2003 Porsche Boxster S
Discussion
I really like the orange.
From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
I always thought blue interior lighting like in VWs was the worst of all worlds!
From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
I always thought blue interior lighting like in VWs was the worst of all worlds!
geraintthomas said:
Podie said:
Will the Android head unit interface with the climate control?
If so, that could be an option? Could then go for the cubbyhole delete...?
What an awesome idea. Don't think I could pull that off though unfortunately, as that's way over my head!If so, that could be an option? Could then go for the cubbyhole delete...?
[quote=shalmaneser]I really like the orange.
From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
Mmm , this is a good point . Maybe stay with the orange ?
From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
Mmm , this is a good point . Maybe stay with the orange ?
shalmaneser said:
I really like the orange.
From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
I always thought blue interior lighting like in VWs was the worst of all worlds!
Ah! One of my favourites was the VW blue and red! It was so aesthetically pleasing on the eyes and hugely calming, but I suppose it's swings and roundabouts. I get what you're saying about the amber and you're totally right (I work in TV in Visual Effects, and am accustomed to colour grading), but the white just looks so much cleaner and more modern.From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
I always thought blue interior lighting like in VWs was the worst of all worlds!
TXG399 said:
I have never been a fan of the 986 Boxster. However, the work you have done on yours is seriously impressive! Maybe a rethink of my 986 opinion is due. I'm very interested to see where this goes.
The original 2.5 Boxster isn't a great car at all. Cable workings (throttle body, etc), horrendous interior, structurally weaker (can't fit wheels bigger than 17" due to damage to the chassis). It wasn't built the best, but with the 2.7's things got better, then the facelift in 2003 corrected all areas that were lacking, and then the S variant on top of that had the power to match - which is what this is, a facelift 3.2 S variant.It's a TOTALLY different car to the original 1997 2.5 litre car. Everything is different from the bodywork, to the mechanics, to the electrics, to the interior. That may have been what your original thoughts were based on
Podie said:
I'd assume it's all CANBUS, so it must be possible...
But how would you get the information into the head unit?Captain Smerc]halmaneser said:
I really like the orange.
From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
Mmm , this is a good point . Maybe stay with the orange ?
But you'll need to ask yourself as to why all modern cars are going for white, rather than orange. Yeah technically a warmer colour is better on the eyes than a colder colour on the spectrum, but if it's not hugely bright and in your face, it won't make much of a difference. My last car was white and it was lovely at night From a technical perspective I'd have thought it's better too, longer wavelengths (orange/red) affect night vision much less than shorter ones (which white will contain as a mixture of all the colours...
Mmm , this is a good point . Maybe stay with the orange ?
Ste372 said:
Car is looking really smart now.
Any links to the head unit and is it a standard double din head unit fitment?
I was wondering how you'd managed to connect two Bluetooth interfaces up till I saw the WiFi obd reader. What a great idea any links for that too please?
Not a standard fit, quite a bit of work was needed to fit it into the dash unfortunately!Any links to the head unit and is it a standard double din head unit fitment?
I was wondering how you'd managed to connect two Bluetooth interfaces up till I saw the WiFi obd reader. What a great idea any links for that too please?
WiFi OBD2 readers can be found all over Ebay, they all work the same, just find the cheapest
Currently looking into creating my own red gauge faces too. It's easy enough if you have the time.
DIY gauges consist of 3 layers. The front layer is the coloured face, printed on transparent overhead projector film. The middle layer is extremely thin white diffused plastic that you can find on paper folders. The rear layer is another version of the face on transparent overhead projector film, but this time totally black aside from the areas that you'd want light to escape from. Very cheap to do, and obvious gains from doing it.
I'd be designing with the non-italic numbers (which are actually the front 'DDT'). Saves buying them from Porsche for around £300, when I can do it myself for around £20.
Will probably do it the same time as the LED's I'd imagine. I'd try it with mine first, and if it goes well, I'd be happy to design and supply to others.
Spent some time today re-creating the dials from scratch in Illustrator, so they're vector based.
