CHANGING THE INTERIOR LIGHTING ON A MK3 :: FAQ!!

Many years ago, I remember going on a tour of the VW factory in Wolfsburg, where I just happened to spot a pre-production Mk4 Golf, zooming from one secret location to another.

When I asked our tour guide about it - the only thing he would tell me was that it had blue dials - and that they looked amazing!! He wasn't wrong!!

This FAQ should give you an insight into how to recreate the effect in your humble Mk3 polo...

1) INSTRUMENT CLUSTER

Firstly, you will need to remove the instrument cluster from your car. If you don't know how to do this then consult your Haynes manual.

Once removed from the car - you should have something like this...

A) CHANGING THE DIAL ILLUMINATION

This is probably the easiest thing to change out of the lot. All you need are two 509T fitment LEDs from Ultraleds.co.uk...

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/product_info.ph...products_id=947

The two LED bulbs should just twist in to the two locations marked 'bulb' towards the top of the picture.

It pays to bend the tabs slightly to ensure a good connection is made onto the connector strip. Beware tho as they only work one way round - so if they don't work to start with - twist through 180 degrees and they should then work.

You will also need to unclip the white panel which the bulbs fit into so as to remove the green filter strip from inside. If you experience hotspots (concentrated regions of light) then you can replace this strip with a similarly sized strip of tracing paper to help diffuse the light.

Right, that was easy - now onto the clock illumination...

B) CHANGING THE CLOCK ILLUMINATION

To change the clock illumination requires another 509T fitment LED bulb, to be fitted into the 3rd bulb location marked in the picture.

There is also a green filter inside, but try just the LED first as the intensity of the LEDs used can overwhelm the filter almost entirely - with blue showing up just a slightly lighter shade of blue.

Eliminate any hotspots by colouring in the domed part at the end of the LED with a black permanent marker.

If you wish to remove the green filter - start by undoing the 4 screws labelled in the picture and withdraw the unit.

You should have something which looks like this...

Remove those fragile dials by gently pulling on them. You do not need to undo any screws for this.

Next you need to remove the circuit board from the rear casing. There is just one screw, hidden just behind the metal plate at the bottom of the picture.

The rest of the circuit board is clipped in around the edge, and again at the back by clips at each side of the multiblock connector.

Once you have removed the circuit board - you should be left with something like this...

There are five screws within the region marked by the red rectangle. Unscrew these to be left with the basic clock housing, which looks like this...

Take a moment to note the assembly of this item, then carefully dismantle. All the parts should just drop out to leave you with this...

Be sure to note the orientation of the screen. If you hold it up to the light, you will see a faint striping down one side. These are the electrical contacts which mark the bottom of the screen. The grey/metallic side is obviously then the front.

Note also the importance of the ingenious conductive strip - which whilst looking like just a plain piece of rubber, is actually what connects the many contacts of the display to the circuit board.

We're only interested in the green filter however - which as you will notice is only green on one side.

To remove the green screen printing, you have two options - chemical or abrasive. Rubbing with either some 600 grit wet or dry paper, or with some acetone and a rag, will achieve much the same result.

I went the chemical route and used some acetone based nail polish remover... with peach scent {319}

With all the green removed - it's now time to reassemble the clock and reaffix it to the circuit board.

At this stage it's probably worth just securing it with 2 or 3 screws before taking the bare circuit board out to the car to test and make sure the clock lights up.

Remember if it doesn't light that the LED may be in the wrong way round - so turn it around 180 degrees before panicing. As also said before, you'd do well to bend the tabs slightly to ensure a good connection.

If that works - you can either reassemble the instrument cluster, or continue on to replace the warning lights...

C) REPLACING THE WARNING LIGHTS

By warning lights - I mean the strip of LEDs along the bottom of the instrument cluster...

My plan was to replace all of these lights with water clear red LEDs.

However, finding some normal brightness water clear LEDs proved to be a bit of a pain in the arse, so I ended up with some super bright ones from Maplin.

In order to dim them down a bit - I soldered a 2.2kOhm resistor to the anode (the longer lead) of each LED and cut them down to length to get this...

You may find a different resistance works best for whichever LEDs you choose, or if you choose normal brightness ones (around 100mCd rather than several thousand!!) then they will just plug straight in.

Repeat 6 times over and you get this...

The LEDs, if cut to the right length, should just push into the sockets with the anode (now with resistor attached) to the right in relation to the picture shown, EXCEPT for the main beam light (second from the left) which must be inserted the other way around.

This is because the blue 'LED' is in fact a small bulb with a coloured cap fitted over it. It's polarity is opposite to the remaining LEDs.

Again, it's worth taking the circuit to the car and testing before reassembling the whole lot.

This is what it looks like by day...

...and by night...

Far better than the bland factory green i'm sure you'll agree!! {325}

2) SWITCHES

The switches, namely the fog light, rear demister and headlight switch can all be converted to fit in with our red/blue theme with some minor alterations.

Firstly, remove the switch from the car by carefully prising it out from both sides and disconnecting the multiblock connector.

To open the switch up, slide a flat bladed screwdriver down the inside of the casing on both sides to release the clips, then extract the switch contacts - which should look something like this...

