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Old 02-18-2018, 02:34 PM   #1
Wayne Suhrbier
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 144044
Join Date: Mar 2007
Chapter/Region: South East
Location: Alabama
Vehicle:
2006 STI
OBP

Default Changing the boost gauge with a LED to red

So I decided to change the illumination of the stock boost gauge from white to red in my 06 STI. It has the LED bulb so just swapping bulb wasn't a possibility. I decided to remove the existing board with the LED and make a new one. This way the swap can be put back to stock. The LED bolt made the mounting and wiring easy, but it is brighter than the main cluster lights. I need to work on a fix for that eventually. A piece of translucent material taped or glued over the LED should work. There are also other methods of mounting LEDs to boards so you could use a dimmer LED.

Tools and parts used.
Small Flat Head screw driver
Small Phillips Head screw driver
Adjustable wrench
Scribe
#29 or 9/64" drill bit
7/16" drill bit
LED Edit* this is WAY too bright. It is about right with 2 layers of printer paper taped over it.

Step One. Remove the gauge from the pod. Use the flat head screw driver to start moving the gauge forward. I then reached up under the steering column and pushed the hose that feeds the gauge with one hand and slowly pulled on the gauge with the other. It slides out pretty easily. Keep pushing the hose through to get a little slack. Gently pull the hose off of the barb at the bottom of the gauge. Twisting the gauge can help.

This is the gauge pulled out with the electrical connector disconnected.

Step Two. Opening the gauge. Once the gauge is free you will need to un-crimp the black metal collar that holds the front on. insert the flat head screw driver between the gauge body and the collar and gently twist to bend the lip of the collar out slightly (straight or just a little less). Repeat all the way around. Holding the face upwards pull the collar off. The lens and an aluminum ring that holds the lens will then tip out. Hold the gauge face up again and remove the larger nut (13 mm) on the back of the gauge with the wrench. This releases the actual gauge from the housing. VERY carefully tip the gauge out of the housing. There is the little delicate hand on the front and all of the little delicate workings on the back. You now have the housing with the board attached inside of it. Remove the two absurdly long bolts using the phillips screw driver and the wrench. The board will then tip out. This is the part that you are replacing.





Step Three. Make a new board. You will need to make a 1.5" diameter half circle board out of some random piece of rigid material. I used some 1/8" canvas micarta I had. The original board is about 1/16" thick.



This is the back of the housing, the new board, and the old board. I cut the new board a little over a 1/2 circle so I had to cut a recess for the raised metal in the housing to fit into. Put the new board into the housing and hold it against the back. Use the scribe to mark the location of the two small holes. Scribe a line between the centers of the holes. Measure a point 1/4" up from the center of this line to mark the center of the large hole. Use the small drill bit for the two holes and the large bit for the middle hole.

Step three. Put everything together.
Conveniently the wires from the new LED were a good fit for the old electrical connector so I didn't even have to cut any original wires. The new LED is polarity sensitive so test which wire goes where before putting everything together. Mine was the Black wire from the LED to the Yellow connector wire and the Red LED wire to the Black connector wire.

Feed the wires through the large hole in the new board and seat the LED in place, but don't put its' bolt on yet. Secure the board in place using the two long small bolts that held the original in place. Then put the bolt onto the back of the LED.
I should have taken pics of this but forgot.
Now carefully put the main gauge back into the housing and secure using the nut that you took off at the beginning of all this.
Put the aluminum lens ring and lens back in place. Make sure there are no finger prints on the inside of the lens.
Snap the black collar back into place. If it doesn't stay in place you can bent the edge that you loosened back.
Connect the hose back to the barb on the back of the gauge and then insert the wires into the electrical connector.
Test to make sure everything works.
Push the gauge back into the pod and enjoy your now matching color.

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Last edited by Wayne Suhrbier; 02-22-2018 at 11:59 AM.
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Old 02-19-2018, 04:37 PM   #2
Papitokev
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 482320
Join Date: Feb 2018
Default

How long did this take?
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Old 02-20-2018, 09:40 AM   #3
Wayne Suhrbier
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 144044
Join Date: Mar 2007
Chapter/Region: South East
Location: Alabama
Vehicle:
2006 STI
OBP

Default

It took around 1.5 hours, although that includes figuring out what I was doing and remaking the board after I drilled the large hole without confirming it was in the right place.
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