) and my bright white parker lights too. or if someone knows how i do it please let me know...

now that i have gotten that out of the way, the dash on my TF Exec. model comes out fairly easily and i think this applies to most TE - TJ Exec. models without climate control. as i said earlier, if i can get permission to upload pics directly to these posts instead of imageshack links etc, i will post up photos as i go along to remove everything that needs to be and where to remove/replace standard globes and fit the new led globes. i chose blue leds as i like the colour, plus i think they look awesome.

there are 2 screws facing upwards in the cluster, remove them. then get a plastic trim removal tool or a flat blade screwdriver with a rag wrapped around it so you wont scratch the cluster/dash and slide it in between the top of the cluster surrounding trim and the dashboard. then gently downwards with minimal force and outwards so you can get your fingers in there and pull the surround from the top and from the bottom (where the speed alert buttons and dimmer switch is) it can be stubborn but patience is key. if you are not careful, you will bust the clips on the bottom of the cluster surround and it will be a bit of a loose fit when you put it all back together. once it comes loose, there are 2 plugs connected to the surround trim. 1 is connected to speed alert buttons and the other connected to dimmer switch. again gently press on the tabs of the connectors and with a small thin flat blade screwdriver gently lever them out of their sockets. once they are out, carefully slide the surround/cluster trim out to the left. put it aside. next are 4 screws that hold the cluster in place. theres also another 2 screws that hold the cluster together, DO NOT REMOVE THESE or the clusters mercury switch activates and.....hold on thats something else lol! just kidding, theres no need to remove these. once the 4 screws have been removed (2 at the top corners, 2 at the bottom corners) the cluster can be gently pulled forward and theres another plug connected to the back of the cluster. again press the lock tab and gently lever the plug out of its socket with a small flat blade. then tilt the cluster and remove it out through the left hand side.
now on the back of the cluster there are a few different sockets that are twist and pull out type. you twist anti-clockwise and pull them out. to be specific there are 4 which are backlighting, these are the larger sockets out of all of them. replace 1 at a time and since your new led globes which are a t10 size wedge type globe by the way will only work if they are placed in correctly, you may want to fit the globes and connect everything back in the reverse order, then check to see if they are working. you may find that a couple work but the others dont. or you may have fitted them all in the correct way (+/- in their correct spots) in any case, just pull the sockets out of the ones that were not working and pull the led globe out and spin it around 180 degrees the place it back in its socket and twist it in clockwise. after everything is put back together you'll have a blue glowing cluster.
i took some photos of the rest of the console backlighting i changed to blue led globes and the interior bright white led lamp. i know they are not the best quality but you get the idea.
if anybody has suggestions or comments or feedback even, please feel free to post it up. that goes for questions as well, please feel free to ask and i will help out as much as i can.
cheers people!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/529x397q90/537/tMC9Kx.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/529x397q90/538/KJrIoK.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/529x397q90/901/5LbVXw.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/529x397q90/538/ny0HDa.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/298x397q90/538/BpoQrb.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/529x397q90/913/hCY4wf.jpg

is anyone able to make this a sticky in the DIY section that shows you how to install the fuel sender, parabolic headlights, etc. also if someone can allow me to upload photos directly to the threads? rather than uploading links to imageshack and the like.....people are still curious and posting new threads about cluster enhancements and how to install led lights into their cluster and getting the needles to be visible after changing the cluster standard globes to the upgraded, multi-angle led globes. its mainly for when upgrading to "blue" led lights in the cluster, as the blue does not light up the red/orange portions of the cluster.....like the redline area of the rev-tacho, the orange strip on the under-side of the needles and the red part of the temp. gauge....
thanks for your time, patience and help in advance - whoever is able to help,
cheers

I'll try to help you with a couple of your requests.

==============================================

For the photos in posts, you don't directly upload them to the forum. What you do is upload the picture to a external image hosting site (just like you have with ImageShack) and apply the tags around the link to the photograph for it to display. The easiest way to do this is to click the "Insert Image" button at the top of the text box (looks like a picture of a tree with four square dots/handles in the corners), which will bring up a dialogue box like the one below:

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s367/TehHyphen/AMC/insertimage_zpskbzvhg9n.png~original

Copy and paste the URL of the image into the input box and click OK. The tags will be put around the URL of the image for you, which looks something like this ...


[IMG]http://yourimagehost.com/imagepath/yourimage.png

... and the result once you submit the post will be what you see above (the picture rather than a link). If you want to make sure the link and IMG tags work press the "Preview Post" button, next to the "Submit" button. If you don't see a Preview Post button, click the "Go Advanced" button first.

ImageShack may also have the code above written out for you to directly paste into your post, and it will be located somewhere near the picture when you view it on your account, possibly in a "Share this image" section. The link you want, as there may be a few, may be labelled something like IMG, BBCode, or Forum link. They may also put a hyperlink code around it as well, so that if you click on the picture it will take you to the page of the image itself on their servers. This is not necessary for the image to display, so you can remove the [URL] parts if you don't want that function. Also, if they do supply you with the code, do not use the Insert Image function on here, simply copy it straight into your post. Otherwise, you will get an output like this ...


[IMG][IMG]http://yourimagehost.com/imagepath/yourimage.png

... which will end up looking like this once you submit it:

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s367/TehHyphen/AMC/insertimage_zpskbzvhg9n.png~original

The outer [IMG] tags that the Insert Image function adds to your post stick out like the proverbial dogs' balls. Don't do that.

As a final tip, always make sure that an opening tag (a tag without the forward slash) is always accompanied by a closing tag (a tag with the forward slash), and they must surround only what they need to. Both are necessary, and if you get rid of one you must also get rid of the other. Otherwise, there will be a random tag displaying in the text of your post just like the above picture, amongst other weird things.

==============================================

As for the DIY/sticky part, this is more complicated. The DIY section is moderated, which means the moderators (who have lives and are not on here all the time) must check through the content before approval, and even then they may simply not notice that they have a request. If you would like your post moved to the DIY section, the easiest way to get their attention is to use the "Report Post" feature by clicking the "! in a Triangle" icon in the bottom left corner of every post (use the one where you wrote your DIY) and mention that you'd like it moved / considered for moving, as it's currently in the Third Gen Magna section.

Before you do that though, I'd consider checking out the stickied "Welcome" thread in the DIY section (view it here (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97598)). It explains how a good DIY should be written and formatted. Make sure your DIY matches the requirements listed here.

As an example, here (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103540) is a DIY I wrote for checking the odometer of a digital cluster that has been taken out of the car.

thanks so much hyphen, very informative and helpful. sorry for late reply/thankyou but i havent been on here in a while.
cheers