From Mexie ... to MXSE ...

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 6:41 pm

Nevyn...You've matched your dash and instrument cluster really nicely, so as you mentioned it would look odd to do one without the other. That photo of the lighting gives me some idea of what the centre gauges etc look like with blue lighting as well. Having seen how good my instruments looked, I've already ordered the LED's for my VDO gauges and hvac.

I quickly took a snapshot of my dash and now that I look at it, doing the rest all black allows some freedom of individuality within my instrument cluster without looking out of place, so might consider the rings and needle caps after all ...

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 9:33 pm

A word of advice, changing the globes on the HVAC won't work.......

These have white back light globes through an orange/red face and the only way of changing the colour is by changing the faces with IL motorsport replacements. Not cheap.....

Here's a link the to page where you can source replacement face pieces but by the time they're shipped it isn't cheap.
http://www.ilmotorsport.com/shop/articl ... 6ac5f6d339

The picture doesn't work for this combo so see this image for an indication of what's on offer, albeit a different combination.

Note: it's just the dial faces that are replaced, you retain most of the factory HVAC unit.

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 9:45 pm

Here's one example of the pieces that you're actually replacing.
Old on the left, new on the right.

Not much for the >$100 spent but the results are worth it. :wink:

Postby **Okibi** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 9:54 pm

We are a bad influence :twisted:

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 10:05 pm

Ah rats ... now you mention it I recall those problems when I changed the lighting in Mexie :evil:

I had to remove the original pieces and stick in the replacements ...

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 10:09 pm

Okibi wrote:We are a bad influence

Not wrong! I've obviously seen Nev's dash in his thread before, but since he put up the photo on here today I've been looking at replacement gauges with chrome surrounds ...

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 10:12 pm

KevGoat wrote:
Okibi wrote:We are a bad influence

Not wrong! I've obviously seen Nev's dash in his thread before, but since he put up the photo on here today I've been looking at replacement gauges with chrome surrounds ...

Well mine are actually brushed aluminium surrounds but with fully customisable faces, surrounds and lighting options worth the cost. :wink:

http://www.speedhut.com/gauges/

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 10:23 pm

Yeah I knew yours were Speedhut. Probably the only ones that match the SE's fascia colour.

I was more looking at matching chrome surrounds to the instruments if I changed to those, but still keeping with a similar look to what I have now. But I'm thinking that I'm overthinking all this and creating another slippery slope :mrgreen:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 10:38 pm

KevGoat wrote:........I'm overthinking all this and creating another slippery slope

Tell me about it, for what I've spent on the interior of Selene to make it exactly how I want it, I could have bought a 'trackday' NA for fun..... :roll:

PS> correction, the surrounds on the speedhut gauges are actually polished aluminium in the profile that is the closest match to the IL motorsports dress rings for the instrument cluster. :wink:

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Sun Aug 21, 2016 10:55 pm

Reminding me of the hvac lighting issue has thrown a spanner in the works of where I was heading though ... :mrgreen:

Ah well, just have to change the gauge lighting and change my head unit's lighting settings to match and then see how it all looks and go from there.

Geez this started out so simple ... snow balling as bad as trying to settle on what direction I want to go with my power upgrades :mrgreen:

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Fri Aug 26, 2016 5:21 pm

OK...ordered some more T10 & T5 blue LED's from ebay seller - zeropointelectronics - and once again received them quickly. Pretty easy job to replace the gauge bulbs - just removed the center console and the radio bezel, pulled out the three gauge cluster and replaced the red T10 filament bulbs with the new T10 blue led's. Fitted everything back in and ...

Looked pretty good, but the HVAC lighting now looked a very bright red by comparison. I also noticed that the blue part of the temp adjustment wasn't lighting up much. So next day, I decided to take it all apart again and take a look at the HVAC bulbs.

To get to these you need to take off the HVAC face plate and to get to that you need to pull out the HVAC so that can get to some clips. To pull the HVAC, there's metal clips either side that need to be compressed ...

I found this rusty piece of metal was the perfect shape! ...

The HVAC won't pull out far due to cables attached, but far enough to get to the retaining clips (two top & two bottom) that need to be lifted so that they don't snap off. First remove the three dial knobs and one vent knob, then lift these clips carefully and pull the fascia forward. I didn't get a photo of this in place but these are the clips ...

Once the fascia is off, the bulbs are revealed, and I realised why the lighting had looked so red. I'd forgotten that I'd replaced the clear bulbs with red filaments when I first got the car ...

OK, so go through my trusty box of spare bulbs to find a couple of clear T5's ...

I used a small pair of pliers to pull out and replace the bulbs ...

Once I had checked that everything was working correctly, fitted it all back together again, covered the cab with some sheets to darken it inside a little and ...

... now the HVAC has an amber glow rather than bright red and it matches in nicely with all the instrument needles and the radio. The "cold" blue section of the temp dial now lights up well, even with this much ambient light.

Really happy with the results.

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Fri Aug 26, 2016 5:38 pm

Okibi wrote:We are a bad influence

Yeah and to make matters worse ... MX5Parts(UK) is apparently in on the conspiracy as well ...

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Fri Aug 26, 2016 10:12 pm

After reading this and remembering what Nevyn went through, I'm glad I like red dash lights!

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Sat Aug 27, 2016 10:13 pm

Well the worst part was one of the bulb holders pushed out of it's hole as I pushed the bulb in and it fell back inside the HVAC. I had to remove the head unit and the gauges again and then the head unit's sleeve so that I could feel around inside the HVAC. Spent nearly an hour looking for that stupid little thing. Had visions of this little piece of plastic rattling around and driving me nuts

Eventually found it by accident on the carpet beside the HVAC on the trans tunnel