SuBie Darkness

oh ok thx...this sticky is great!...but someone should fix the link for the removal of the hvac

can someone pls post a link for removal of the hvac with pix...i found one without and the other ones that i found are for the oder version of impreza...i need one for the 04-05

thx in advance!

Onizuka

iTrader: (17)

For the 04 and the 05, it's different for removing the HVAC.

In the MY02-04, they are all the same. Pull out your cup holder, there are two screws. Unscrew them and set them aside. Then pull out the cup holder unit. Pry off the surrounding bezel of your HVAC and you will be able to access the bulbs.

For the MY05, you need to take out the ash tray, take out the center console shifter area (just pry from the bottom, it's held in by clips). Then unscrew the two screws that hold in the HVAC bezel, and pry again.

Do the prying at your own risk, if you force them out incorrectly, you may snap a clip.

Here is my DIY on the interior lighting for MY04 only.

https://www.i-club.com/forums/interior-exterior-lighting-69/keyring-hvac-diy-my04-only-87558/

-GDO

Onizuka

iTrader: (17)

MY05 is different. I have not been able to figure out how to do the HVAC yet. I will try to get pictures of my friends 05 and show you why it's almost impossible.

-GDO

Jdog81

ok folks-i have not gone the led route but i have done the bulb condoms.yes nailpolish remover works wonders with acetone-no worries about it eating through the faceplates. still super time consuming.-i would say hour wise it took me about 10 hours total.2 bulb covers work in most cases.i had to remove the outer bulb for the tach to one cover because the bulb was getting too hot and starting to smoke from heat. this gave the 6,7,& 8 number a slightly brighter look but looks cool because these are the redline numbers. also use a red permanent marker on the back of the guages-gives the red a slightly darker hue and makes it more uniform throughout all the numbers. all and all a well worth mod but a real big pain and very time consuming.if u have no patience this mod is not for u!!!!!!oh and this was on my
2003 RS.

Dynapar

this is a great DIY mod. after reading all of the post i really want to do this now. just out of curiousity, i read something about someone (not sure who it was a couple pages ago) who wanted to try blue gauges with red needles. did this work out for you? if so i would like to try the same thing.

keep up the good work!

kunfuzion

i think the blue leds or covers would turn the needle purple or brown, unless you can centralize a white led under the needles?

SuBie Darkness

ok i got the bulbs from auto lumin today and i'm going to do this in a few hrs...i'll let you guys know how it works

oh and i giured out how to take the hvac out after putting my deck in

and i'm going to see if the red needle thing works

SuBie Darkness

ok i tried doing part of this tonight and some stuff i don't get...

i couldn't figure out how to take the key ring out....can some body help with this pls!!!

i also noticed that the #74 size buld also fit the hvac...but wut is the diff with 74 and 194?

pls help!?

thx in advance

edit: nvm about the key ring

i searched on nasioc and i found it...it is just a ***** to take it out...i duno if i want to spend two hrs to do this

but i still want to know about the light bulb issues thx

Dynapar

i just saw my temporary light job for the first time tonight. i have a 95 LX impreza. its completely different behind my cluster than what you guys explained. have just finished ordering from the autolum place. how long do they normally take to ship?

heres the deal with the impreza.

i took a look a the Hvac first. it seemed alittle less intimidateing then the gauges. so after 2 screws and alittle force the panel popped right off. there are 6 wires going to 3 #74 bulbs 1 in each control ****. just a twist and out they came. inetersting enough my bulbs had green condoms on them stock. so no film for me! i pulled off the condom and sharpied the bulbs blue. this worked ok.... being i touched the bulbs and now the part i touch wont stay blue. any way put them back in. the center bulb (temp control) was dead to start. but theother 2 look nice. kinda a periwinkle blue. very faint tho.

next it was cruise and foglight button time. i took off the gauge bezel deally. it was held on by 4 screws really easy to do. now i disconnected everythign from it. (hazards, cruise, foglidht, power mirris, and defrost) and i popped out the switchs. those things sure do FLY when you pop them out. i didi th ecruise first. poped out easy enough. on the side of the switch there are little screw like thingys. i twisted and the bulb didnt want to come out. after alittle time and persuaion i got the bulb out. these bulbs are way smaller then the 74s and are inset in to the little circlie eally that hold tim in. anyone know what kinda bulbs theres are? cause i need new ones. any way the top one had a yellow condom on it. pulled that off and colored it red. did the one under it. no condom on this one. colored it blue. the blue light will / should illuminate the cruise button and the red will show when its on. so put that back together. try it. the red part works and looks great. however the blue part didnt. it was off an on before so maybe it will turn on in the future. the foglight swtich was next. poped that thing out flew past my head and bounced off my window. had to crawll intot eh back seat to get it. i did the same thing with this one. howeverafter completeing it. none of the bulbs worked.

onto the gauges. pulling these out as interesting. i got the electrical stuff off no prob. but i couldnt figure out the speedo cable. (i couldnt see it, and didnt know how it was attached). after a pull it came loose. pulled out all the bulbs. (marked the + side first) it has 6 194s for the tach speedo temp and gas gauges. then it has tons of 74s for everything else. the 194 all had green condoms on them (no green film) so i colored them blue. the 74 are for the blinkers, high beams, seat belt, air bag, doors ajar, CEL, defrost, Brake, ABS, and FWD ligths. these all have colored film over them. putting this back in was a PITA. it tok me forever to get the speedo cable back on. in teh end i had to hook up the electrical and put the cluster back into its normal spot then thread my hand through to connect the cable. it was very painful. i m not looking forward to doing this again. reassemble it. easy enough but lost one clip (GGRRR....)

looks awsome the blue/purple effect looks nice. except the 140 on my speedo is half blue and half white. (sharpie must have whiped off)

i hope this helps out you guys.

SuBie Darkness

ok i just did my dash lights last night and it wasn't bright at all...and the needles don't even have any colour to it

did i do sth wrong or it is jus tlike that...if so what can i do???

thx guys

Dynapar

i got my bulbs. threw them in right away. i got the wide angle (100 degree) 194s. they arent very wide angle. i got some massive bright spots. i am going to reorder the normal ones and sand em. the 74s look good in red, but my hvac ones need to be sanded. it looks cool tho.

IceTherapy

What grit sandpaper are you guys using on the lights? I sanded down a couple of mine, but the lights seem to get dimmer. Gotta admit it disperses the light a little better, but it doesn't seem to be worth it if the brightness drops too much.

Blarg

Ok i know this thread's been here a while...hopefully someone with experience is still subscribed to it...

I'm about to attempt this mod with blue LED's

in the original post on page 1 are those pictures WITH the green film? if so I'm all over this mod. I really don't want to sand/scrape the film off, but if I can get color like that by just swapping bulbs with LED lights, I'm doing it as soon as I can get the lights.

Onizuka

iTrader: (17)

You can swap it for the HVAC, but for the actual cluster, you may have to do some scraping if it comes out being aqua ish. It shouldn't, but it should come out pretty good blue.

-GDO

Blarg

...so from what I've read i'll get the dark blue color, but it won't be bright as the stock green?