Dash air vent accent lighting - HOW TO - PHOTOS

[randap]

Further to my LED changes in my dash, I've finally got round to adding some accent lights into my air vents, so I thought I'd post a "how I did it"......

(Clicky linky for original dash thread)

First, find yourself a good hour or two free from the wife. Then you'll need:

Small flathead screwdriver to pop the end panels
Torx bits to remove the screws
Basic wiring stuff (knife, connector box, about 1m of red and black wire, zip ties and electrical tape)
Hand drill (easier to control), and appropriate drill bit
4 LEDs - I used blue ones
A bit of patience......

1) Get some LEDs. I used some bought from Halfrauds, because they have useful little clips to hold them in place, and so do not need glueing - you can get them from the chav shelf. There's 4 in a pack for about £5.

2) Remove the dash top. First remove the dash end panels, using a small screwdriver to pop them out. There are 2 Torx screws at each end of the dash top panel. Remove them, then pull the dash top away from the windscreen. If you have a rev. counter, you may have to put the steering wheel on it's lowest position setting to make room to remove the panel

3) Remove the speedo to gain easy access to the back of the stereo. Remove the surronds to the hazard warning lights (just pull off) and the air vents (rotate clockwise a bit). In my dash, there are 2 Torx screws at the top of the speedo dash surround, and one at the bottom left underneath - others may be different. Remove these 3 screws then pull on the trim. You have to pull quite hard......this removes the dash trim, including the air vent controls.

4) Disconnect the battery (good practice), then remove the speedo by removing the 4 Torx screws. Disconnect the speedo by removing the 2 plugs. Be careful with the speedo so as not to scratch the face .

5) Locate the illumination wire at the back of the stereo. I have a power-offtake loom supplied my NewMINIstuff which helpfully has a wire labelled "Illumination" - thanks Mike!! Splice a red wire into the illumination wire (I just stripped off some of the insulation and wound the new wire to the exposed wire and taped it secure - a better option would be to solder it all properly, but I only had 1 hour free ) and route to the top of the dash, taping it to the main loom where possible. You may need to pull the stereo forwards to get better access, there's a DIY guide for this on M2 somewhere........and will add 1/2 hr to the job if required thereby requiring another visit to the wife - best account for this extra time during the inital negotiations .

6) As in step 5, locate a negative wire. I used the negative from my underdash LED lightbars so that I didn't splice into any car wires, but any earth will do. Route a black wire from the earth point to where you ended the red wire in step 5.

7) I then secured with a zip tie, a connection box and connected the new red and black wires to the box terminals.

8) In the centre vents, access is really easy with the dash top panel removed. I just drilled a small hole into each vent tube at the 12 o'clock position, then pushed the LED mount into the hole from inside the vent, then pushed the LED home into the mount. Then route the wires again using the main car looms as guides to the connection box in step 7.

9) Remove the dash trim surrounding the passenger and drivers side air vents. Each small piece has a securing Torx screw under the dash. Remove the screw, then pull the dash piece off. You can then pull out the vent control.

10) For the passenger and drivers side vents, you can access them through the removed dash end panels. I could only drill a hole at about 2 o'clock (driver) and 10 o'clock (passenger). Be careful not to nick any car looms, especially on the drivers side. Then I pushed through the LED mount from inside the vent as in step 8. Again, route the wires to the connection box in step 7, taking care to follow the existing looms (zip ties / tape) so as not to obstruct anything (such as the airbag!!! ).

11) Connect all 4 sets of LED feed wires to the connection box. Then test the LEDs by switching on your lights after reconnecting the battery. Test the dimming function too.

12) Reassemble the dash trim panels, leaving the dash top panel until last.

13) Refit the dash top panel.

14) Enjoy!!

15) Change heater controls colours (I've got the paint stripper and some new blue paint............) 'cos they look poo with everything else blue!!

A great mod, easy to do (takes a bit of time), and delivers a great look!! Apologies for the poor photos, as I'm still getting to grips with my new camera (god-damned anti-shake......).

[emu_p]

Fancied doing that but they don't make orange LED's! Can you buy the bulbs from main dealer that fit inside the door handles on the facelift model?

[venox22]

good write up, have my bits and bobs from mikey to do similar in my rear footwell for weeks now, maybe your pics will inspire me to fit'em!!!

[MINIMAT]

Quote: Originally Posted by emu_p (original)

Fancied doing that but they don't make orange LED's! Can you buy the bulbs from main dealer that fit inside the door handles on the facelift model?

I take it you mean Mini amber-red?
Newministuff has them. Mikey fitted amber-red LEDs to my dash vents. It looks like an exact match.

[DaFlake]

Great write up! Changed the photos to thumbs as per the photo posting rules. Still, GREAT write up.