Jambo
Member
Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline
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Love the way you have gone from 0-bonkers in like 4months 
Excellent thread and I really like the car, hats off for having a to at a lot yourself too.
I'd quite like to see the wheels painted anthra but if your happy then 
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Cheers Jambo... 4 months though, feels like I've had this car a lifetime
Powdercoating is due once I've swapped the brake pads/disks/hoses all round. I've taken a few chunks out of the rattlecan finish a few times already whilst doing "wheels off" jobs so no point in getting them nicely painted to take off more chunks
I'm torn atm between redoing in silver, or a gunmetal/anthracite. Maybe 51/49 in favour of anthracite 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Simon_16v
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Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Anthracite, breaks the colour up a bit then.
You are making me want to still save up for one of these in between my stupid holidays!
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Simon_16v
stupid holidays!
Tell me about it  All I want to do atm is spend money on the car (between saving for a new house  ) and she's just booked us 3 nights in Monaco for next week
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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CORSA NUT
Member
Registered: 3rd Aug 01
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
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Kyle 
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Still not done any mileage in it, but this is how she's sitting atm.
Made a start to my interior illumination project tonight.
Here's what I'm aiming to change:
Ignition Ring from this to red:
Heater Controls and Ashtray to red:
Ashtray and Ignition are just bulb swaps, so I thought I'd start with the more difficult heater controls - or HVAC unit.
Basically the goal is to open up the unit, blank off the existing white LEDs (which sit behind a green filter) and then wire in some red LEDs to the power points on the PCB allowing the dash dimming controls to remain active, and for the unit to come on/off at the usual times. etc.
The three yellowish squares inside the knob are the white LEDs to be blanked.
In order to get the wiring out of the knob, I need to drill into the base of the knob - avoiding the PCB/components and the rotating parts of the knob.
That gives me about 4mm to drill a 3mm hole 
Started uber slow with 1.5mm drill bit and then went in again with a 3mm one. That's just enough to get my wiring through, really - I should have got thinner wiring
Next I need to sort my LEDs out. I've not done electronics, soldering, etc since School - so I needed to do some homework first.
I think this is a "series" of LEDs(?)
Needs some tidying up with some smaller/sharper snips - and then insulating. I needed to test my series' with the resistors I bought, and a 12v supply - so for now it's just a mock-up.
Nice blurry picture to hide my soldering
I'm not sure the proper colour coding for wiring - so mine is Positive = Blue (happy sky colour) and Negative = Brown (poo).
Mockup, eventually the negative will go (via a resistor) to the left-top pin from that group of pins between the left and middle knob, just near that screw. The positive will go to the left-bottom pin in the same group.
After my drilling, I plugged the HVAC unit into the car to make sure I hadn't damaged anything - all seemed to work fine.
I then waited for it to get dark, and setup my controlled test-lab (car battery under the bonnet)
I need to tidy up my LED arrangement for this dial, then make two more. Will continue tomorrow.
[Edited on 02-04-2013 by Kyle T]
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Completed the HVAC and did the Ashtray bulb tonight.
First up was to knock up a couple more LED arrangements:
Then time to wire it all into the unit. Fiddly job but got there in the end:
Finally back into the car:
There's still a bit of white/green light escaping from the OEM LED's so I'll get some red model paint I think just to blob over them completely, the marker pen I used this time not quite up to the job - but still looks alright I think.
Just Ignition ring LED to go now, job for another day though - tired 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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CORSA NUT
Member
Registered: 3rd Aug 01
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
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That looks brilliant Kyle well done mate
What about the clock?
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Cheers
Gauge pod will be going there, with red gauges ofc!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
User status: Offline
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nice touch that matey , looks much better
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Cheers Barnshaw, though this morning I discovered that the uneven light dispersion (presumably caused by the fact my OEM LEDs are still transmitting) makes them look pretty awful in the daylight!
Going to paint over those bulbs tonight, hopefully that'll improve them!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Wrighty
Member
Registered: 28th Feb 04
Location: Howden
User status: Offline
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smart
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Took arrival of my new stopping equipment today.
Would like to think I'll get this lot on at the weekend, but got stuff to sort before I go on holiday on monday so may need to wait for my return.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BeetleGav
Member
Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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Lovely shiny discs!
Can't wait for mine to arrive, drilled and grooved ones
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I painted over the OEM LEDs today in the HVAC unit which should hopefully improve the light distribution in them now. Will need to wait until tonight to test though
Unfortunately I've caused a little electrical gremlin whilst trying to change the ignition ring LED.
