dubster82's refresher pics, '07

[dub16 0]

Looking good Brian,

 

Still to experience the interior lighting in the dark! Looks good though!

 

The supercharged badge in place of the VR6 badge, I can only think what a top bloke would give you a present like a 100mm supercharged badge....... :lol:

[dubster82 0]

dub16, Ha Ha ,Cheers bud!!! Its ace. I've still actually got to get a pic up of that one.... :thumbleft:

[dubster82 0]

Heres some pics of my brothers Bikes (for all those bikers out there, you know who you are! :wink:);

 

an '02 model Honda CBR600F-Sport Valentino Rossi Limited edition. And a '89 Honda VFR 400R, both have been slightly binned now... :cry: http://www.shadowblue.net/thefastone.htm

[dubster82 0]

heres a couple i had lying about for a while i always meant to put up....:roll:

[dubster82 0]

A few ideas perhaps????

[GRINGOG60 0]

Hi,

 

Car looks very nice mate, especially like the blue dials and heater control trick-

Is this easy to do? I know you will have probably been asked this a hundred times :x but how do you change from green light to blue and red?

[Bally 0]

Loving this car mate.. can't wait to get my C!!!

[dubboy 0]

How you get the MFA screen and mileometer red?? thought with the colour of the screen they would naturally be green.

 

Really do think you have done a top job on your 'C' and the lighting inside is the best i've seen as it truely looks like the modern VW job.

[dubster82 0]

Hans G60.nl,

normally when the philips silver bulbs are fitted you cannot see any orange in the reflector when the turn lights are turned off

 

Yeah, but i think its only one pic where they look orange and its cause of the flash more than anything. they dont look that bad actually. Cheers tho. I have the silver ones in my repeaters since the picture too, what a difference.

 

Bally, Cheers bud, Make sure you get a good one tho :wink:

 

 

Custom lighting Instructions

 

GRINGOG60 and dubboy, Right, i did mean to do it as a step through guide but, i couldn't get hold of a camera... I have one now and will be opening them up again soon so ill take a couple of pictures to show people what they are going to look at....

 

As it is, More people just ask me to do it for them rather than ask how to do it!!! Its ok doing the Dials, but the heater controls are a pain in the butt :mad:

 

Roughly though... The Dials. The OE colour is made my a green film that runs across the top of the housing lit through by three bulbs. There is many guides on how to change these bulbs to LED's but in my opinion, these are too bright and don't dim, which would annoy me. This is personal opinion though.

 

What i did was to get some dark blue coloured film from a lighting shop (DJ, Disco supplies and atmospheric lighting) cut it to the same shape as the green film, swap over. simple. Once you get the dials out, Pain the first time you do it... take over the cover (its really obvious) and you'll see the green film I'm talking about. The original bulbs are actually 1.8w. Replacements are 1.3w from halfords. I replaced mine with 2.3w versions from Halfords that you buy without holders and soldered them into place of the original bulbs in the OE holders. This i recommended on a suck it and see basis. Cause mine is blue, i deemed it too dark (its bloody hard to make a nice blue) so this helps.

 

The Digital screens. Easier than you think. Once you have the cover off, you'll see the gauges and circuit board etc.. Brace yourself and hold the gauges firmly at each side and pull directly out. The circuit board is plugged in at the side to the strip of lights at the top, un-plug it. I can't remember exactly if the Circuit Board is just clipped in to place or screws too, but it'll again be obvious. Once the circuit board is out of place, you will see the digital screens are fixed onto the board by i think two screws from behind. undo these. Once you have the screens out, hold them in your hand screen facing down and there is a big 'spacer' inside it. Remove this. You will see the LCD screen it appears white with just two pieces of rubber along each side of it. The Rubber is actually the connections for the screen and the white is one of the two filter used to diffuse the light. Turn the unit upside down and gently take out the LCD Screen. From memory, the diffuser is shaped into a little hole that you will have to prod through before you can do this. It sounds strange, but it will become obvious when it come to doing it. Once you have the filters out, you'll see there is a green one too. (On Moto-meter gauges this diffuser is one piece, if anyone has Moto meter gauges, just ask, ill talk you round this.) Get a hard board and a very sharp modelling knife (Stanley knife will do). Take your desired colour of film and cut to shape You may need two filters too, as i found the Red initially in your face so it may be better dimmer. I'm probably away to do this too. Fitting is the opposite of removal.

