black d9 dials to late spec cream (semi guide / how to)
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:21 pm
well yesterday eve i went and picked up some late spec 406 D9 cream dials off a bloke who was selling them on ebay for a modest £25...
So today i set about loking if at all they could fit into the early d9's.
First problem i came accross is that the later multiplex d9's have 1 plug for the clocks where as the early ones have the 2 plugs....
Next the chrome dial rings will not seperate from the fromt cover meaning that you can not simply swap them over into your old dials.
Also the cover designs are completely different and also the later dials use LED's not bulbs (i will come into this problem in little while)
So set about making them fit!!!!
First of all here is how the car looked
So set about taking the dials out and stirpping both sets down, there are location tabs around the perimiter of the casing on both types of clock set to get the front cover off so i started by seperating these.
As the Newer clocks are led's not bulbs for the warning lights it means that the sheet of plastic with all of the symbols on are clear not coloured like the early d9's, this would mean if you simply used the later one still in the cover all of the dash lights would be white not the colourst they were meant to be and also probily dazzle you at night!
So set about pealing the layer of plastic off.
Next i put it back in the new cover with the chrome rings
next job was to swap the dial backing sheets over between dials as the innards were not compatable with each other and also the origional needles had to stay (so means i have white on cream for time beaing untill i can sort this)
Next problem was because the casings were different and i had to retain the origional rear half and use the new front half to keep the chrome rings i had to cut alot of the mating face from the new front half, i had to cut more than it needed to mate them square as they wouldnt go together untill i had for some reason!
quick test fit, looking good already!
so then to ensure the light didnt just go out the sides i used a roll of electrical tape and sealed them
Then off to the car we go without the front cover on to go for a drive and make sure that everything is reading correctly....
To make sure speedo was right i hooked up the sat nav and tested it at all speeds up to 60 and it actually reads mre accurate than it did before! result
So put dash back together and now looks like this:
looks much better than the old black ones and setsof the black leatehr a treat and looks good with the wooden exec dash and door card trim.
all in all a good days work
So today i set about loking if at all they could fit into the early d9's.
First problem i came accross is that the later multiplex d9's have 1 plug for the clocks where as the early ones have the 2 plugs....
Next the chrome dial rings will not seperate from the fromt cover meaning that you can not simply swap them over into your old dials.
Also the cover designs are completely different and also the later dials use LED's not bulbs (i will come into this problem in little while)
So set about making them fit!!!!
First of all here is how the car looked
So set about taking the dials out and stirpping both sets down, there are location tabs around the perimiter of the casing on both types of clock set to get the front cover off so i started by seperating these.
As the Newer clocks are led's not bulbs for the warning lights it means that the sheet of plastic with all of the symbols on are clear not coloured like the early d9's, this would mean if you simply used the later one still in the cover all of the dash lights would be white not the colourst they were meant to be and also probily dazzle you at night!
So set about pealing the layer of plastic off.
Next i put it back in the new cover with the chrome rings
next job was to swap the dial backing sheets over between dials as the innards were not compatable with each other and also the origional needles had to stay (so means i have white on cream for time beaing untill i can sort this)
Next problem was because the casings were different and i had to retain the origional rear half and use the new front half to keep the chrome rings i had to cut alot of the mating face from the new front half, i had to cut more than it needed to mate them square as they wouldnt go together untill i had for some reason!
quick test fit, looking good already!
so then to ensure the light didnt just go out the sides i used a roll of electrical tape and sealed them
Then off to the car we go without the front cover on to go for a drive and make sure that everything is reading correctly....
To make sure speedo was right i hooked up the sat nav and tested it at all speeds up to 60 and it actually reads mre accurate than it did before! result
So put dash back together and now looks like this:
looks much better than the old black ones and setsof the black leatehr a treat and looks good with the wooden exec dash and door card trim.
all in all a good days work
Me likey 