Be aware of any springs or contacts trying to fly out when you open up the switch. They should remain in place - but may have worked loose on dismantling the switch.

This is a bit of a 'Here's one I made earlier' picture as I converted the switches way before I even thought of writing this FAQ.

As you can just about make out, there are two 3mm ultra bright LEDs for each switch - one for the headlight/foglight/demister icon (blue in this case), and the other for the on/off indicator light in the middle (red).

The resistors used in this case are just 10Ohms for the red to step the voltage down a little and stop the LEDs burning out. For the blue, 2.2kOhm resistors were used to bring the brightness down considerably.

Space is a bit cramped inside - so stick things wherever you have to, as long as the casing fits back on. Orientation of the LEDs is still important as they only work one way. Here's a clue tho - the cathode (the shorter lead) should connect to the pin marked '31' on the base of the switch.

Some minor fiddling for length and direction should have the LEDs lighting up the switch beautifully.

The other important issue with the switches is to remove the green filter behind the icons. To remove the rocker from the switch - slide a flat bladed screwdriver up each side and lever the rocker off it's pivot.

The filter is just a small plastic square which can easily be dislodged and thrown away.

Reassemble the switch and reconnect in the car to test before pushing the switch fully home.

3) HEATER/BLOWER CONTROLS

A) LIGHTING THE SURROUND

Getting blue heater dials without the ballache of fitting dozens of LEDs has long been a bit of a mystery. Not anymore however!!

The secret it seems is to use one of these LEDs from ultraleds...

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/product_info.ph...products_id=353

With a bit of fiddling and adjustment - this LED should just fit straight into the existing bulb holder. Polarity again is important - so if it doesn't work one way around then try it the other way.

Be aware that the LED also has a sweet spot towards the end where it will light up the panel with far more intensity. Just try a few things until you get a result you're happy with.

Of course, once again there is a green filter which needs to be rubbed down to turn it into white. I don't advise acetone on this occasion as I've buggered 2 up that way by overdoing it and also removing part of the icons.

Just take it steady with some 600 grit wet or dry until the green is all gone. Alternatively, Dan Knight is investigating making some replacement filters to buy - so watch this space...

All being well, you should end up with an effect which looks a bit like this...

Nice and evenly lit as you can see!! {325}

B) LIGHTING THE DIALS

To really go the extra distance - you want the little clear spot in the dials to light up red - just to complement the rest of the theme.

To do this - first remove the green plastic from the dial using a pair of pliers...

Then, make up an LED with a suitable resistor and a couple of long flying leads. The resistor in this case was a 470 Ohm one, but is a little too bright IMO.

The LEDs are the same sort used in the warning lights, where a 2200 Ohm resistor was used.

Position the LED over the clear spot, and secure with some blu-tack, as shown in the picture below...

Next, feed the wires through the plastic lens and the card backing as shown below...

My old card backing was knackered - so I made a new one out of some spangly blue laser pattern card I found, just on the offchance it would help reflect light a little better.

Now solder the three positive leads together, and the same with the negative leads.

On fitting back into the car, push the wires through the small hole at the back of the heater controls and with some fiddling - push the dials back on making sure the wires are free to move. I actually had to file the last hole on the plastic lens slightly bigger to allow the wires to move freely.

With the ashtray/cubby hole assembly removed, retrieve the ends of the wires and tap into to a suitable earth and headlight switched 12V supply.

There's one of each on both the cigarette lighter and the stereo connections, so you're spoilt for choice. Earth is brown, the headlight lead is blue/grey.

With everything reassembled and working nicely - you should be left with an effect like this...

It looks very good - but the red LEDs could do with being a little dimmer

4) SO, WHAT ELSE??

Well to really complete the look - you can get a red replacement filter for the cigarette lighter from an Audi 80/90/100 (part no. 443 919 343).

Also - there are a number of aftermarket headunits available with the VW red/blue colour scheme, as indeed there are OE ones.

Me, I have a nice Blaupunkt unit, which I also like because it suits the car and is nice and simple, so you don't crash whilst trying to work out how to turn the quasmotronic bass off or whatever shit headunits come with nowadays!!

5) - RESULTS

Ok, so you've seen bits and pieces - but how about the whole lot. Well...

Granted, there's some room for improvement. The instrument panel lights need to be a bit brighter (they're only 3mm ones at the moment, rather than the 509T fitment ones shown earlier).

The red LED's on the intrument panel are a bit too bright, tho not as much as the picture would suggest, and the red leds on the heater dials could do with being dimmed down a bit.

Otherwise the effect is really good, and the pics don't really do it justice!!

If you have the time, the means and the inclination - then I can definitely recommend it!! {325}

do you know if its the same sort of job on the mk.4?

The heater dials are very similar - but otherwise i'm not sure.

thats shit hot that is

i think thats one plan in the pipeline to do

Agreed, looks awesome. I've probably got most of the leds already and know my way around a soldering iron, so no excuse not to :)

The brightness of the clocks as steve said can be a problem, I've got around this by using a strip of 12 LEDs Clicky You only need half of the strip so youve got enough to do two cars. I suggest you get a connector as well Clicky All I've done to achieve the effect above is remove the white panel that the original bulbs fit into, remove the filter, then place the strip of 12 inside the white panel with the connector wire exiting through one of the bulb holes and refitted the white panel to the clocks. Its then a case of joining these wires to the rest of the lighting circuit.

