Page 1: Car pictures / System Layout
Page 2: Installing wires
Page 3: Installing Illusion Audio ND8's in doors
Page 4: Installing Morel MDT29's in kick panels
Page 5: Installing ADS 312rs.2 subs in trunk
Page 6: Converting dash to blue lights
Page 7: Converting Alpine HU to blue lights
Page 8: Misc install pics
Page 9: Future Upgrades
Page 10: Building passive crossovers

Alright, first thing I noticed when driving my car at night was the UGLY orange dashlights. So, I decided to change the dash to blue. This first part is how to change the instrument cluster from orange LED's to blue LED's.

WARNING!!!

Doing the following to your car can wreck your instrument panel which will cost you around $225 plus tax plus installation from the dealership (at least that was what I was quoted). I do not offer services on these, nor will be held responsible if you decide to do this mod yourself.

WARNING!!!

You'll need a phillips and flathead screwdriver, a good soldering iron, solder, a pair of needlenose pliers, a twisty-tie with a metal wire in the middle, and 5 blue LED's. The LED's you can buy from www.eled.com. The exact part you want is the EA3528PBC blue LED, I would suggest getting at least 1 extra just in case. They are $1.58 each, and shipping will be about another 5 bucks. Once you get all the parts and are ready to install, fill up your gas tank to max (more on this later).

Ok, onto the actual changeover. First, here is the original dash:

On the picture on the left, there is a trim piece at the bottom of the clear plastic lens and above the steering column. Pull on it directly outward and it will come out rather easy. The picture on the right reveals the 2 screws on either side that were hidden by the trim piece. Remove the two screws:

Pull out on the instrument panel and it will slide out enough for you to reach behind it and disconnect the two wiring harnesses that go to it. The tabs to release the harnesses are towards the top of the instrument panel. Once out, take it inside to a table or suitable surface. Flip it over to see the picture on the left. Unscrew all the screws you see. Push in the black tabs all the way around holding the front clear plastic on, and set it aside. Now pull off the back white plastic. Flip it back over to see the picture on the right:

Now is when you need the twisty-tie. Loop the tie under each needle as shown in the picture on the left. Put your finger from one hand on the top of the needle applying slight pressure, and pull up on both sides of the twisty-tie with the other hand. The needle will pull out with firm pressure. Your finger is on top of it to keep it from flinging off. Once all 4 are off, you will be at the picture on the right:

You'll see in the above picture on the right, just under where each needle was is a little tab holding the plastic trim piece in place. Pull downward on the trim piece and then up to remove it. You'll now be at the picture on the left. Now you are at the large clear plastic piece that diffuses light throughout the instrument panel. On the far left and right side are small tabs holding it down. Push these to the outside and slowly pry up the clear plastic on both sides with a flathead screwdriver. It will only come up enough to free from the tabs. Now the tricky part... at the bottom of where the digital display for the odometer, there are long metal pins extending into the circuitboard underneath. Start on either side with the flathead screwdriver, and slowly pry up a little, then alternate to the other side. Keep going back and forth until it is free. Pull it out and set it aside with the pins facing up so you don't bend any pins. Now you are at the picture on the right:

From here you can see the 5 LED's that light up the main display, but we need to remove the white plastic piece for easy access to them the white plastic doesn't get damaged. The 8 brass phillips screws you see are holding the white plastic piece. The two on opposite sides of any of the openings for the needle moving parts hold the needle mover. When you remove the screws holding in each of the needle movers, the needle mover will fall off the back. Make sure you are holding the needle mover, and set it down on a table exactly as it came out. You need to remember the orientation of them for when you put them back in. You can see the orientation as there were in mine in the following picture. Now that they are out, the white plastic will easily lift off, revealing just the circuitboard as seen in this picture:

In the above picture I put thin red circles around the 5 LED's that need to be replaced. It is tricky getting the old ones off. Not only are the soldered down on both sides, but they are glued to the board as well. I used a pair of needlenose pliers to literally crunch away the old ones until just a small tab on either side on the solder connection was left. Then I used my solder gun to heat the solder and push aside the remaining pieces leaving clean terminals to mount the new LEDs to. With the old ones removed, line up the new LED. When looking at the LED's, you'll notice there is a small indented tab in one corner of the plastic of the LED. That is the end that points in the same direction as the LED symbol in white on the circuitboard next to where each one goes. The symbol looks like this: -|>- In this case, the small indented tab would be to the right, the same direction the arrow points. Once all 5 are replaced, reassemble the unit using the previous directions in reverse up until the point of putting the needles back on. At that point, take the instrument panel out to your car. While holding it as it will be in the car, plug in the wiring harness on your right first. Then plug in the harness on the right. Sit the instrument panel in its place, and turn on your car to just before cranking the engine. Your car should have full tank of gas and have a cool engine at this point. Now take the needles and gently press them back into position. They don't need to be pressed down as far as they will go, but only until they feel snug. The speedometer, tachometer, and temperature guage needles all get put back on in the furthest down position. The gas guage needle gets put back in the furthest up position (now you know why you needed a full tank before you began). Once they are in place, turn off the car and reach around behind the instrument panel and disconnect the wiring harnesses again. Before putting the clear plastic back on the panel, clean off the inside very well to remove any dust or fingerprints. Wipe off the gauge face as well for dust or fingerprints. Press the clear plastic back into place, and screw in the final 2 screws that hold the clear plastic in. Now put the guage back in your car and plug it back in, the harness on your right first, then the one on the left. Turn on the car to accessory and you should notice the needles on the tach and speedometer peg out, then go to about 2/3's, then down to the bottom. Now turn on your car. Your tach should show what it normally does at idle (mine around 900-1000 RPMs), and the speedometer should stay at zero. The gas guage should be pegged at the top. Drive around the block making sure the speedometer needle moves as it should, and that the temp gauge rises after driving a minute or two. If any guage doesn't move, it is probably because you pressed it down too far, and it is stuck. If it goes in reverse, you put the needle mover in backwards (remember me telling you to watch how you set them down to get the correct orientation?). Either way if you have problems, open the unit back up and fix the problems and try again. Once satisfied, it will sit in your dash like this:

Once its dark, your new dash will look very much like this, except not be quite as bright or white (I had a tough time getting pictures to come out right):

And now for the clock / temp gauge to blue... the start:

The actual clock is a light white display, but there is a red translucent plastic piece that goes all the way across the clock area which tints the clock orange. Here is the stock piece:

In the stock piece, there are 3 slots for the buttons to fit into. Instead of recreating these, I decided to cut off the ones from the stock piece and use them on the clear piece I will be fabricating. To do this, I heated up a razor blade held by a pair of vice-grips, then melted through the plastic to cut them off.

For the actual plastic piece, I traced the stock piece onto clear plastic and then cut it out. I did the same for the holes. I went to a sign company and had them print the words "H", "M", "E/M" and "Passenger" in reverse stickers on clear for me. I lined these up in the same place as the original on the back of my plastic piece. Then I spray painted the back of the plastic black. The picture on the left shows a comparison of the original (red) and mine (black). Next step was to glue (2 part epoxy) the 3 plastic pieces I cut off to my piece:

To have it show up blue, I used a thin blue film glued to the edges of the actual display:

Here is the clock piece reassembled, then attached back to the dash piece:

And finally, the finished product:

Let me know what you think of my new dash in my guestbook!!