They're not accurate until I get scans of my actual faces, but I can tweak them to fit when I do.
Ones I've made so far:
GTS 01 (my favourite):
GTS 02
GTS 03
Boxster S
GT4
Just need to take apart my gauges, scan the faces, re-create them accurately and do a test print to ensure they're correct, then print and create them!
I think this with the LED overhaul in the interior would make such a difference.
DIY gauges consist of 3 layers. The front layer is the coloured face, printed on transparent overhead projector film. The middle layer is extremely thin white diffused plastic that you can find on paper folders. The rear layer is another version of the face on transparent overhead projector film, but this time totally black aside from the areas that you'd want light to escape from. Very cheap to do, and obvious gains from doing it.
I'd be designing with the non-italic numbers (which are actually the front 'DDT'). Saves buying them from Porsche for around £300, when I can do it myself for around £20.
Will probably do it the same time as the LED's I'd imagine. I'd try it with mine first, and if it goes well, I'd be happy to design and supply to others.
Spent some time today re-creating the dials from scratch in Illustrator, so they're vector based.
They're not accurate until I get scans of my actual faces, but I can tweak them to fit when I do.
Ones I've made so far:
GTS 01 (my favourite):
GTS 02
GTS 03
Boxster S
GT4
Just need to take apart my gauges, scan the faces, re-create them accurately and do a test print to ensure they're correct, then print and create them!
I think this with the LED overhaul in the interior would make such a difference.
LordHaveMurci said:
Agreed, I think GTS 01 is my fav too.
Agreed Bowen86 said:
Amazing work mate. You're just around the corner from me, surprised I haven't seen you about.
Keep it up. Love coming back to read your updates.
Ah! You're in Penarth/Cardiff? What do you drive? If I see you I'll flash/wave Keep it up. Love coming back to read your updates.
Thanks for the kind words though
R8Steve said:
I see you'd mentioned retrofitting heated seats in an earlier post.
How are you planning to do that?
Lovely car and great work so far. So much so it's inspired me to buy one.
Do it! There's lots to look for and lots to avoid when it comes to Boxsters, as they vary hugely through the years, with problems that can be avoided if you know what to look for. Send me a message and I'll be happy to help How are you planning to do that?
Lovely car and great work so far. So much so it's inspired me to buy one.
With the heated seats, the Ebay ones come with 4x heated filaments. The seats will come out, covers off, slide them in, then put them back. I'll buy the original Porsche switches, and will cut off the Ebay switches to wire them up to the Porsche ones instead so they look the same.
Problem with that is the fact that the Ebay heated seat switches are rocker switches (physically clicks into an on/off position), where as the Porsche ones are touch buttons, so that won't work - it'll only come on for the duration I hold the buttons down otherwise! As the Porsche ones don't click down. Therefore I just need a relay in the circuit to tell the circuit to stay open when it receives power (a single button push), and to turn off when receiving another.
Unless I can find Ebay heated seats that have push buttons rather than rocker switches, then it'll just be a case of cutting the wires and putting them on
but I've not found any yet. Or unless the Porsche button switches have that functionality built into them... I'll have to test one of them on a light bulb and see what happens...Edited by geraintthomas on Wednesday 7th March 14:13
geraintthomas said:
Do it! There's lots to look for and lots to avoid when it comes to Boxsters, as they vary hugely through the years, with problems that can be avoided if you know what to look for. Send me a message and I'll be happy to help
With the heated seats, the Ebay ones come with 4x heated filaments. The seats will come out, covers off, slide them in, then put them back. I'll buy the original Porsche switches, and will cut off the Ebay switches to wire them up to the Porsche ones instead so they look the same.
Problem with that is the fact that the Ebay heated seat switches are rocker switches (physically clicks into an on/off position), where as the Porsche ones are touch buttons, so that won't work - it'll only come on for the duration I hold the buttons down otherwise! As the Porsche ones don't click down. Therefore I just need a relay in the circuit to tell the circuit to stay open when it receives power (a single button push), and to turn off when receiving another.
