The instructions below are for replacing the luminescent strip in the shifter with LEDs.
Tools needed;
- Nut driver or socket to remove the three screws.
- Dremel tool or equivalent with a cut off wheel
- Small flat bladed screwdriver
Instructions
- Turn key to the "on" position and shift the car into "neutral". Remove the "U" shaped clip on the back of the shifter knob. Pull up on the shifter knob and set aside.
- Grasp the shifter panel at the end closest to the dash
- Making sure your fingers are under the plastic back piece of the shifter plate pry up. There are two friction clips on either end of the shifter.
- Lift the shifter plate up and over the shifter column and unplug the electrical lead to the shifter plate. Put the car back in "Park" and turn car off.
- You are now ready to start with your upgrade. You have spent 5 minutes so far.
- Lay the shifter plate top side down on a piece of cloth to avoid scratches to the trim.
- Remove the 3 screws from their holder. Remove the springs and the little washers at the bottom end of the screw holder.
- Remove the shift indicator panel from the main panel. Using a small blade screwdriver, slide the tip under the shift indicator plate and pry off.
- The illumenescent plate exposed.
- Remove the luminescent plate following the same procedure for the shift indicator plate.
Do not throw the plate away. You will need to plug it into the lead that is in your console. Failure to do this will make all the other lights along that lead inoperable.SAFETY NOTE: TAPE COMPLETELY THE ILLUMINESCENT PLATE WHEN YOU PUT IT BACK IN THE CAR!!! Remember the old system is 110 volts!
You have just spent another 10 minutes
- Cut slots in either end using a Dremel tool or equal.
- See pictures below that shows both the final product and a "tray" for the LED light strips to lay in.
- The product used. I purchased the 24" strip at AutoZone for $ 17.99 It comes ready to use with a cigarette plug in end that you can use in your console's cigarette lighter if you decide not to hardwire it in.
- See pictures below. Put down 2 strips of double stick tape [provided] to hold the LED strips in place.
- Starting from the "plug" end of your shifter piece slide the LED strip ino your shift panel sliding the LED strip all the way up to where the LED strip is connected to its wire lead. You should have approx. 18" of LED hanging out the other end.
- Lay your shift indicator plate next to your panel and move the LED strip back and forth to best line up with the shift points on your indicator. When you are satisfied press the LED strip in place onto the double stick tape.
- Take the end of the LED strip that is hanging out and twist it carefully around and slide it back into the shifter to dead end against the plug end of the shift indicator plate. This LED strip should have the light bars midway between the first strip that you put in. This will give you excellent illumination.
- Reassemble reversing step #7. You have just spent another 20 minutes.
- Back out to the car. Plug the original [now taped] luminescent panel back into the wiring harness and set it in the console being careful to keep it away from the shifter.
- Place the panel over the shifter column and slide it down to the console. First run your LED power lead to your cigarette lighter and plug in or if you are going to hard wire it, run this lead to your fuse box and wire it in. [I have a 3 hole power socket with a switch under the dash. I ran the lead to that and simply plugged in]
Rawja, member of theReatta forums, suggests tapping into the 12V illumination power supply for the console switches located under the tape deck so shifter lights only illuminate when everything else does.
The new lighting system requires 12 volts. Do not connect it to the original 110 volt wiring!
- Tuck the LED lead end of the shifter in under the console and tip the front end down as if to snap the shifter plate back into place. Before pushing the plate into the friction clips carefully tuck the excess LED strip [the curled end] under the console. Now snap in place.
- Replace shifter knob and "u"shaped clip.
You have just spent your last 10 minutes on this project. I hope this is explained well enough for most of you to consider trying. It actually took longer to write this tutorial then to do it. On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being the hardest, I give it a "3".
One additional tip,
I removed my shifter tape, cleaned off the glue, and cleaned both the silver shift ribbon and the shift indicator with window cleaner. It really looks clean and clear!
Dave
Thanks to Daves89, member of the Reatta forums, for this information.
