DIY - Instrumental Cluster Colour mod (revised 27/05/11)

[Kenshin X]

Disclaimer: Neither TOCAU or I take responsibility if you fry/blow up any part of your car due to incorrect handling of your car parts etc.

Hey guys, been wanting to do this mod for a while as i was sick of looking at the red cluster for the Sportivo. Also as most of you know that I've changed my centre console colour to blue colour. I was thinking of modifying my instrument cluster so it flows with the centre console and the rest of the car.

This guide is for the Levin cluster manual but the Sportivo cluster is exactly the same. Just uses red LEDs all around instead of the white tacho and red needles like the Levins. Plus a note you should take is the Levin cluster had a white backing and the Sportivo has a red backing. Somehow you can take the red backing. I haven’t tried it but I’m sure someone on the forums will hack into it sooner or later. This mod shouldn't take you more than a day provided you have everything listed below.

Things that you need:

Soldering Iron (a pincer one especially made for the SMD/SMT leds would be much better when taking the LEDs off)

Solder

Solder wick/Solder sucker

scissors

acrylic (gloss) white paint

very fine paint brush

polarising filter

tweesers

double sided tape

small sharp knife

screw driver (flat head and phillips/4 star)

mineral turps

methol spirits

cloth/rag

x35 PLCC-2 SMD LED 3.5mm x 2.8mm (colour of your choice or however you want your dash to be)

make sure they are AT LEAST 800mcd brightness otherwise it's going to look dull and dark and might be dangerous when driving in the day as you cannot see the dash properly

Important note: When choosing the colour LEDs for this mod be sure that the voltage supplying to the LED isn’t higher than what the LED can take. The resistors that are in the cluster you cannot change. Stock white LEDs require the higher resistor so you can be sure that most colour lights will work on stock Levin cluster. I’ve had people try putting blue LEDs on stock Sportivo clusters and have the LEDs blown themselves after a few hours of usages because the voltage supplied to the LEDs were to high

BEFORE YOU TOUCH ANY PART OF THE ELECTRICAL OF THE CAR. UNHOOK THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL OUT OF THE BATTERY FIRST!

1) Remove your instrument cluster via the following steps

a. unscrew the top part of the surrounding that holds your cluster in

b. Pull the bottom of your surround until the sides of the surround pops out. there are 4 clips (2 on each side). you then need to push the vinyl on the top up a bit so u can pull the surround down and out. there is the clip that held the screw in they will fling out so be ready to catch it.

c. bottom of the cluster there are two clips. u need to use a flat head screw driver to push the metal bit away from u so the plastic hook attached to the cluster will pop out. unscrew the single screw on the top and unplug the harnesses feeding into the cluster. (there are 2 for the sportivo and 1 for the Levin)

d. take out the cluster

View of cluster (Levin)

2) unclip 4 top and 4 bottom clips and remove the plastic covering

3) unclip 4 more top and 4 bottom for the surround

4) now with a very small flat head screw driver wrapped in duct tape or some cloth get under the needles and GENTLY lift them off. now i found that there was no way to take it off by just pulling and i broke the 3 white clips holding the needle cover... but u will know later why this is required anyways. remember which one goes in which motor.

5) once all off there are circle clips that you have u take out to remove the fascia

6) just get under the facia and gently lift it off and these will pop off

7) u need to remove the top frosted plastic. to do this u will need to remove the 8 screws holding the motors of the tacho/speedo/temp/fuel gauge motors out. when you remove these make sure the motors are sitting in the correct positions. EVEN THE ORIENTATION IS IMPORTANT!

[Kenshin X]

8) turn the cluster around a remove the 8 screws holding the back of the cluster.

9) set it down and carefully lift off the middle part of the cluster

10) Remove the LCD for the ODO. U need to GENTLY pull on the LCD so the pins come out. Make sure the pins come out straight and you do not touch them otherwise they will bend/break and GG for you

11) now you can separate the circuit board from the rest of the plastics

closer view of the board

[Kenshin X]

12) now de solder all of the leds shown here.

I couldn't save any red ones becuz for some reason they were stuck on in the middle and i had to end up chiselling ALL of them out… I could keep most of the white ones though.

to do this u will need the solder wick to clean one side of the led

use the screw driver to fling the led up and then de solder to other side to lift the led off with tweesers.

remember the polarity of the led (should be a marker on the corner of each led)

picture of the removed leds (white)

picture of new led comparison to a 5 cent coin (tiny yes?)

13) now swap over the red leds with the white ones for the needles

test them...

all good?

now...

14) THIS IS OPTIONAL for the inverting of the LCD screen u need to reverse the polarising filter. take the stock one off with a sharp knife and then peel very carefully. once this is off it will leave a residue and u need to clean it with a scratch proof cloth (glasses cloth will do)

stock and new filters

[Kenshin X]

15) put that aside and begin to strip the red paint off the needles. take the needle apart (there are 3 pieces in total) here is a picture of one already done for you compared to the others. after this make sure you wash with water and dry.

tip: i didn't know this but u can use the flat screw driver covered in the mineral turp and cloth and force rub it off. not too hard u don't want to break the needle.

i didn't know this and i kept using my hands to rub it off and it took me 1 and half hours for each needle!!!

also be careful. This stuff is toxic and it melted the rubber off my screw driver.

16) once done get your acrylic gloss paint and paint the needles on the bottom only carefully masking around with tape so it doesnt run off to the top part. do 3 coats and i used my mrs hair dryer to quick touch dry the coats. 3 LIGHT coats will do. dont try to cover everything with just one, it wont work

17) all done. put the needles together with some small double sided tape. be sure you face the bottom reflectors white up otherwise you are going end up with dull/black needles no matter what colour u use i used white paint as i found that white will reflect any colour led from the board.

18) now assemble the cluster back the way it was before leaving out the top cover and hook it up to your car. remember to connect the negative terminal of the battery back on...

Calibrating the needles

1) you need to first turn on the engine and then have the needle motors set themselves to 0/C/E and then whack on the needles when the engine is off. As for the tacho and speedo, work with the tacho first. when the car is warm it will idle roughly around 800 rpm. put on the needles but dont push them fully inside. rev the car abit and once ur happy with the rev meter move on to the speedo... i found with mine i need to put it on abit below the needle stopper and then move it over the stopper and let it rest at 0. go for a drive and if the revs go with the speed, ur good (i used my GPS on my iphone for speed detection ) Will take a few tries but in no time u will get it mine took around 15 mins to calibrate. For those who have an On Board Diagnostics (OBDII scanner) you can see exactly where the needle should be so you can calibrate it quicker

Finished product:

Before:

To This:

To This:

Ended up changing the 7 and 8 LED too

For those who aren't rocket scientists out there: NO, I didn't max out the speedo... (sheesh <_<)

enjoy! :)

[clifton]

Nice guide, very in depth :)

[dweebz]

so just did this diy thingy. is there awaY to monitor how much fuel theres left. cus like atm ive got like 1/5 fuel left and the fuel light turned on. but ive only done 460k on the tank to. usually im like 550. should i follow the pin or the red light?

[Kenshin X]

so just did this diy thingy. is there awaY to monitor how much fuel theres left. cus like atm ive got like 1/5 fuel left and the fuel light turned on. but ive only done 460k on the tank to. usually im like 550. should i follow the pin or the red light?

you have the stivo cluster or the levin one? the reading depends on the fuel sender in the tank... so if the light comes on its an indication that there is around 10-13L fuel left in the tank. the light is triggered by the fuel sender. i'd go with the fuel light

fill up and work out how much is in the tank.