I have a 1992 firebird. My HVAC is the one with the 3 lights. I've changed my cluster, shifter light, and the light above the headlight switch to all be blue LEDs. I'm wanting to do the same with the HVAC lighting but the color for that is not a bulb cover like the cluster. There must be a film on the inside.

Is there anyway for me to get the top plate on it off? I went to pry it off but I didn't want to break it in half if that's not the way to do it. I want to try and remove the film and make the lighting behind it blue.

Also, where can I get one of those 74 housings that twists into place? One of mine has a broken tab and won't stay in properly.

 

No film, its painted wht, bl/or for the htr/AC.Use blue LEDs instead.

 

Well I went to the junkyard to play with some of the HVACs there. I got some letter plates off after prying the ***** off. I looked on the back and there was orange paint on the back of all of the letterings. There's white paint in front of it. I tried scraping some of it off and as the orange came off so did the white and black. I had to be very delicate just to remove the orange. I took one back with me that I didn't screw up.

I did that but even with the blue LEDs it was still orange. A very dim orange.

Any suggestions on a place that could maybe print one of these with the same material without the orange?

 

What type of bulb do I use to replace the light above the Headlight Selector/Dimmer? Did you also replace the light that shines onto the AC/HEATER controls? I also ran into the same problem as you did with the AC/HEATER controls, could I see how your plate turned out. I tried using Acetone and it removed everything as well, I'm sure I could perfect it, but I only snagged one extra plate from the Bone-Yard...

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...headlight.html

This answered my question. Now for the shifter plate, Mine has that same Orange and White film, how did you do?

 

If I remember correctly it was a 74.

I think this is the exact bulb I used:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/morei...edge-base/228/

It looks like they're out of stock in blue though. It turned out good except the gear indicator is still orange. But it actually looks kind of cool that way.

 

Can someone chime in as too which years of Firebirds came with the different type of AC/HEATER controls that do not have the orange film embedded into it.

 

Mine didn't turn out very well with 3 blue LEDs in it. It turned out with a FAINT blue directly in front of the bulb and nothing in the rest of it. Actually shocked me. Right now I'm glowing orange with orange buttons and blue cluster/shifter/dimmer/radio. Doesn't look horrible considering it matches the three buttons for fog lights/hatch release/defrost. The buttons are even worse with the orange paint.

I contacted White Gauges to see if they could custom make me an original color for the hvac and they said they might be able to do it but it would be costly. Like $100+ costly. I would love to find one without the orange paint overlay but I have no idea what to do about the buttons. If you chip any bit of the paint on the back off those, it ruins the symbol.

EDIT: White Gauges told me to try real fine grit wet sanding only the orange off. If you can find an extra unit at a junkyard it might be worth trying on that one. Just pop off the ***** carefully and pry the overlay from the plastic housing.

 

My shifter plate has the orange film embedded into it. Yours doesn't?

 

I think it does because the bulb was clear and it lit up orange before. All I did for that was put in a blue LED and THAT one seemed to work and shine blue. I just had bad luck with the fog/defrost/trunk buttons and the HVAC lighting.

 

I put a white led in mine and it now glows blue... From the right side only. What was gm thinking.

 

What happened with the Fog/Trunk buttons? I thought they had a colored LED?

 

If you open up the buttons the light inside isn't even a wedge bulb. It's similiar to the dimmer light that has the 2 wires coming out. But if I worked at it I could change the bulb. The part that made it impossible for me to change the colors was the emblem and circle parts of the button. The circle that lights up when it's on has hard plastic on it to change the color and the emblem has a hard plasticy paint on it; orange on the front and white on the back. If you take off the white to get to the orange the symbol shown on the front starts to get messed up.