Bringing your MR2 into the new year and the 21st century

[SonicSW20]

How hard is it to dismantle the clocks? is it possible to control the brightness of the EL panel?

[shinny]

Got the normal clear indicators (front, side, rear), rev6 projectors, rev5 spoiler, LED interior lights... all bring the car from 1994 to early 2000s I guess.

Also done my own custom speedo illumination plus a couple of red digital gauges:



The illumination is almost as smooth as ElGlow, but comes at a fraction of the cost with some carefully chosen LEDs plus some lighting gel of the desired colour. More info here: http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1454655

Other "modernising" mods I've done include...

Wing mirrors that retract with door locks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZZIVFzEdXE

Decent lighting in boot, frunk and engine bay:



Switchback reverse / fog lights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGPkSHGymlQ

[SrSilkie]

I don't see the point in purposefully setting out to modernise an MR2. It is a 90's Japanese sports car, it looks like a 90's Japanese sports car and that is why it appeals to me...and everyone else that comments on it for that matter.

Personally I am not even a fan of Raybrig lights because they are clear and don't match the fogs...I am even going to replace my xtreme vision bulbs back to standard because I think the white light just look odd on an older car. Same goes with the daft aeroblade wipers I have put on it.

OEM+ is where I am going with mine, lowered on a nice set of split rims and I'm pretty much done. I'm also going to black the side strips like they did back in the day as I kind of want it to look of its time.

It's all personal preference though, obviously.

[shinny]

Most of my friends are stunned when they find out my car is 20 years old. The SW20 has aged amazingly well compared to most of its contemporaries so I'm not sure why you should feel compelled to keep it looking old!

I guess it comes down to style and whether you see the car as a hear finished product or a base to start building on. Mine is certainly the latter so if there's something I can do to modernise the car without looking "bolt on" Halfords style, I'm going to look at doing it.

Technology moves on... why should my car be left behind?

[Mullen]

How hard is it to dismantle the clocks? is it possible to control the brightness of the EL panel?

The cluster is in 3 parts. The clear perspex cover, black middle section that sits over the faces & the main white back piece that holds all the clocks themselves.
The clear cover is a doddle to remove but separating the black & white parts is a bit of a pain as there are multiple clips that all seem to want to relatch themselves as you pry free the ones on the other side.
I use a thin flat blade screwdriver to pry the catches open enough to slip some large paperclips inbetween them to stop that happening & then it's just a case of a firm grip & a bit of wiggling.

[SonicSW20]

How hard is it to dismantle the clocks? is it possible to control the brightness of the EL panel?

The cluster is in 3 parts. The clear perspex cover, black middle section that sits over the faces & the main white back piece that holds all the clocks themselves.
The clear cover is a doddle to remove but separating the black & white parts is a bit of a pain as there are multiple clips that all seem to want to relatch themselves as you pry free the ones on the other side.
I use a thin flat blade screwdriver to pry the catches open enough to slip some large paperclips inbetween them to stop that happening & then it's just a case of a firm grip & a bit of wiggling.

Doesn't sound too bad... Needs to be something I can do in a weekend really as it's my daily drive!

[shinny]

Doesn't sound too bad... Needs to be something I can do in a weekend really as it's my daily drive!

It's an easy job... weekend or even just an evening should suffice. Whether it takes time depends on what you're doing once the cluster is out.

Here are the 16 tabs to remove:



Really not that tricky IMHO. The trickiest bit is not breaking too many tabs, although one or two doesn't really matter.

[SonicSW20]

Thanks for that.

I have a Rev5, so I'm thinking a red EL panel, perhaps with white LED's for the odometer / needles?

[shinny]

Thanks for that.

I have a Rev5, so I'm thinking a red EL panel, perhaps with white LED's for the odometer / needles?

White or red are the only sensible options if you want to actually see the needles at night! See the thread I posted about my custom gauges for good (and cheap) recommendations for LED bulbs that light up the needles well.

[SonicSW20]

After doing some research on EL panels, LED seems to be the way to go to retain brightness adjustment. Has anyone ever done RGB LED's in an MR2? Can have any colour combo you want then

[SrSilkie]

Most of my friends are stunned when they find out my car is 20 years old. The SW20 has aged amazingly well compared to most of its contemporaries so I'm not sure why you should feel compelled to keep it looking old!

