Clear Taillight Lenses / Discolored bulbs

[Isaac]

Hi all...

I've installed clear taillight lenses on my '97 civic dx, and I've been
annoyed continually that the red bulbs I buy turn orange (or yellow, or
brown) within a month of being installed. At $6/pr, that could make for
some expensive maintainence. I looked for aftermarket LED bulbs that would
be a direct replacement for my factory bulbs (7443 style, if I remember
right, all-glass push-in type) but didn't find any out there.

My solution:
I ordered 90 ultra-bright red LEDs from radio shack ($.27 ea, VF = 3V max,
operating range 10mA - 20mA), and drilled holes in the back of the reflector
part of the taillight assy. I soldered chains of LEDs in series, 5 LEDs
each, each chain with a 120 ohm resistor at the cathode end, and press-fit
the LEDs into the taillight reflector. I used 2 such chains for each
filament I was replacing (20 LEDs per tail/stop bulb). Anyway, I'm happy
with the results so far. The lights are evenly colored and bright red when
activated. Total cost: about $30 and a couple of hours of soldering. I'm
thinking about using a similar technique to replace the turn signal bulbs,
but I have some experimenting to do to determine appropriate color/current
draw (so that the flasher works at a desirable rate).

Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone else out there has encountered/solved
the same problem, and if so, how they solved it. (Some friends of mine want
to copy me, and I want to solicit other methods before I explain mine to
them, to offer alternatives.)

ttyl
Isaac

[93 GS-R]

I've had the same issue with the clear taillight bulbs on my 93 Integra GS-R
but have had them for about 5 months and the bulbs are somewhat
yellow/orange but still red enough to look ok. I would be interested in
getting a little more info on exactly how you installed the LEDs. Thanks.

"Isaac" <gabba...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:FLCp5.2384$dx1....@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...