 

When it comes to colours, i actually matched mine to my stereo so it all looks like it could be OE. There is many colours available, I was going to do my mates purple to match his bodywork, the GF's Polo all red cause I think it'll look smart (And she may be getting matching red in the cloth of a GTI interior) :D and my mate wants his all blue [R32's have this and he seems to have a lil theme started too :D] If your doing it blue, you may want to get a normal blue to make it easier to read rather than dark blue (I noticed this on a pic of R32 Dials). I'm away to test different combinations on my GF's car so ill see how they come out and compare).

 

The Heater controls. What a bar-steward. Pull the levers directly out.... (Sorry late spec owners, still to check my GF's Polo to check if it'll be the same, so your on your own... But im guessing it aint far different...)... and unclip the fascia. Pull the fan switch out and unclip it from behind. You'll see its sealed together with a few little spots of molten plastic (like spot welds) get your knife and cut them. Everything will come apart and you will notice that its a piece of film with the symbols mysteriously on it , somehow..... :? Well, Get the T-cut out! Or Brasso, i used everything i could find and tried cutting corners by using a Dremmel (DO NOT DO THIS!!!!), and a Cordless drill with a cotton bud in the chuck, (this ain't to bad, but you'll go through lot of cotton buds), but nothing accounts for time and patience. Best set aside an entire Sunday for this lot actually :D One thing I didn't try was thinners, but i didn't want to chance it. What am i going on about you say? Well, the piece of film is actually clear with black paint for the face, then white paint for the symbols, then green paint for the filter. You have to get rid off the green paint behind the symbols, WITHOUT, removing the symbols and WITHOUT removing the Black paint...... its tricky and i have one or two very small bits that makes me wish it didn't use the dremmel (you can touch up lil bits with paint mind. But, You have been warned! Once you think your happy, hold it up to a light bulb (with the light on... :roll::lol:) Still happy? If yes then Start fitting back together again but get your filters out again, and tri away with some scissors til your hearts content. I was going to do everything Red, Modern dubs are this, and you can do things like getting rid of the lines that go between the symbols etc (paint them over). But I mixed the blue and red again with blue symbols and a red line split red and blue line on the heater bar and red numbers and indicator on the fan speed switch. The 4 will have to be given more filters than anything else as the bulb is directly behind it and blue is difficult to do because its only one bulb lighting everything. I had lots of attempts and schemes before i settled with what i have now. Put everything back together and hold it tightly. You may want to attempt gluing it all back together or something similar. Now you have to try installing it all back in the car without any of the filters moving about. It is incredibly tricky and you may have a bald patch by the time you finish. But is worth it.

 

Switches. If your bulbs dont work, Get some new switches first. My rear demister also doesn't work anymore because it wasn't the best at working all the time as age had got it, and doesn't work at all now, these are only about £12 though. The film I used in that though was actually from a raspberry truffle wrapper from a pic n mix. I did this before I bought any film but it is remarkably good. It also easier to get it to stay in place, as its kind of just stuffs in there. You may need two layers, I did.

 

Once you're finished. Drive out to the middle of no where, wait 'til its dark, and go and switch on. Smile. Everytime i switch them on I'm impressed. I was in a mates Corrado not long ago and found the green now so dull and boring. My 21 year old MKI has Green lighting for gods sake, its about time VW changed it! :lol: y Friend Called me Anal when i told him i was going to do this. Now he wants it don to his!!!! So it shows its a big difference. For best results though, I'd try and match it to a Headunit, it just blends everything in at nigh. Again though, just my opinion. Just play about with ideas and see what your local light effect shop can help you with. i bought a Pack of 4 different colours for a Fiver and the y gave me some off cause for free, so its worth having a look. Have Fun! :D

 

BTW you will need a torx driver for VDO Dials, Apparently, accordint to Henny, its an 8 you need. available from halfords. Cheers Henny.

