DIY: Changing your dash color for 02+ WRX (Version 1)
 

I was bored and stripped my dash bare and started to mess with everything I see.

So here is something I did.
I sleeve over blue silicon bulb sleeves from Auto One.
With the current green film/tinit in the dash, adding a blue sleeve made my dash glowed "aqua". I did not sleeve all the bulbs, if I did, the other lights will be BLUE, and it is not a good combo, aqua, blue, aqua.. yuck

[IMG]http://alqs.mine.nu/albums/subaru/abq.sized.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://alqs.mine.nu/albums/subaru/abr.sized.jpg[/IMG]
I removed the stock green sleeve from subaru. Turns out ok.

I will try and remove the green film/tinit and if I manage to do so, I will probably stick in a blue tint to see if it glows nicely.

For those who wanna DIY at their free time here are the steps.
However, please be very careful when doing so.
I hold no responsibility for anyone who damage their car.

Cluster

1. lower your steering wheel to the lowest, then look up the dashboard and you should see 2 screws. remove them.

2. Use a bit of force pulling the dash casing out in a downward movement. the casing is secured by 2 push in clips.

3. Once the black casing is out, you may need to unscrew 3 more screws on the meter board itself. Once unscrewed, the meter board can be easily removed.

4. Turn it around and you should see the bulbs. quickly drive to Auto One or any motor electrical stores and buy some bulb sleeves.

It will be MUCH better if you can get the exact size and wattage of the bulb in other color.

5. Sleeve over the silicon sleeves on all bulbs and check you have not missed out any.

6. Replace all parts in the reverse order as described above.

(If you would like to keep some indicators the orignal color, ie: signal, battery light and etc, then dont replace them, its simple)

Aircon Switches

1. open the cup holder and unsecrew the 2 screws. then remove the cup holder totally. then carefully remove the 3 aircon knobs with some force
(if no strength, use a plier with cloth and pull the knob out)
careful with the piler... don't crack the knobs

2. Then try to remove the entire panel (aircon switch casing) that surrounds your stereo deck and the switches. Pull it from the cup holder section.

3. You shall be able to see 4 bulbs behind the casing covered with phillips cross, get a phillips screw driver to unscrew and sleeve them as above.

5. Replace all parts in reverse order.

6. DONE!

Soon I will have a full DIY guide for the entire interior which includes the bulbs at the fog light switches and power window switches.

I'll add instruction pics soon.

AWESOME POST!!!!

I Will definately do this mod when I get the time and guts :)

Cool man., do it for me lah :P

Sure ade, let me play with ur antilag ya .. :D

I will be heading to my friends shop over at Murray St tomorrow
Apparently he can get me any kind of bulbs (12v)

Im gonna head over there with my cluster, we are going to tear it apart :P
to see if I can get that film off.

Wish me luck.
And ya, I got a spare cluster sti :cool:

Andrew,

Let me know whether you can get the globes, very interested in doing it WITHOUT sleeving. Shop isn't audioart is it?? Leslie??

Josh

Yea, will do.
I just need a magnifyng glass to see the wattage to get it right.

Nope.. Its A Spec :p
He sells all kinds of globes.

Ok, Got the bulbs.
Working fine but very deam.

Anybody tried removing the cluster needles before ?
Im afraid I will break it, Need suggestion :P

[QUOTE=alcw]Ok, Got the bulbs.
Working fine but very deam.

Anybody tried removing the cluster needles before ?
Im afraid I will break it, Need suggestion :P[/QUOTE]

DO NOT touch the needles, if you do you will root the stepper motors and you can pretty much bin the cluster, I bought a bunch of wide beam LEDs from the US and tried this, i can see them working well in the HVAC (i've just been too lazy to do it yet) but even they were still an aqua colour on the main dash :( i gave up, i have been searching for reverse indiglo gauges for the STi cluster to no avail. best i have managed to fine are regular indiglo gauges from darren at technik so i'll probably go these and then use the LEDs in the HVAC etc, should look ok, i'm actually planning on doing all this soon too.

Ok. I found another way..
Sand off the green stuff :P

although its a little hard to reach those hard to reach places.

[QUOTE=alcw]although its a little hard to reach those hard to reach places.[/QUOTE]
don't ya hate it when hard to reach places are hard to reach! :(
:D

HEHEHE
yea yeah.

Well, this link has better explanation.

[URL=http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690378]http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690378[/URL]

I have done this on my EL Falcon, which im selling by the way. You get a better effect if you bin the original globes and use blue led's with a resistor in the original globe holder.

Maybe ya.

I already sand off the fuel/temp gauge circle.
Took me 2 whole hours to do that section, its really worth it.

[IMG]http://alqs.mine.nu/albums/subaru/abs.sized.jpg[/IMG]

There is no blue, due to the low brightness and the dull red light, my camera uses auto night mode causing it to be blue.

[QUOTE=alcw]Maybe ya.

I already sand off the fuel/temp gauge circle.
Took me 2 whole hours to do that section, its really worth it.

[IMG]http://alqs.mine.nu/albums/subaru/abs.sized.jpg[/IMG]

There is no blue, due to the low brightness and the dull red light, my camera uses auto night mode causing it to be blue.[/QUOTE]

looks damn good hey!

hey dude, are you willing to give me hand doing mine :P

sure.. :p
it is a 2 person job, one to press the dial in and the next person sands it like a "saw".

I'll complete mine first, and will let you know.

Cool ?

sweet! need a hand with yours?
i'll be happy to lend a helping hand

awsome.. got a msn we can chat ?
Mine is [email]andrew@hbmog.net[/email]

Cheers

You guys could meet up at Black Toms. :D

:D

probably..

is that an Sti cluster or normal wrx ?

aqua lokos nice :)

normal 04 rex.

bumpity.

[IMG]http://alqs.mine.nu/albums/subaru/aby.sized.jpg[/IMG]

Got all sorted out, anyone need help with this DIY feel free to contact me.

Is there any way of changing the needle colour on 01 from yellow to red (to match Defi's)?

paul you can paint the needles with a light coat of an enamel paint, i think i'll do this on mine

That looks *really* nice, i want to do a more extreme Green colour in my my95 wrx... i guess it's the same sort of principle really :P

[QUOTE=sikem rex]That looks *really* nice, i want to do a more extreme Green colour in my my95 wrx... i guess it's the same sort of principle really :P[/QUOTE]
for green you got it easy

just get some green LEDs that plug straight in and you're laughing

note i will be ordering some more of the good quality wide beam ones from the states soon that are direct plug and play so i will be posting a group buy for them soon price will be in the $3 per bulb territory depending on exchange rate and shipping.

ok group buy thread with details in the for sale section :)

why not gold? ;)

ah..
I got mine for 2 bucks for a pair. :P

Xenon white..

anyone attempt this and have pics to show??

i was looking around for the reverse indiglo gauges but not havin much luck and would be heaps better with a DIY..

Did it on my my00 wrx with blue LED's. I didnt sand back the green film though. It turned out alright but it's really bright in some areas and then dull in others. Will post up pics later when i find a camera.

or just have a read of this......
[URL]http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690378[/URL]

glad i found this one! been thinking about changing my dash to look like my gauges. thanks for the post :)