Swapping the bulb and color of a Stereo unit?

[Miata2Boxster]

Greetings, I recently sold my 2001 Miata and purchased a Forest Green Metallic 2001 Boxster with 74K on it. Needless to say I am thrilled and feel I have taken a quantum leap forward in terms of my car of choice. The Miata was great in many respects but the Boxster feels so planted and solid....a more mature, refined and capable vehicle in most respects

My first project on the Boxster will be to swap out the stereo head unit and speakers. I have my eye on the Clarion FZ150. In many ways it seems like a good choice as I feel it's design and control layout will be in keeping with the dash design continuum and offer SD/MP3 options to boot. The one down side is that it is illuminated in blue. I am wondering what might be involved in changing it's light to amber like the rest of the dash?

thanks!

[Miata2Boxster]

I went to the Crutchfield site. There it is indicated that the FZ150 is illuminated in white and not blue suggested by a cut and paste Ebay seller.

Only two channels though...might not work well as I have back, door and dash speakers....opting for Quarts all the way around...except the back.

Any suggestions about MP3/SD head units that look stock that can handle 6 speakers would be appreciated.

[Troy.Boxster]

You might want to consider the opposite option... swap the other lights to blue to match the new stereo. Personally, I think the blue lights look a bit better and you can put brighter LEDs in the instrument panel vice the stock bulbs.

Just a thought...

[Pdwight]

The unit I installed has variable color illumination. I chose a color that is so close it looks factory. Many new units do this...shop around

[particlewave]

[Top_Ramen]

If you plan on changing out you're dash speakers, check out the INFINITY 4002CFX .. amazing speakers by harmon.

[Pdwight]

I have to pull my instrument panel soon as I am adding OBC, I would love to change mine to blue like that...what bulbs do I need ??

[particlewave]

Everything except the gauge cluster requires SMD's (see my thread on the subject in the DIY forum ) that must be soldered on...

[Pdwight]

Originally Posted by particlewave

Everything except the gauge cluster requires SMD's (see my thread on the subject in the DIY forum ) that must be soldered on...

Im pretty handy with a soldering iron...I will look for the DIY thread.....i'm about to have some time on my hands anyway loosing my job an all.

[particlewave]

Here is the thread.

Unfortunately, a lot of my pictures got deleted when my Photobucket account got hacked, but there are still some in the thread.
The thread also has links for purchasing the SMD LEDs and the twist-in bulb type LEDs for '97-'01 clusters.

[Miata2Boxster]

Thanks, The blue dash lighting looks great IMO! A head unit that allows one to determine the lighting color is another viable option provided I can find a good one that looks stock.

[Miata2Boxster]

Originally Posted by all_mota

If you plan on changing out you're dash speakers, check out the INFINITY 4002CFX .. amazing speakers by harmon.

I have been looking at speakers by MB Quart, JL Audio and Focal but will also now consider the speakers suggested by Infinity.