I've been getting p.m.'s out the yin yang about this since I started posting pics of the project coming together, so I figured I'd just do a write-up. First off, if you want everything to light up red (Cluster, HVAC, stock radio, etc) it will take you a LOT of work, and there's a good chance you'll break a few OEM parts along the way. So if that scares you, then you may just want to skip this project. The up shot is that this project is fairly cheap, considering all the modification that is required. Here goes.
Stock Radio:
The radio/CD player is the easiest of the bunch. It should take about an hour to an hour and a half from that time you start to uninstall it, to the point at which you can be jamming to your tunes in you ride
materials that you'll need:
- Masking tape
2-sided clear tape
Xacto knife
Torx T-10 & T-15 drivers
a couple of small flathead screwdrivers
needle nose pliers
alcohol wipes or rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip
1 can of RED Krylon "stained glass" spray paint & a roll of RED cellophane (both can be found at Michael's craft/art supply shops).
First locate and remove the 4, T-15 screws around the perimeter of the radio (note: there are a few differences between 03-04 & 05 radios. I will cover both).
Slide the two small drivers under these plastic tabs to slide the face off once you've removed the torx screws.
Next you'll need to pull the ribbon wires that connect the face to the actual CD player.
The 03/04 models have two sets of wires. Remove the big one simply by pulling on it with the needle nose pliers. The small one has a release tab on the face. Push it in and pull the wire harness off.
The 05's are easier. There's just the one large ribbon wire to pull.
Next remove all the sliders and knobs from the face. 03/04's have 2 sliders and 3 knobs, while the 05's just have one knob. They all just pull off. The sliders come off easily with the pliers.
Inside you'll find a PC board (green board) attached to the face with T-10 screws. Remove all the T-10 screws and pull the PC board.
This is what you'll see (03/04 shown)
See those little blue condoms on the bulbs? Pull them off. Now start masking the unit for paint prep.
Clean the bulbs with the alcohol and paint. 3-4 lights coats should do it. Make sure that the bulb closest to the volume knob gets good coverage (maybe one extra coat). this is what it should look like in comparison to the stock setup when you're done.
The last part requires that you cut a small piece of the cellophane and apply two layers of it to the display screen with the clear two-sided tape. I just taped it at the very edges then trimmed it with the knife.
That's it for the radio! Put it back together after the paint has dried and re-install!
Gauge Cluster:
The cluster takes a significant amount of work over the radio. I STRONGLY suggest picking up a 2nd cluster to do this with. If you fuxor your OEM one, then you're gonna be pissed and your mileage will likely never be correct again, as you'll most likely have to swap it for another used one anyways. That, and it requires some down time and if your car is a DD, then that may be an issue.
materials you'll need:
- 600 grit sandpaper
2-sided clear tape
Super Glue
A syringe full of RTV or some other slow setting adhesive
Xacto knife
Torx T-10 & T-15 drivers
a small pry bar
a roll of RED cellophane (same stuff from before).
Some semi opaque white paper or Mylar
After pulling the lens off (remove the 6 torx screws in order to do this) simple pry the needles off with a fork. Slide it under the needle, then just press down to pop them off. Works way better than the pry bar that I initially used.
Now the real work begins. You'll need to pry the plastic gauge overlay off. It's welded, sonically to the plastic part below in quite a few spots: the two upper corners and around each of the openings that the needles cover. You can pry them apart (which I tried) but it will likely just snap. I recommend carefully cutting using the Xacto Knife.
Pull the overlay off and hold it up to the light. You'll notice that parts toward the center let more light through. Remember this.
Now start wet sanding the backside of the overlay until the characters are all clear when light passes through. I did a partial below to show the difference. Make sure you hold it up to the light before moving to the next step. It may look clear, but then when you hold it up you may see some blue areas. All blue color needs to be erased.
