ufmike316

A few months ago, I decided to swap the face of my gauge cluster on my 2010 G37 with the older face from the 2007-2009 G37. I liked that the older face had more color and italic numbers. Ironically, Infiniti has followed suit and now the gauge cluster in the 2011 G37 coupe is exactly like what i changed mine to.

here is a link to my last gauge mod thread:
https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...e-cluster.html

I still liked the red needles from the older style also, but didnt want to mess with swapping the needles and backlighting on my last mod. Well, i finally decided to swap the needles out this weekend. see below DIY photos and results:


Here is what i tried first. I was planning on just putting red lighting gel over the white LEDs and having that provide the red light to illuminate the red needles. This was a FAIL. the light output was horrible. That is what you see in the pics below. This meant i had to de-solder all the white LEDs and replace them with red ones (not pictured). This was extremely time consuming, nerve-racking, and difficult. I am very happy with the results though.





And here are pics of the new white MID display with the old graphic speedo and tach with the red needles.

SRG

iTrader: (8)

Looks great. Nice job

surfjax87

Awesome job. Looks amazing

15951

That looks great! You must have a lot of patience - I know that had to take awhile to finish.

Chomponthis

iTrader: (1)

Nice!, way better. If i only knew how to solder :-/

evilpanda

that looks fantastic. GJ.

TheLocNar

iTrader: (5)

Looks great! Now I wish there was a way to get the needles to move all the way over and back upon startup like in the M/FX.

harp00n

Hello, very nice job and REALLY looking good!

I suppose you are the most experienced person with the gauge clusters here and I want to do 2 mods with my '07 gauge cluster


1) Swap the central white display with the '10's cluster
2) Swap the US gauges with the european (no miles, only kilometeres) '07's cluster

Is it possible?

ufmike316

probably possible, but it would be expensive. you would need to buy an older style cluster in KM for the face, and a newer cluster for the white MID. i also dont know what kind of complications would arise from swapping the MID display. i know swapping speedo clusters is not plug and play. re-programming is required to mate with the ECU. i also dont know if the 7-speed auto MID display is the same as the 5 speed auto MID (except for the color).

gooddeal

...look much better w/ the red needles.

harp00n

ok, thank you! I won't swap my red info display, because the mistake would cost too much!

but i could swap my speedo/tacho meters with the european/arabian '07 cluster (no miles) if the needle moves the same way in both, couldn't I? I beleive they move the same way, just need to get into one of the local euro-style sedans and make some measurements!

ufmike316

ok, so i tried another version of the gauge cluster, and i think this is by far the best of all of them.
i will recap the 4 different stages:
1: original OEM - white block numbers, white needles, a small blue solstice effect


2: 07-09 face with '10 white needles - this had the italic numbers with more of the blue solstice effect. still had white needles. i liked the design of the '10 needles better than the 07-09 needles. the '10 needles only were backlit from the center to the tip. this made for a uniform light pattern. the 07-09 needles had some "overhang" from the center of the needle back. this made for non-uniform light distribution. this is also the OEM gauge cluster for '11 coupes now


3: 07-09 face with 07-09 needles - to accomplish this, i changed the white LEDs to red and put the old-style needles on. this gave me the red needles i was looking for, but they did not light up as bright as the rest of the gauge face. i liked the intensity of the light on the '10 needles better, but wanted red.


4: 07-09 face with '10 needles and red LED backlighting - i tried this a couple weeks ago using the red lighting gel and the needles looked pink. i never tried it after re-soldering the red LEDs. it was bugging me, so i tried it and im glad i did. this is exactly what i was looking for. nice, BRIGHT red needles that have uniform brightness. the pictures show the needles looking kind of orange, but they are red.

Amir

very imaginative. Great job.

DashKid

iTrader: (2)

So quick question. So did you install the 07-09 cluster. If so how did you change the center lcd screen. I have a 08 and I want my center lcd screen to be white instead of the red.

Oh and here is a link to one of my buddies who is messing with his g35/g37 cluster.


New project: G37 Cluster - G35Driver

ufmike316

i actually emailed him before messing with my cluster and he sold me some of the red lighting gel that i tried before re-soldering. his write up and one on a 370z forum who swapped his LEDs were what made me start thinking about doing it.

i did not put the older cluster in. i dont know if you can swap the center MID display. i think that is what houses the odo info. i know it is in the ECU also, but the cluster and ECU are "mated". once the gauge cluster is apart, the center display does come off as once piece and it could easily be swapped with one from a '10 cluster (though '10 clusters are very hard to find out of totaled cars resulting in a much higher price). i dont know if swapping them will work though. while it physically can be swapped, there is a ribbon cable connecting it that has probably 40 wires. if even one of them has changed since 07-09, it could fry the whole system. too much risk for me.