Basically the red LEDs I bought were the right type, but the bulb was too... bulbous and wouldn't fit in the recess in the ignition ring. I decided to abort and order some new LED's.
Somewhere between trial fitting the red LED and reconstructing my steering column though I've caused a short or something, and as a result my dome light and ignition ring light are permanently switched on, despite doors been closed/locked/etc
Lesson learned, ALWAYS UNPLUG THE BATTERY WHEN DOING ELECTRICAL STUFF.
I did some googling, looks like I might have fried a component known as the Body Integrated Unit or BIU. I've found reports from Foresters, Outbacks and some newer Impreza's all in the US which have the exact same circumstances, and most people wiring in footwell lights from the ignition ring feed.
Problem is though, I can't find my BIU to take out and inspect. Apparently it's literally a case of frying a circuit on it so it's visually identifiable - then I can contact a breakers about a spare.
I've had my head under the dash most of the day and found the DCCD control box, Central Locking control box but no BIU.
I've posted a thread up on a US forums, I'm beginning to find the UK based Impreza forums are pretty crap for technical help to be honest.
The issue isn't P1 at the moment, as I've removed the ignition ring bulb and switched the dome light to "off" rather than "auto", so I'm not spunking my battery away. Ben 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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i like those red led's i have orange ones so i guess red wouldn't make too much difference. way out of my league though. wouldn't have a clue where to start
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Cheers Ben!
Last pre-Holiday update.
Sneak Peak of my impulse bargain:
Not sure on the burned tip look yet, wonder if it'll polish off
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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3CorsaMeal
Member
Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline
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I have sandpapered my exhaust and polished it back up before
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P1CK4D
Member
Registered: 19th Jun 06
Location: Around Essex Somewhere
User status: Offline
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Really impressed with the Red LED's. Looks so much better with them. Hats off to you.
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Simon_16v
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Exhaust looks really cheap? Prefer the exhaust you have on so far
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I concede its not the most elaborate piece of engineering you will ever see but they get good reviews for quality and noise, and I've seen a few on cars which don't look too bad.
The main reason for getting it was the price as I got a backbox and what is effectively a free centre section. My current centre has been hacked up in a previous owner adventure so I can at least trial the backbox and see how it looks and sounds on the car. They're the go-to choice for people who want a reasonable sounding car without setting car alarms off so I should be able to sell it on if I don't like it!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I've ordered a couple of bits to hopefully resolve my little electrical gremlin
It looks like my electrical tape insulation isn't adequate enough, I went over a speed bump and blew the fuse for the interior illumination I've bought some "liquid electrical tape" to cover my LED arrays in, as I think some of the areas are just too small for electrical tape coverage. Hopefully if I paint all my joints in this stuff it'll make my setup more stable.
The second thing I've bought is a second hand central locking unit. Part of what this unit does is light up and slowly dim the dome light when the doors are unlocked. This currently isn't working, and this unit runs off the same fuse which I blew...
I found a guy on Scoobynet literally a few days after I did my bulb change who has the same symptoms, and replacing the central locking unit did the trick. £30 on eBay, so worth a punt to save me chasing geese and dodgy earths which may not even exist.
On the exhaust front, I've looked at loads of photo's and I think I prefer my Prodrive backbox. The centre still needs swapping, so I'll do that and sell this backbox on I think. If I price it right, I could probably arrange it so I effectively got the centre section for free.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Finally, Illumination is done and everything is working.
The Central Locking unit was the source of the issue with the dome light and keyring light. No idea what could break on it, it's a non-car specific box with a few programmed functions to do stuff like dimming the dome light when doors are locked, and to activate the lights when a door switch is activated, etc.
Anyway, all sorted
This is the unit which I replaced.
ARBs due tomorrow, but I'll probably miss the courier  I reckon a week on Saturday will be fitting/alignment day.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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pow
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline
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I love the work on changing the bulbs but I was thinking as I read it 1. that tape spells trouble and 2. you're guna short something out
Always use heatshrink in future, your birds hairdryer on it's hottest setting will normally so the job of shrinking it. I've taken to covering everything except the end component with heatshrink when I've done stuff like that near boards in the past
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Yep quite annoyed I didn't heatshrink from the beginning. To do it now would mean ripping it all apart and unsoldering the PCB connections which took ages to get right
Lessons learned anyway, I may revisit it if it gives me any issues.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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