The Red Green Machine

greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Sat May 15, 2021 9:41 am

Red lighting not available. I don't mind the blue, fixing the cluster to blue would be no problem (I'm guessing), does anyone know how easy changing the hvac lighting is? This might accelerate the replacement of the head unit as well.

The alternative would be to replace the lighting LED in the Speedhut gauges with red ones, are there any issues there?

:mrgreen:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sat May 15, 2021 10:09 am

greenMachine wrote:Red lighting not available. I don't mind the blue, fixing the cluster to blue would be no problem (I'm guessing), does anyone know how easy changing the hvac lighting is? This might accelerate the replacement of the head unit as well.

The alternative would be to replace the lighting LED in the Speedhut gauges with red ones, are there any issues there?

Changing lighting colour of the speedhut gauges is a non-starter, they are electroluminescent...

HVAC was a huge pain, you need to change the dial faces as they determine the colour. Only supplier I found was from Europe and very expensive.

Instrument cluster colour is determined by the globe colour installed (factory globes have a red silicone sleeve).

To go blue I had to;
1) Change instrument cluster globes to blue LEDs. (makes the needles slightly purple

)
2) Change HVAC dial faces to blue passthrough, replace globes with white LEDs. (cool roadster themed icons though :mrgreen:

)
3) Order speedhut gauges with blue electroluminescence.*
* you have a separate dial rheostat for the speedhut brightness.

If I was to do again I would actually seriously consider going white backlighting for a more modern look. :wink:

If you want more gory details shoot me a PM...

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sat May 15, 2021 10:21 am

Not surprisingly IL motorsport doesn't appear to sell the HVAC faces anymore...

You could get a custom set from REV-limiter.

Here's another way of getting a white effect from the factory HVAC stuff.
https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=536965

greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Sat May 15, 2021 12:30 pm

Thanks for that Nevyn. This is all getting more complex that I was imagining, I may have to re-think what I am prepared to commit to.

Are the blue LEDs a plug and play fit in the cluster, or are blue sleeves available/makeable?

I'm not sure I have the time and/or inclination to embark on a major project, so I think the hvac is going to stay stock anyway.

:mrgreen:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sat May 15, 2021 12:37 pm

Blue LEDs are plug and play, but only work one way around so make sure you test before re-fitting the cluster, you may need to spin them around 180 degrees... :wink:

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Sat May 15, 2021 3:36 pm

RevLimiter sell HVAC faces, and also does bulbs for the guage faces (you could also get guage faces ;) ) RevLimiter quality is top of the line and his customer service is best in class!

https://revlimiter.net/store/hvac-nb.php

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Mon May 17, 2021 4:30 pm

Did they say why red lighting wasn’t available? They still do red numbers on black background

greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Mon May 17, 2021 7:48 pm

Not yet RR, still waiting for a response to my followup email.

:mrgreen:

greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:20 pm

Well, it has been a while.

Roadrunner, no dice on the instruments, they don't/won't do them.

In other news, I have a flat battery, even though the trickle charger says it is ready to go. I need to check the battery connections and see if there is a problem there, maybe the starter motor even. I've just put a new one in my tractor, but the MX will be more difficult for these old bones if it comes to that.

My Begi manifold is more-or-less sold, but things are moving on that front ...

There is a flattop IM on the way too. I almost bought a couple from the UK with a view to selling one and recouping some of the freight cost, but it was exxy and would get more so if the revenue hounds intercepted them, so I found one on the FB group :oops:

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:28 pm

greenMachine wrote:Roadrunner, no dice on the instruments, they don't/won't do them.

That's so weird. Wonder if it was a manufacturing issue or operational decision. Feels operational as they've dumped heaps of colour combos off their site.
Ohh Kraken....what turbo are you going to run?

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:14 pm

I wonder if the worldwide chip/ic shortage has got anything to do with it? I know the colours relate to LEDs but maybe they're controlled by ICs (as you can tell I'm not an electronics guru).
Or maybe the more colour choice meant more stock of ICs had to be kept, but there is no stock around meaning they culled the range available.

Alex 2550 · Postby **Alex 2550** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 12:33 am

You got the manifold!! That’s awesome.
I’m still waiting on all my Kraken gear.
I have contacted him on an ETA but no response which is frustrating.

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greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 8:45 am

It seems a bit hit and miss. I messaged him, got a response before the pixels had time to dry, ordered straight away, and delivered on schedule (maybe even a bit quicker). Some suggest that the bigger the order, the slower the delivery, my experience supports that theory - I only ordered the mani and dump pipe.

In other news the flat top IM arrived this week

.

The Barge has taken far too much of my time over the last few weeks, needing the horn fixed to get it past rego inspection. The problem is at the horn button, I was going to cut the wire under the steering column, but couldn't find power in the wire at the connector, got power at the fuse, power at the relay :frown:

so I ended up putting in a whole new circuit with a push button - easy enough, a lot of stuffing around, but that hurdle should be done today.

Then I can turn my attention to the MX ...

Alex 2550 · Postby **Alex 2550** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 9:52 am

Sounds like a plan, not sure if you have seen it yet over on my build but this arrived

I also woke to a message from Mike at Kraken today, he said he may ship mine next week!, I then reminded him that mine has the 3 inch twin exit exhaust and intercooler. I haven’t had a reply back yet.
Honestly I’m not fazed when it shows up because I have a heap of tuning to do on the MS before I go adding boost however I expect shipping to be slow.
I’m looking forward to seeing yours come together and the benefits it brings.

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greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Sat Sep 04, 2021 9:50 am

Having got on top of my battery problem, it's time to turn my attention to another looming issue - water in the cabin, passenger side. Given the a/c isn't working it's not the a/c condenser drain, which is in place anyway.

Only other thing is the heater core. I have a new one on the way, and last night I watched a couple of YT videos to refresh my memory, having pulled a couple of NB dashes out of cars I dismantled. In both cases I wasn't concerned with putting things back, and used shortcuts involving wire cutters etc, but this time I really would like everything work as before

.

Seems like this would also be a good time to replace the head unit, and install the triple gauge panel I have been hoarding.

First job will be putting up the HT hoist though, so the HT and seats can be removed for access.

:mrgreen: