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Friday, November 18, 2011

Pit Stop

Due to weather, personal business, and work, Machine Zealots will be taking a short break from uploading videos for the next couple of weeks. We are planning on airing new episodes in the early months of 2012. However, during this time, we will still be shooting and editing videos for next year. This downtime is beneficial for us to plan out episodes, and generate better content. Hopefully, those who enjoy watching these videos will be patient for the upcoming season.

If anything exciting happens between now and 2012, I will continue to post in the blog. If you haven't joined the Facebook Page, or subscribed to the Youtube Channel, please do so. This way, you can keep up to date with the most recent stories, and it helps us out tremendously. For those of you who have already done this, we thank you for your continued loyalty and support.

Jagan and Puyang's cars parked away.

Red lights, ready for more interior conversions.

Just an update for those who have been following for the past month or so, you should have noticed that I've gone a bit crazy over converting the interior lights to illuminate red. The reason is, I've been saving up for some bigger mods for next year. Lights are cheap, easy to mod, and look great if done properly; the perfect modification. These lights as seen above are going to be used for the HVAC on the STI. A full video will be made, so if you are eager to see this, be patient. ;)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Converting the Lamco Boost Gauge



Okay, I'm going to get straight to it. This mod did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Yes, it bridges the colors displayed on the dials, but it definately lowers the visibility of the boost gauge needle during night time driving. However, you get used to the low light after a few weeks, and the boost gauge will be legible again.


If you plan on taking this boost gauge apart, I would suggest you solder on some new brighter LEDs to make it worth your while. I've read online that people have done this mod with a brighter LED, and it's supposed to look a lot better. I might try this when I have some more time.

Another note is that if you have the older STIs, your Lamco boost gauge will be illuminated by a #2723 bulb with a blue cover. You just simply remove the gauge from the pod, and twist out the light bulb.


For the 2006+ Subaru STI, our Lamco gauges are illuminated by a tiny yellow LED, soldered meticulously onto a small circuit board. I decided to use plastic colored overlays to change the color of the LED, because this is 100% reversible. It is held on by some clear silicone, which can stay on the LED for years to come, and can be easily peeled off if you want to revert to stock. I plan on using this boost gauge for a while, but possibly change to nicer gauges when I go Stage 2.


All in all, this mod was a fun and free mod for me. However, to say that this mod was worth the time is completely in the eye of the beholder. Eitherway, now you know how to do this, have fun!