A Car Called Bob... Blue Dash

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Changing The Lighting from Orange to Blue

| Heater Controls | Clock / Oil Temp Gauges | Instrument Pack | Switches | Head Unit |

 

The original orange dash lighting has been changed to blue. Included in the change was the stereo back light, the heater control, the centre console gauges and the instrument pack.

 
 

A note on the bulbs required ...

 
Bulbs for Instrument Pack and Heater Control illumination
 

Although I removed the original bulbs and soldered LEDs in place with a shunt resistor, this was some unnecessary work. All I needed was the slim wedge LED as sold by ultraleds.co.uk. This is a 12V unit that has a built in shunt resistor and is a direct replacement for the OEM bulb.

Two are required for the heater box illumination, and two for the instrument pack.

Click on the picture on the left to go to the 286 slim wedge bulb page on the ultraleds website.

 
 
Bulbs for footwell illumination
 

The footwell lights can be replaced by using the festoon 239 36-39mm bulb, again from ultraleds.co.uk.

 

 

Click on the picture on the left to go to the 239 page on the ultraleds website

 
 
Replacement LEDs for gauge illumination
 

Any suitable surface mount (SMT) LED will do so long as it fits. I actually used 3mm standard LEDs! Your best bet would be the 802 case size LEDs from ultraleds.

 

 

 

Click on the picture on the left to go to the SMT LED page of the ultraleds website.

 
 
Replacement bulbs for rear view mirror illumination
 

For the lights that are in the rear view mirror, simply change for an LED type 501. I initially had blue LEDs in there, but decided I had enough blue in the dash lighting so I changed them for white LEDs. Best move I made. They are so much nicer than the OEM bulbs. A much clearer light.

 

Click on the picture on the left to go to the 501 replacement page on the ultraleds website.

 
Stereo backlighting
 
For the kenwood stereo all I needed was a standard 5mm LED which I picked up from Maplins.
 
 

| Images and Text © 2006 Iain Ross |

I accept NO responsibility if you attempt any of the mods on this site. If you mess it up - its your fault!