I guess it comes down to style and whether you see the car as a hear finished product or a base to start building on. Mine is certainly the latter so if there's something I can do to modernise the car without looking "bolt on" Halfords style, I'm going to look at doing it.

Technology moves on... why should my car be left behind?

Same, when I tell people my car is 20 their jaws drop, I feel also it has aged very well and that makes me feel less inclined to look for ways to modernise it.

I love the LED's in the interior though...I wish there was someone on here I could send my heater matrix, dials and window controls too so they could change them to cyan (if thats possible) I am useless with electrics

[synXero]

Magic Beans used to be willing to do it for a fee. He did mine red in the Beams.

[shinny]

After doing some research on EL panels, LED seems to be the way to go to retain brightness adjustment. Has anyone ever done RGB LED's in an MR2? Can have any colour combo you want then

That's going to be tricky because the power supply for the bulbs is only +ve and ground... RGB needs 4 wires (common cathode or common anode) controlled via PWM. Also, I've never seen a truly RGB 501 bulb... maybe some cheap tat that cycles through the colours but that will look c**p with 4 bulbs cycling out of sync with each other.

Also, as I said earlier, the orangy-red needles will only illuminate well with white or orange/red light. Putting green or blue in the cluster's bulbs will result in very poor illumination of the orange needles because orange does not reflect blue light by its very definition!!

If you want to make clever colours on your dash, do it with the gel system I linked you to. There's pretty much every colour under the sun and you can design to your heart's content by swapping different colour tints on the white light.

[RazzyRascal]

Each to their own Wilkiz, your certainly not the only one with that mindset

Thanks Nic, Mullen & Shinny for your insights on the dials. Whilst it doesn't bother me too much at night, on dull days and morning/evenings I often find myself frustrated at the lack of dial illumination. Definitely something I'm going to think about

Jesus, I think I'm going to have to put in a bit of overtime come the new year haha

[SonicSW20]

After doing some research on EL panels, LED seems to be the way to go to retain brightness adjustment. Has anyone ever done RGB LED's in an MR2? Can have any colour combo you want then

That's going to be tricky because the power supply for the bulbs is only +ve and ground... RGB needs 4 wires (common cathode or common anode) controlled via PWM. Also, I've never seen a truly RGB 501 bulb... maybe some cheap tat that cycles through the colours but that will look c**p with 4 bulbs cycling out of sync with each other.

Also, as I said earlier, the orangy-red needles will only illuminate well with white or orange/red light. Putting green or blue in the cluster's bulbs will result in very poor illumination of the orange needles because orange does not reflect blue light by its very definition!!

If you want to make clever colours on your dash, do it with the gel system I linked you to. There's pretty much every colour under the sun and you can design to your heart's content by swapping different colour tints on the white light.

If I went the RGB LED route, I wouldnt use the existing power supply etc. It wouldn't be very difficult to do something with a Lilypad or similar, and you can quite easily wire in the stock brightness pot too.

That would be a bit more than a weekend project though... Could be fun to try on a spare set of clocks!

[Rob66]

Pretty OE at the moment, but fancy a mk3 wheel and Rev4 corners that's about it at the moment.

[gavsdavs]

Decent lighting in boot, frunk and engine bay:
Image Replaced With URL For Quote http://shinny.co.uk/photos/ledlighting.2.jpg
Image Replaced With URL For Quote http://shinny.co.uk/photos/ledlighting.3.jpg

Very nice. Top idea.

[2mad]

That looks super

[Bricknall]

Anyone got a link to the GTO headlight conversion? Looks pretty damn cool to me...

some pic links have gone butt trevs mod is mostly in here (search through thread)

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... highlight=

[Runout Shadow]

Mine is pretty much stock just the list below of modernising:

Number plate LED bulbs (perfect at night similar to BMW and Audi)
Front Side light LED bulbs (look really good with just the sidelights on at dusk)
Black Chrome II finish on the genuine Rev 5 alloys (match the centre caps)
Clear side repeaters to match stock front clear lenses (identical style to stock)
Red stitched black leather gaiter (takes away the bland interior a little)
Red stitched RAZO gear knob (more weighty and nicer to use)
Red stitched NARDI PERSONAL Grinta red stitched 330mm Steering Wheel
Bosch Aero Blades Wipers (were fitted to the car before - no need to replace)
X4 TOYO Tyres (Great tyres - good replacement to the Yokohamas)