Unless I can find Ebay heated seats that have push buttons rather than rocker switches, then it'll just be a case of cutting the wires and putting them on but I've not found any yet. Or unless the Porsche button switches have that functionality built into them... I'll have to test one of them on a light bulb and see what happens...
Thanks for that, i'll send you a mail. With the heated seats, the Ebay ones come with 4x heated filaments. The seats will come out, covers off, slide them in, then put them back. I'll buy the original Porsche switches, and will cut off the Ebay switches to wire them up to the Porsche ones instead so they look the same.
Problem with that is the fact that the Ebay heated seat switches are rocker switches (physically clicks into an on/off position), where as the Porsche ones are touch buttons, so that won't work - it'll only come on for the duration I hold the buttons down otherwise! As the Porsche ones don't click down. Therefore I just need a relay in the circuit to tell the circuit to stay open when it receives power (a single button push), and to turn off when receiving another.
Unless I can find Ebay heated seats that have push buttons rather than rocker switches, then it'll just be a case of cutting the wires and putting them on
but I've not found any yet. Or unless the Porsche button switches have that functionality built into them... I'll have to test one of them on a light bulb and see what happens...I've done my usual and jumped right in after making my mind up 10 mins prior but i think i've made a good purchase. I'll send you the details and you can let me know your thoughts.
Replaced the AOS! And HOLY COW, the difference is immense! All issues have been fixed, car idles stunningly (can barely tell it's on if listening to music), performance is great, response is awesome... all fixed.
And then I went and did something stupid.
This LED conversion, thought I'd make a start. Took the dials out and pulled them apart successfully. Started to de-solder an LED and the amount of force it was taking me to get the single LED off was ridiculous. It got to the point where I hadn't damaged said LED yet, so I had the chance to stop and put it all back together - so I did. I'm not doing the upgrade, it's far too risky damaging the board.
Put it all back together and I seem to have broken my rev counter. The needle is very loose and doesn't react at all anymore. Tapping on the housing bounces the needle, so looks like I've buggered it. I've already placed an order for new dials. As I'm changing them, I've gone for the DOT-Matrix dials (the ones with the proper LCD panel on). It's a direct replacement, and it'll let me upgrade to the on board computer and cruise control in the future. I'd do it now but it'll cost me a lot of money all at once, so that'll have to wait.
Replacement dials were £100 on ebay.
Ah well. Win some, loose some. I do everything myself so this was bound to happen wasn't it! At least the car performs stunningly.
And then I went and did something stupid.
This LED conversion, thought I'd make a start. Took the dials out and pulled them apart successfully. Started to de-solder an LED and the amount of force it was taking me to get the single LED off was ridiculous. It got to the point where I hadn't damaged said LED yet, so I had the chance to stop and put it all back together - so I did. I'm not doing the upgrade, it's far too risky damaging the board.
Put it all back together and I seem to have broken my rev counter. The needle is very loose and doesn't react at all anymore. Tapping on the housing bounces the needle, so looks like I've buggered it. I've already placed an order for new dials. As I'm changing them, I've gone for the DOT-Matrix dials (the ones with the proper LCD panel on). It's a direct replacement, and it'll let me upgrade to the on board computer and cruise control in the future. I'd do it now but it'll cost me a lot of money all at once, so that'll have to wait.
Replacement dials were £100 on ebay.
Ah well. Win some, loose some. I do everything myself so this was bound to happen wasn't it! At least the car performs stunningly.
And voila, dials replaced!
The newer dot-matrix display gives a lot more information now, even without the extra stalks! Seatbelt, dimmer amount, key in ignition, temperature, etc.
I'm going to fit the extra stalk, but I'm waiting until a 4-stalk one appears as I'll get that so that I'd have cruise control too. With these newer dials, cruise control is built in, so they just need wiring in from the stalk and enabling. Pointless buying the 3-stalk one as I'd just have to swap it again when that time comes. They're rarer than hens teeth though.