I used some small loop shaped crimps for the two wires and screwed through the terminals of the redundant "extra bulb" connector on the far left of steves pic. I could have attempted to solder them but its not an easy task on plastic, and this method seems to work just as well.

Feel free to add to the FAQ Gaz. As I was telling you, my dial illumination isn't bright enough to see the bottom or the fuel guage or the trip speedo, but then I'm only using two 3mm LED's.

I don't know if the twist fit LEDs are better - but then I don't need to worry about that now!!

Right I've added some instructions at the bottom of my last post. I used the twist ones as well before doing this and they wernt bright enough. This method definately is though!

Has anyone tried painting the needles with some sort of fluorescent paint??

- it should work quite well with blue (short wavelength) light....

Has anyone tried painting the needles with some sort of fluorescent paint??

- it should work quite well with blue (short wavelength) light....

Sorry forgot to say - its to make the needles glow red at night

That would be cool, but could you get blue light to make something shine red??

I know there was someone who drew on all the white markings with a UV security pen and then mounted a couple of UV neon tubes at the bottom.

Now thats the principle of fluorescence.

If you shine short wavelength light (blue or UV) at certain dyes like fluorescein, they absorb the light and emit light at a longer wavelength (say yellow).

So yeah, I'm thinking if you're using blue dash bulbs and you painted the needles with the right paint - they'd glow at night

Well you seem to know more about it than I do. Let us know how it goes!!

Now thats the principle of fluorescence.

If you shine short wavelength light (blue or UV) at certain dyes like fluorescein, they absorb the light and emit light at a longer wavelength (say yellow).

So yeah, I'm thinking if you're using blue dash bulbs and you painted the needles with the right paint - they'd glow at night

thats an awsome idea lol

Has anyone tried painting the needles with some sort of fluorescent paint??

- it should work quite well with blue (short wavelength) light....

Sorry forgot to say - its to make the needles glow red at night

used some red/orange fluorescent paint on mine. looks cool at night.

glow really well with the blue dash lights.

Awesome!! Cheers for sharing that Dan!!

that's alright dude.

Where did you get the alloy surrounds from? as shown in picture Thanks Jim.

Has anyone tried painting the needles with some sort of fluorescent paint??

- it should work quite well with blue (short wavelength) light....

Sorry forgot to say - its to make the needles glow red at night

used some red/orange fluorescent paint on mine. looks cool at night.

glow really well with the blue dash lights.

Yes thats the stuff I was on about. When I was a kiddie, my dad did that trick to the needles on our renault 12. It looked superb at night.

What paint did you use? I reckon painting the needles alone would be good. I was thinking about doing the marks on the dials as well - but it might get messy and difficult to read by day :(

Where did you get the alloy surrounds from? as shown in picture Thanks Jim.

got them in Worthersee last year. there made by a German company. try ebay.de?

i've still got the instructions at home. i'll check if there' a web site on them.

Has anyone tried painting the needles with some sort of fluorescent paint??

- it should work quite well with blue (short wavelength) light....

Sorry forgot to say - its to make the needles glow red at night

used some red/orange fluorescent paint on mine. looks cool at night.

glow really well with the blue dash lights.

Yes thats the stuff I was on about. When I was a kiddie, my dad did that trick to the needles on our renault 12. It looked superb at night.

What paint did you use? I reckon painting the needles alone would be good. I was thinking about doing the marks on the dials as well - but it might get messy and difficult to read by day :(

i used hobby/model spray paint. i did the marks on my old dials, for max temp and rev limit marks. just sprayed a white sticker with the paint, and cut it to shape.

Alrighty, Steve.

Remember how I did my clocks illumination just by replacing the green filter strip with a red equally sized piece of acitate.

Well I just did the same, at last, for the LCD clock illumination. Just put in a red piece of acitate on top of the green filter (after removing the green ink like above).

Looks good just now (cupping hands over head to try and see) but will get a pic this evening!

Just thought I'd mention another way of doing it without having to change bulbs. Just use a sheet of acitate at 57p!

This is how I did the heater dials too. Rubbed away the green ink, acitated up the areas I wanted red or just left white/yellow.

Alrighty, Steve.  

Remember how I did my clocks illumination just by replacing the green filter strip with a red equally sized piece of acitate.  

Well I just did the same, at last, for the LCD clock illumination. Just put in a red piece of acitate on top of the green filter (after removing the green ink like above).  

Looks good just now (cupping hands over head to try and see) but will get a pic this evening!

Just thought I'd mention another way of doing it without having to change bulbs. Just use a sheet of acitate at 57p!

This is how I did the heater dials too. Rubbed away the green ink, acitated up the areas I wanted red or just left white/yellow.

Most impressive. I'm not sure it would work with blue however as you need a lot more light.

Unfortunately I never did find any blue acetate to try it out, despite going to a bloody huge craft shop miles away!!