HOW TO: Changing BG Astina Dash Lights
 

Ok so today i undertook the rather picky task of changing my dash light colours...although i have done this before i thought that since everyone would love to change from the horrible green colour, this would be really helpful..
This mod does not need soldering talent and has minor modification to the gauge cluster BUT if you dont know much about wiring please pay attention to detail....
P.S. could some one make this a Sticky.....

ok....
Park the car on a flat surface. First of all take off the steering wheel....then take off the top of the plastic surround around your steering column. There are 4 bolts underneath that will get this off. Finally for this step unscrew the gauge cluster surround making sure to unclip both the pop up switch on the left side and the rear dimister on the right. Take note that if your gauge surround is the original it may be very brightle and could crack while you are trying to remove it...mine was originally cracked so i purchased a brand new one from Mazda for $70. You should end up with this....
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4344.jpg

ok so once you have the gauge surround off its worth while to take off the bottom panel as well....this will help to get the wires and speedo cable behind the gauge cluster..there are 5 bolts in total, 2 at the bottom on the far left and right one behind a plastic grey clip and one near the coin holder on the right...remove the plastic cover on the right (You'll need to open the drivers side door to expose the plastic cover) pry it open with a flat head screw driver to expose the final bolt. Remove the bonnet mechanism and unplug and unclip the dimmer unit...the cover panel should now just pop off...
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4353.jpg
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4349.jpg

Ok so now that you have all the annoying plastic off its down to business. The gauge cluster has 4 things to disconect from the back before removal can continue...3 electric clips and 1 speedo cable. Remove the speedo cable, it is held in by i plastic clip...simply bend your arm around the array of pipework and wires and press on the clip and pull....once you have done this get off the floor and unscrew the 4 bolts that are secureing the gauge cluster to the dash.... once this is done the lLEFT of the gauge cluster should easily come forward unclip the clip that becomes exposed. You should then have enough room to get your hands to the other two clips on the right hand side....once this is done the gauge cluster should just come forward and pop out ( Be careful of the hazard light switch when bringing out the gauge cluster)
Once the gauge cluster is removed you should be greated with this...
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4354.jpg

Now we can work on the gauge cluster.... firstly find a nice clean bench as you dont want any small parts going missing. I am now going to run off track and save you guys alot of money in the long run....Before the blue lights i had red lights and found that the Red LED's arent as bright as the red caps so i used red caps....BUT when i done the blue lights i decided to skim abit of money and invest in blue caps....These things...
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4359.jpg

For the blue light DO NOT get these caps...For red lights get these caps...all with trial and era i guess...instead i invested in these...
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4371.jpg
You need 6 bulbs in total plus 1 packet of T 5 bulbs ( 3 packets T-10 and 1 packet T-5) LED's are a polarity concious bulb and therefore need positive and negetive but ill get to that later.....
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4356.jpg

Unscrew all the little gold screws around the gauge cluster and pry the plastic casing off the gauge cluster. There are 4 clips on the top and 3 clip on the bottom...Get a small philips head and press down on the clips, then use a flat head and pry each clip away as you press down...this will eventuall result in the clear casing poping off exposing the gauges...

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT BIT:::::
Mark where the needles are on the gauge are with a pacer or small pencil The tacho, speed and temp will all be at the bottom but mark the fuel or you'll never known when your fuel is low....
OK so CAREFULLY pull off the needles and unscrew all the tiny black screws securing the gauge faces and rmove the gauge faces.
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4376.jpg

WARNING: the next step does not need to been done but the final result will suffer if not done.

This will expose all the bulbs and mechanisms...carefully remove these things....
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4379.jpg
they dimmer down the original bulbs
I used a scapel and carefully cut them off as they project the light incertain places but with the LED bulbs it just dimms the final result.

OK now place a soft rag or hold the dials as you sand the back green backing off the dials....like this....
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/_MG_4374.jpg
BE careful not to snap the tacho needle as i did the first time..they a bitch to replace....lol....

ok so place the gauges back on the gauge cluster and screw them down (not to tight as your only screwing to plastic) and put the fuel needle where you marked it originally...( DO NOT put the other needles on yet...)

