MTX shifter with LED lighting ???

[antimatter]

looking at my interior lighting i have everything with blue LEDs except the Dash gauges, i even mondified the buttons on my 7"vga screen so they show blue when the headlights are on, but wouldn't it be cool to have the white writing in the shifter show up blue at night. Any one have any ideas on this?

[Moraki]

Its doable ... youd have to chop out alot of the plastic underneath the plastic "gem" i guess you call it ... and it is not painted transparently if its the same as my 2000... so youd have to make a new one OR take everything off the old one and paint it with transparent paint.

im considering making LEDs part of my new shift knob.... but mines not gonna look anything like anyone elses heh

[Darkhorse145]

They actually have a glow in the dark paint that might work if you want to go that route it is bright but not that bright and it works pretty well, I have some friends that make memorabila coins and they use it on the coins, it is light activated so sitting in the sun all day will make it glow all night but that probably isn't what you are looking for...

[antimatter]

It is the painting that i am worried about. I want it to look professional but i couldn't reproduce those letters by hand. I might try something like this if i can figure out how to get the gear 1-5 reproduced on there. I have access to a full blown prototype shop that can do everything except injection molding so i should be able to reproduce the jewel in some clear plastic or acrylic i can even have the numbers cut in fromthe backside off a CNC machine but i don't know how i would paint this. Any ideas guys.

[Moraki]

Im with you on this, i could never paint that well to make it look perfect.... i had the idea i would use some sorta colored films ... and just cut the letters out of the right colored plastic..... but i cant seem to find any like i want.

[antimatter]

Here is an idea:

Get some of that transparency film for over head projectors and print the graphic in it and mask everything but the gearshift graphic. then light it up whatever color you want (i would do blue)

[Skywalker]

this was a cool knob I had for a while. it ran off batterys so no wiring was needed.

im (http://www.cougarimage.com/image.php?id=1835)

[Crispy]

Momo makes a really hot LED knob... it's on a timer and all that jazz.

[antimatter]

althought the LED knobs are cool, my style is a little less flashy and more OEM looking.

I don't mind spending a little cash but i like things that are original and look like they should be there. I think my idea about modifying the stock shifter may work. I need to create a template and get some transparency film. My only concern is if the printed black will be dark enough to mask the light or will it bleed the blue light through

[Moraki]

ya not sure how well it will block the light ... but theres only one way to find out :) good luck with that part...

one thing youll need to work on is you can lift the jewel off ... i have before just out of bordem ... your going to need to hollow out alot of plastic with a dremmel or maybe just 3-6 holes to run your LEDs though... just dont go over board