Blue Clock!

so for awhile now i've had my gauges changed to blue leds along with my steering wheel controls and most of my Kenwood HU is blue as well.. i also previously changed my passenger seat belt and airbag reminder lights to blue. one thing that has been bugging me is that stupid orange clock so i finally decided to investigate it and see what could be done.

i found that the actual clock is a kind of greenish color and the orange comes from what appears to be a spray on film they put on the inside of the plastic outside lens. i dont have any pictures of it in progress but its a pretty easy mod so i'll try to explain it as best as possible.

first off you have to remove the HU and dash kit from the truck. (if you still have factory radio then just remove the radio) after thats out you need to pry the clock/hazard light setup from the back of the dash kit. there are 4 small clips that hold it in place. (two on top two on bottom)

once you have that removed you can pry the plastic lens off the front of the clock/reminder lights. its just held on with sticky tape. i used my pocket knife and worked my way around it gently prying it off.

once the lens was off i used a buffing wheel on my dremel and added in a liquid wax. the wax helps to prevent to much heat buildup, you dont want to warp the lens from heat. lightly buff the back side of the lens where the clock goes, slowly you will see the orange film disappear. be very careful around the edges of it because you can buff off the black non transparent part as well if your not careful.

here a picture of what it looks like with just a clear lens.. it has a greenish look to it. this isnt the best picture but you get the idea of the color.



i then wiped off all the fingerprints and reassembled all the pieces. i didnt add anymore adhesive to the back of the lens and it seemed to readhere just fine.


so i ran it like that for a day or two and decided i didnt like the color all that much even though it was a HUGE improvement over the orange. i acquired some blue window tint from a friend and decided to give it a try. after disassembling everything again i cleaned the back side of the lens and cut a small piece of tint that fit the area the clock was displayed through. one layer didnt seem to do to much so i ended up adding an additional layer of tint on top of that making it two layers thick. this was the end product...



its not quite the rich deep blue my dash lights are but its pretty close. MUCH better than the orange!!!!!!!

 

Very nice. Thanks for the info!

 

Great work, looks great!

 

thanks guys! as you can see in the pics i also painted my dash while i had it apart.. just need to acquire a black hazard button.

 

Looks great.

 

Nice..

 

I want.

 

thats awesome. i like all the blue inside.

 

looks good!

 

Very nice.

Wait. Whats with the T-Case shifter. Am I seeing that correctly?

 

yea your seeing it correctly... and theres more where that came from...



dont mind the shift boots on the back two.. they aren't done yet.

 

I love it.

 

thanks! me to

 

Great work! I might just have to try it out. I really like the blue.

 

thanks! its not hard at all.... the biggest thing is taking your time with the dremel to keep from buffing away to much...

 

See, this is what makes America so kickass! Somethin doesn't look or work how you want it too or need it to and presto...now it does. Kudos on the initiative & not taking "there isn't a way to do that" for an answer.

 

thanks!!!

now if i could just get that pesky climate control blue i'd be totally converted!!

 

You should post up a "how to" on all this including the steering wheel controls and the airbag/seatbelt lights. It looks really good!

 

thanks.. i'd love to but its been so long since i've done the rest of them. i still remember most of the steps but dont have any pictures at all of it in progress...

 

Pictures would be nice but a step by step would be very cool. Then we can get some one to add it to the mod list or make it a sticky!