Lay the paper over the clear piece that you cut the overlay from. Trim it like shown then stick it down with some 2-sided tape. Notice the little cutouts towards the bottom center? Remember the more translucent areas on the overlay? This area needs to be able to let more light through, so we'll leave the paper out in this area, as the paper acts to diffuse (lessen) the light output and reduce hot spots (which we actually need right here).
Now, get your 2 sided clear tape and put some over every portion of the overlay that lets light through (the numbers, letters and graphics), and then adhere some red cellophane to those areas like shown. Try and work any bubbles out as they will be visible from the front.
Add two more layers of the red cellophane to the part that has the paper on it and trim to fit. I just used the 2-sided tape for this step too.
Now, just like the radio, cut some cellophane for the ODO/trip display. Again, tape it and trip to clean up.
Congrats! the modification is basically done. There's still a good amount of work to do though.
Now you need to reassemble. Use some Super Glue to get those areas that you trimmed on the overlay to re-adhere them to the base.
After that's set up you can just reassemble in the opposite order of disassembly. DO NOT put the gauge needles back on yet and leave the clear cover off. Here's the tricky part. You need to figure out where the needles go. I know what you're thinking. "Why not just mark where they were when you took them off?" Buzz, wrong. Go re-install the cluster without the needles and the clear cover. Here's what I did.
Water temp gauge - Turn on the car. Wait for it to come up to temp (approx. 200° water temp) and reinstall the temp gauge at 200°
Gas gauge - You can check your original cluster for the fuel level, mark that spot on the red cluster then install it, start the car, and pop the needle on at that point, or you can just go to the gas station, fill her up and put the needle at full.
Speedometer and tachometer - Turn key to "ON", then place the needle on so that it rests exactly at "0". That's it.
* Important Info *
Don't push the needles all the way down onto their posts. the added thickness that we created modding the cluster means that they may get hung up on the overlay. Instead fill the syringe up with the RTV/adhesive and inject a tiny amount into the needle as shown. They don't stick very well unless you push them all the way on, this will circumvent the problem.
You're pretty much done at this point. BTW, the PC board contains your mileage. Use the OEM one if you'd like your mileage to remain the same. Take it home and reinstall the clear cover and button the dash up. Go enjoy your red gauges!
before:
after:
* On a side note: The radio display and ODO/trip display will be a good deal dimmer in the daytime as a result of this mod. They will be very difficult to see in bright daylight. If anyone has a better way to change the color of the displays, then please let me know.
HVAC overlay and knob inserts:
This is where you're gonna think I'm a tad nuts. You will need to do a TON of fabrication work here, and it requires some serious know how and patience. I'm casting brands new inserts for the HVAC knobs with dyed resin using a mold made from the original inserts. Then, I'm rebuilding the overlay pretty much from scratch in Illustrator, using a high res scan as a guide. I will gladly provide the file if anyone is interested (just p.m. me with your email addy).
Materials that you'll need (mind you, this list is not complete, as I'm still working on it):
- "Easy Cast" or similar clear casting epoxy resin
"Easy Mold" mold making silicone rubber
small cups to mix resin in
a small Rubbermaid or similar container to make the mold with
a set of stock knob inserts
First you'll need to pop out the knob inserts. Start at the point on the face of the knob and pry it out towards the edge
then the other edge, prying up towards the face of the knob
Here's the silicone mold with the freshly cast parts
Installed. I decided to cast clear parts for now and use red lighting from behind to achieve the look that I'm after.
Here's a cap of the re-built overlay (it's backwards because it will be applied from the rear of the overlay)
They new inserts light up really nice and evenly. I pulled into the garage to take a couple of shots really quick.
everything so far
Defrost Switch[/color
This one's super easy. All you need is a the red paint that we've been using throughout the project.
You can easily pull these tabs with your thumbs to remove the defrost switch
On the side you'll notice a little plastic, gray screw. Unscrew this and you've go the bulb.
Cut off the blue condom, spray it red, re-install. Nothing to it.