Find the 6 bulbs that you need to replace and replace them with the LED bulbs...easy.... spray some INOX into the back of the speedo cable mechanism...

walk to the car and clip the gauge back in but DO NOT attach the speedo cable

using the left hand side of the gauge cluster as a place to see, turn the lights on and see which ones need to be changed around ( REMEMBER that LED's are polarity sensitive..) once this is done start the car and let it run until its hot and turn it off.....keep the keys on ACC and put the needle back where they usually are..Temp can be done easily if you marked the gauge before hand....start the car and check that the tacho needle is corect and that the speedo needle reads at 0...at this point spray some INOX on the speedo cable to prevent speedo needle bounce.

Now you can clip the clear center face back onto the gauge cluster and screw all the gold bolts back on ...then fasten the gauge back onto the dash....

Now simply put all the plastic stuff back on and let her rip...this is should be what it ends up like....
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...ugeCluster.jpg

OH YEAH, the extra T-5 bulb that you have can be used for this.....
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...5/P1010018.jpg
simply unscrew the little bulb casing and pop out the green case and replace the bulb with the LED...check its right and bingo...looks really good ay....

So thats it really....the process will no doubt be different for other models but its basically the same concept. Anyway i hope this clears some of the clouds for this mod..if there is anything that i have missed ill pick it up and up date...peace out...
JOHN...a.k.a. Zappy

i have added some more pictures for your viewing pleasure,...enjoy

thanks for the great writeup - the pics look good except I cant see what the last one is??

fantastic write up!

the blue looks awesome! in a kind of washed out way... hehe but better than green....


and i never knew i could get to the speedo cable without taking off all the top dash part~ thats a real help! :p

yeah the blue isnt that washup its jsut my missus Bloddy Canon camera and the apperture settings....its actually quite blue i actually needed to dim it down a bit and the last pick is off my key lock, i changed the green light to blue by taking out the plastic green cover and the boring old bulb and replaced it with the remaining T-5 bulb as per the write up...

Get Better Pics :p I Wanna See What It Looks Like Properly ;)

ok then but can someone make it a sticky...i didnt spend 2 hours taking photo's and typing for nothing....
EDIT: Thankyou....

hahahah complainer :p but your 1 wish has come true...no more for you! hahaha

Yeah dude, these photos bite. Having seen this dash in real life, these photos do you no favours. If Brookes camera is too hard for you, then just get a normal digital-auto focus-auto lighting one.

trust you to come up with a smart ass comment like that...but i dont want to pull apart my dash for the 5th time to take better picks....they are there for a brief idea...but i will change the one of the final product...i spose you comment means that you like the dash lights though..

hey mate, i'm planning on doing this for my BA, just wondering where you sourced the globes/LEDs.

from autobarn mate for $8.99 for 2 in a pack

Awsm post
 

so i saw this thread and went o what the hell ill give it a try...5 hrs later haha it was all done and it looks awsm but my cars still in peices so ill have photos up tomorow if im not working too late....just one issue thoe when i was doing all this my head lights poped up and now there staying up :confused: ino theres a button near the dials to lift em and stuff but ive tried everything and there still not budging !someone plz help!:eek:

Nice write up, Im going to give this a go!

pictures updated, ive gotten rid of some of the washed out ****ty ones....

you figured out how to spread the light more evenly??? instead of having a section where it almost looks white???

no, the camera kept on washing the lights out because i took the pics when it was dark, so my girlfriend, being more adapt with a camera then me, changed the apperture settings and took a couple, there are a couple of hot spots but you cant really get rid of them because of the placement of the bulbs...Im gonna have a go at making my needles bright red like my autometer gauges, this would look awesome....just need to learn a bit about resistors and stuff..

haha bud...we dont run clear needles thats how we cant get ours red :( im gonna get glow in the dark paint ;)

ive been looking for some clear needles, theres heaps at work too....warranty items from the M3

hmmm grab some then...we can try and work somethin out then :p hahahahahahaha... i dont no if i got my spare cluster still layin around...