V50 General : Todays MOD - 2004 V50 to R-Design Clocks

[SonyVaio]

I had no idea if this MOD was going to work or not so it was a complete unknown in the beginning.

First of all I just wanted to do a whole exchange new Combined Instrument panel complete (R-Design) for the old one. I thought it was looking good to start with as the main connector and wiring was the same but this was quickly dismissed when I realise the old Instrument panel had two connections and the new one had just one! Also my old Instrument Panel had two button/arms coming out the front (to set time and reset trips T1/T2) where the new Instrument Panel only had one arm. The other thing to be aware of is AFAIK the Instrument Panels are actually paired to your car and only yours should work in your car, so re-using your original is probably the best and safest way.

I always wanted to upgrade my plain boring Black clocks for the nice Blue clocks from an R-Design model which of course are several years newer and much more aesthetically pleasing too.

There were a number of hurdles to overcome in gaining the end result as I wanted to gain the silver bezels round the info displays too. The only thing I had to relent on was the new blue/silver clock bezels themself would not fit or modify to work on the old clock board (holes completely in the wrong place to secure) although perhaps I could have super glued them on the front. However, I just re-used my original dull silver/grey clock bezels which actually turned out well as it is very close to the R-Design silver anyway.

If you just want to change the clock faces to Blue then this is actually a very easy job and could be done in about 30min with a third of that time taken up cutting out the R-Design clock faces from the R-Design backing card nice and neat. It is a little bit like a tax disc when you get one and you have to disconnect it except with the clocks there is not so many perforations (not connected at too many places) but do need cut with a craft knife or scissors. You still need to strip the circuit board out to be able to push the clock bezel off. This is only a few screws and the front clock arms (speed, fuel, rev and temp) just pull off from the front. The old Instrument Panel clock faces are not even actually attached to the backing card at all and when you take off the clock bezels themself the just fall out. The old and new clock arms (speed, fuel, rev and temp) are same size and the new ones just push straight on.

If you want to go the whole hog and gain the info screen surrounds then you have to strip the whole clocks completely down and start to modify (cut with a Stanley knife) the back of the info bezel surrounds to fit. Again this is actually very easy and just sounds harder than it is. There is no soldering of excess fiddling required at any point.

Basically you have to modify the new bits to fit the old original clocks internal bits and circuit board. For the top info display then you have to use to use the whole new display block otherwise the silver bezel which does come off easy but will not fit on the old display block. You can choose to use the new display screen or keep the old one - they are exactly the same, I opted to use the new screen too.

For the bottom Info display you have to modify the silver bezel to fit on the old display block but the lugs are in the correct position to fit straight on. Additionally you have to then cut (craft knife) the holes for both info displays to be slightly larger to accommodate the new info display bezels. Previously my info displays had NO bezels.

It would have been nice and easy to just be able to swap the whole clocks card for the new one (which did fit like a glove!) but the problem is the lights are in different places between the old and the new:

On the old Instrument Panel between the two info displays you have: icon, icon, space, icon. On the R-Design one there is no space so there for a light would be in the wrong place. The other main difference is the indicator lights between the old and new are also in completely different locations. So the, what would be easy method of swapping clock cards over is not possible.

Have a look at the pic (iPhone sorry) and let me know what you think. Now everything is back together and fully checked for functionality I'm very happy.

[UKTech]

Look great to me but I wouldn't have the courage.

Good job, well done.

[Lee '71]

Flippin' 'eck Brian, this is fantastic. I've always wanted the blue clocks too but knew you couldn't get them to work in the older models. Don't suppose you fancy doing any more do you, please please PLEASE??? LOL!

[SonyVaio]

Lee,

You source the bits and I'd be more than happy to give you hand changing them. It really was quite simple. All that was needed was the torx bit to remove the Combined Instrument Panel from the dash, a phillips screw sriver for taking out the screws to dismatle the clocks and then a Stanley/craft knife to cut out the R-Design clocks and trim/modify the bezels to fit.

Just let me know when you manage to pick up a set of clocks, these can often be found at breakers as most people know they can't be re-used in other vehicles. Get searching!!

[Bendolfc]

Looks good, might have to give this a try as the blue ones look so much better.

[Lee '71]

You're on! I'll add the clocks to my Volvo 'wants' list immediately!

[Daim]

That is neat!

[Ninja59]

nice job nice halfords advanced tools oh got some fuel and top your wash bottle up to then?

[SonyVaio]

Originally Posted by Ninja59

nice job nice halfords advanced tools oh got some fuel and top your wash bottle up to then?

Topped the wash bottle up but didn't get any fuel. The Halfords set does the job, the Mrs got it for me abbout 6 years back. Anything snaps then Halfords replace no quibbles so can't complain.

The first pic was one I took a while ago when I done my ECO run to see what sort of mileage I could get out of a tank. I knew I had that picture so just put it in to show the difference between the old clocks and new ones.

[Ninja59]

have the halfords one myself very good quality kit