 

UPDATE

 

I did the same with mine some time ago, I went for all red and even swapped the cigar lighter bezel for a red one from an old Audi. The sunroof switches and window swithces use LEDs rather than bulbs. I got these from the RS catalogue (don't remember the part numbers) and these can be soldered in inplace of the green ones. Remember that LEDs are diodes and have a right and wrong way around, longer leg signifies which is the anode and the cathode.

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Hope this helps some people.

[W3RKD 0]

so if i send you my spare clocks what the turn around time to do them ... :lol: :lol:

[dubster82 0]

Darren, You're not the first person to ask that!!!! :lol:

[forcefed_vw 0]

I did the same with mine some time ago, I went for all red and even swapped the cigar lighter bezel for a red one from an old Audi. The sunroof switches and window swithces use LEDs rather than bulbs. I got these from the RS catalogue (don't remember the part numbers) and these can be soldered in inplace of the green ones. Remember that LEDs are diodes and have a right and wrong way around, longer leg signifies which is the anode and the cathode.

[jimborae 0]

Mate that is one sweet C! :)

 

Regards

 

Jim

[Chris VR6nos 0]

The dash lights look nice but how bright is the blue at night? are the led displays hard to read in the red light? Is it all ultra bright LEDs?

 

 

 

Chris

[dubster82 0]

jimborae, thanksbud :D

 

Chris VR6nos, To be honest, The blue aint the brightest thing in the world, but it is still readable. but i havent used 1 LED in the whole thing, just light filters. thinkin of addin another bulb to the equation, as that should be a piece o p***. I dont think you can actually Dim normal LED's, think you need special ones. I personally find Led'd too bright, hence why i used bulbs.

 

And the little LCD screens are easier to read, and look far better in red. There's no problem there.

[dubster82 0]

Here's a few pics of my Recaros going in. well, the first one at least.... :roll:

 

 

:lol:

[Bally 0]

Look sweet Brain, so you getting the rear trimmed to match?

[dubster82 0]

No chance would i get my rear bench trimmed in F**D cloth....

 

More likely to get it all trimmed in leather and alcantara.. 8)

 

But alas, the seats aint staying anyway. Love the look. dont really like the seating position :(.

 

Of course, if anyone out there has some Corrado Recaro seat bases for sale....

 

PM me? :lol:

[dubster82 0]

found this pic and wished i took it on the didgital camera. just washed it and i only had a disposable camera, so took a snap, then got it converted to a jpeg :D isnt technology great?

 

good job too cause i think this could be my favourite picture :D

(well, it would be spot on with bettre lighting and a digi camera, but never mind :wink:)

 

It really shows the wheels rock 'ard! :D

[Bally 0]

Cool pic Brian.... :D

[Fat Tony 0]

very nice set of wheels you have there to many nice touches to mention quality C !!! 8)

[dubster82 0]

cheers Tony, not as tidy as yours as from memory, your is pretty mint. Love your Samcos too, gonna have to get a set. proably in black. nice n stelthy :twisted:

 

See you at the RR day!!! :D

[DEL VR6 0]

Dubster82.... thats a lovely Corrado. Good stuff.

[Henny 0]

The Heater controls. What a bar-steward.

 

You ain't joking! :shock: I've come up with a cunning plan though... :wink:

 

I've scanned in the original filter fronts (the bit you normally see), edited them so that they're reversed and just black and white, and then printed them with a good laser printer onto overhead transparancy film. Voila! correct looking heater backings without the hassle of trying to get the green goop off! :D 8)

 

They're here if anyone wants 'em... 8) The odd sizes next to them are the WIDTH they need to be printed at to get them the correct size!

 

Heater templates

 

BTW you will need a torx driver for VDO Dials, cant remember what size but I will update later, available from Halfords.

 

I think it's an 8... It's the only one I've not got anyway... :roll: :lol:

 

Brilliant guide though Dubster, and a nice looking C to go with it! 8)

[dubster82 0]

DEL VR6, Cheers mate :)

 

THANK YOU IAN!!

 

Its nice to see someone got use out of the guide :D

 

Not bad for being completly off the top off my head at the time :roll:

 

If i've missed anything for that reason, let me know :wink:

 

Im sure you'll show us pics of the finished article :)

 

Good idea too my mate did something similar to his polo.

 

do you actually have white in your your symbols now? or are they clear then?