General dashboard illumination...

[uno_man]

i dont know how many of you have investigated much behind the dashboard, but i was up at the scrappies today and discovered (in an uno 60 i think) some fibre-optic system whereby the dashboard switches (hazards, fogs, heated screen, and symbols next to the headlight and wiper switches) are back-lit. i paid for the half of the fibre optic doodah which actually lights up, and left the other bit in the car, cos its a b1tch to get at. i was hoping to fit this into my uno 45. does anybody know if this is possible? maybe the fibre optics is already installed but not used.... this was the case on the heater controls (piece of blach card blanking out the light so the controls werent illuminated etc)

also, (bloody hell this is a long post!) i was hoping to be able to rig up a choke warning light (also not included on the 45). at the scrappies i managed to get at the two bits of plastic which make up the warning lights (sidelights, indicators, mainbeam, fogs, heated screen, handbrake, hazards, oil, choke and battery) and the coloured thingy behind it. i want to change the one in my 45 to this one (only because it actually has a choke symbol on!) the one i got today is a slightly different shape (each element is narrower but taller). what im saying is (if youre still reading), how hard can it be to change my warning light wotsit to this one and rig up a choke warning?

any help on either front is apprecicated!!!

 

[Surrey Sporting]

Hello Uno Man! Welcome aboard!

I'm not too familiar with the Uno but would figure the parts may well be interchangable.

I find the best thing to do before visiting the scrappers, is to dismantle the part on your car, so that you are familiar with the layout.

I'd imagine that you should be able to ascertain fairly quickly if the part will fit. I assume it was attached to the binnacle circuit board' via brass nuts? If so take out your binnacle and see if the 'board' will accomodate the part - you should be able to tell pretty quickly.

Before you bolt everything up, check that everything works in your instruments especially the speedo.

Best advice is to disconnect the speedo at the gearbox end (very dirty), that way you'll have plenty of room to manoeuvre at the dash end & will save you knuckles! (well some of them, anyway!)

Let us know how you got on & what year/model your car is and what year/model the upgrade parts were from. You may well help another Uno owner later!

Cheers John

 

[uno_man]

hey, thanks for the warm welcome!

firstly, my car is a 1988/E Uno 45 (903cc). the model at the scrappies was an 88/E Uno 60.

i had rather mixed results, the choke warning light was a bit of a non-starter as each 'light lens' (eg handbrake) is narrower, but taller, resulting in an overall much different shape 'plastic wotsit', i really dont know what to call it!

as for the fibre-optic jobbie, it took about half an hour to get the fibre optic cables run behind the dash (bags of space behind the 45 dash!! ). As expected, the provision had been made behind the switches for each fibre optic 'end' to clip into. nice and simple. another 10 minutes of bodging a simple bulb wired in series with the side/head lights switch. insulation tape this and the fibre optic wire roughly together and hey presto, ive got an Uno 60 just by taking some black card out of the heater controls and a little bit of bodging!!

 

[Surrey Sporting]

Hurrah!

The visit to the scrappies was worthwhile.

Guess you'll be driving around tonight - checking out your new dash lights![8D]

Nice1

Cheers
John