2011.02.05 - Gauges, Needles, Passenger Airbag, LED Lighting
I have been a busy-bee this past week.
- Modified spare gauge cluster needles from white to red-orange
- Swapped white needles out for the new red needles
- Tapped into dimmer switch harness and routed wires to gauge cluster for vacuum/boost gauge
- Drilled hole into gauge hood to route wires from XD-16 and vacuum/boost gauge
- Removed passenger airbag and blower motor housing
- Routed signal wires for AIT and CLT through firewall
- Routed vacuum hose from engine bay through firewall
- Routed vacuum hose from gauge cluster to passenger footwell
- Put new weatherstrip between blower housing and cowl
- Reinstalled blower motor housing
- Put new weatherstrip on clamp-seal between blower and evaporator core
- Ordered new clear lens for dome light
- Ordered 31mm LED festoon bulbs for dome light and passenger footwell
- Ordered LED bulbs for gauge cluster, HVAC controls, and dash switches
- Clipped airbag pigtail off of spare clockspring assembly (from '93 parts car) and soldered three 10-ohm resistors in parallel between the leads, then installed in car
I decided to try my hand at recoloring the gauge needles from my spare cluster (from the '93 parts car), so I followed the example set forth by DansCreations. I removed the white paint on the back of the needles and then dyed them with some Rit fabric dye, and then painting the back side with some fluorescent orange paint. It didn't go as well as I would have liked, but I think that the final result might just be OK. When swapping the needles onto my gauges, I also adjusted the position of the tachometer needle to make it more accurate.
When I went to run the vacuum hose through the firewall, I discovered that the insulation (jute padding and heavy rubber sheet) were going to make the process nearly impossible. I ended up having to remove the blower motor housing, and in order to remove that I had to remove the passenger side airbag. (e_e) While I had everything apart, I decided that I should go ahead and run the signal wires for the AIT and CLT sensors through the firewall grommet. When reinstalling the blower motor housing, I put new weatherstripping around some of the areas where the foam seemed worn out.
I decided that since I've got the airbag out, I would like to leave it out. This was something I had been considering for a while but had not had the motivation to actually do until now. I will probably try to fabricate a small storage compartment for that area eventually. I decided that the airbag connector on my spare clockspring was worth more to me than the clockspring itself (since I still haven't managed to sell it after all this time) and used it to fabricate a plug-n-play airbag delete jumper.
I've also decided to bite the bullet and convert my gauge illumination to LEDs. ::sigh:: For all the money that it adds up to, these had better kick as much ass as they are supposed to. I also ordered a clear dome light lens (which is actually a Mitsubishi part) because the tabs on my factory tinted lens are starting to break off. The Mitsubishi version was probably cheaper than I could get the Mazda part and should hopefully allow the dome light to be more effective, though it might not be quite as visually appealing.
$16.61 - Vacuum hoses and connectors
$7.82 - Clear dome light lens (Mitsubishi MR951527)
$5.79 - LED dome light bulbs
$50.58 - LED gauge cluster, HVAC control, and dash switch lights (from superbrightleds.com)
- Modified spare gauge cluster needles from white to red-orange
- Swapped white needles out for the new red needles
- Tapped into dimmer switch harness and routed wires to gauge cluster for vacuum/boost gauge
- Drilled hole into gauge hood to route wires from XD-16 and vacuum/boost gauge
- Removed passenger airbag and blower motor housing
- Routed signal wires for AIT and CLT through firewall
- Routed vacuum hose from engine bay through firewall
- Routed vacuum hose from gauge cluster to passenger footwell
- Put new weatherstrip between blower housing and cowl
- Reinstalled blower motor housing
- Put new weatherstrip on clamp-seal between blower and evaporator core
- Ordered new clear lens for dome light
- Ordered 31mm LED festoon bulbs for dome light and passenger footwell
- Ordered LED bulbs for gauge cluster, HVAC controls, and dash switches
- Clipped airbag pigtail off of spare clockspring assembly (from '93 parts car) and soldered three 10-ohm resistors in parallel between the leads, then installed in car
I decided to try my hand at recoloring the gauge needles from my spare cluster (from the '93 parts car), so I followed the example set forth by DansCreations. I removed the white paint on the back of the needles and then dyed them with some Rit fabric dye, and then painting the back side with some fluorescent orange paint. It didn't go as well as I would have liked, but I think that the final result might just be OK. When swapping the needles onto my gauges, I also adjusted the position of the tachometer needle to make it more accurate.
When I went to run the vacuum hose through the firewall, I discovered that the insulation (jute padding and heavy rubber sheet) were going to make the process nearly impossible. I ended up having to remove the blower motor housing, and in order to remove that I had to remove the passenger side airbag. (e_e) While I had everything apart, I decided that I should go ahead and run the signal wires for the AIT and CLT sensors through the firewall grommet. When reinstalling the blower motor housing, I put new weatherstripping around some of the areas where the foam seemed worn out.
I decided that since I've got the airbag out, I would like to leave it out. This was something I had been considering for a while but had not had the motivation to actually do until now. I will probably try to fabricate a small storage compartment for that area eventually. I decided that the airbag connector on my spare clockspring was worth more to me than the clockspring itself (since I still haven't managed to sell it after all this time) and used it to fabricate a plug-n-play airbag delete jumper.
I've also decided to bite the bullet and convert my gauge illumination to LEDs. ::sigh:: For all the money that it adds up to, these had better kick as much ass as they are supposed to. I also ordered a clear dome light lens (which is actually a Mitsubishi part) because the tabs on my factory tinted lens are starting to break off. The Mitsubishi version was probably cheaper than I could get the Mazda part and should hopefully allow the dome light to be more effective, though it might not be quite as visually appealing.
$16.61 - Vacuum hoses and connectors
$7.82 - Clear dome light lens (Mitsubishi MR951527)
$5.79 - LED dome light bulbs
$50.58 - LED gauge cluster, HVAC control, and dash switch lights (from superbrightleds.com)