Mileage correction is happening Wednesday - £80 to correct it back to the ECU mileage.
Nice having the new display though
In the meantime, I've taken out the faces to my old dials because I'm going to scan them in.
I know I said I wouldn't do the face upgrade, BUT there's a company in America (whitefaces.net) that do faces that slip over the needles. They also take custom requests, so I'm going to see if they can make mine. They have Boxster ones already but not of the 'S' variant. I was thinking of making some but put a slit at the bottom as I'm not risking removing the needles again, but that wouldn't work for the fuel and temperature gauges. Will need a think.
I had a look in my old projector lenses too, and found out why they started to dim.
Here's the reflective bowl:
And here's the inside:
It's just coated silver. You can see it peeling and burnt off completely! Obviously these are cheap £15 projectors, the same as the ones I've just put in. My new ones will eventually go the same way, so that'll be the time I invest in Morimoto projectors.
That's it for now
The newer dot-matrix display gives a lot more information now, even without the extra stalks! Seatbelt, dimmer amount, key in ignition, temperature, etc.
I'm going to fit the extra stalk, but I'm waiting until a 4-stalk one appears as I'll get that so that I'd have cruise control too. With these newer dials, cruise control is built in, so they just need wiring in from the stalk and enabling. Pointless buying the 3-stalk one as I'd just have to swap it again when that time comes. They're rarer than hens teeth though.
Mileage correction is happening Wednesday - £80 to correct it back to the ECU mileage.
Nice having the new display though
In the meantime, I've taken out the faces to my old dials because I'm going to scan them in.
I know I said I wouldn't do the face upgrade, BUT there's a company in America (whitefaces.net) that do faces that slip over the needles. They also take custom requests, so I'm going to see if they can make mine. They have Boxster ones already but not of the 'S' variant. I was thinking of making some but put a slit at the bottom as I'm not risking removing the needles again, but that wouldn't work for the fuel and temperature gauges. Will need a think.
I had a look in my old projector lenses too, and found out why they started to dim.
Here's the reflective bowl:
And here's the inside:
It's just coated silver. You can see it peeling and burnt off completely! Obviously these are cheap £15 projectors, the same as the ones I've just put in. My new ones will eventually go the same way, so that'll be the time I invest in Morimoto projectors.
That's it for now
I've just thought of a wicked idea.
I can't change all of the dial faces, but I [U]can[/U] change the centre one. Notice how small the gap is between the bottom of the needle and the bottom of the dial? There can be a tiny slit there which you'll never notice, which is how you can slip the new face on.
The beauty of this? I only have to print a singular face - the colour face on transparent paper. As I'll be re-creating the face using the scans of the original, I just need the block colour printed on a transparent sheet.
Like this:
Keeping all original holes, so slipping it over the original face would then look like this:
And because I have spare faces, I can keep testing until I get a perfect fit. Once it's done, pop open the dials (easiest thing in the world to do), slip the new one over the old, and job done!
Some more colours:
So yeah, going to try that ASAP! Will scan in the dials tomorrow and should be able to print them by this weekend!
If this works, I'll have the template for re-creating these for anyone - a very easy upgrade!
I can't change all of the dial faces, but I [U]can[/U] change the centre one. Notice how small the gap is between the bottom of the needle and the bottom of the dial? There can be a tiny slit there which you'll never notice, which is how you can slip the new face on.
The beauty of this? I only have to print a singular face - the colour face on transparent paper. As I'll be re-creating the face using the scans of the original, I just need the block colour printed on a transparent sheet.
Like this:
Keeping all original holes, so slipping it over the original face would then look like this:
And because I have spare faces, I can keep testing until I get a perfect fit. Once it's done, pop open the dials (easiest thing in the world to do), slip the new one over the old, and job done!
Some more colours:
So yeah, going to try that ASAP! Will scan in the dials tomorrow and should be able to print them by this weekend!
If this works, I'll have the template for re-creating these for anyone - a very easy upgrade!
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