vectra odometer light

[seaney]

hi all, new to the opel forums here.

my girlfriend just bought a 99 JS2 Vectra for the healthy (i thought) sum of $12K. couple of issues atm though.

A) The backlight for the odometer has failed, can anyone direct me to a good how-to on replaceing it...should it be possible to DIY

b) Also need to know how to get the door skins off to replace speakers in the rear doors, and the little light in the door.

c) how to remove the side indicators to put in some clear items

d) anyone direct me to a good site for aftermarket parts here in Aus, havent been able to find anywhere yet.

Look forward to being here, seems to be a beaut car. Im a magna driver myself, and have never been a holden fan, but do like the vectra quite a bit.

Cheers

[Clint]

the dash comes out pretty easily, i can tell u if u need, ill be taking out my dash again one day to make a few changes, so i can take pics when i do it.

as for the the door. take out the 3 screws down the bottom of the door. pry the plastic triangle piece off that site on the inside of the door opposite to the mirror at the top left of the door. there is a screw under that. use a screwdriver to pry out the electric mirror controls or black spacer on passenger door, screw under there. do the same for the tweeter cover, screw there. for this part i dont actually know how to get it off... there is a screw under the door handle, the part that sits vertical comes off. have a look at it and u will see the seemes where it comes apart. i dont actually know how to get it off. i just pull it off startint at the top, once u have the top out a bit it lifts up and then comes out. doing that bend and maybe breakes the clip in the top. with that brocken it makes no difference at all, it stays in perfect. once u got all of those screws out, take out the light at the bottom of the door. put a screwdriver in the slot and pry off one side, hold that side out with your finger and do tha same for the bottom. it now comes out. just pull the plug off the light at the back. in my last vectra i could not get the plug off the rear door lights. tried everything, they were stuck on for good. front doors were fine tho. im my new vectra, front doors are fine but i ws able to get the rear door ones off after a bit of trouble. now get a flathead screwdriver and put it between the door metal and the door skin and pry off the skin. have a feel around anf find the places where the clips are and put the screwdriver there to make it easier.once u have the unclipped, pull the wire for the light through the door skin, unplug the tweeter and mirror controls. i find it easier to get the skin off with the window down. pull the door skin out about 10cm or so at the bottom of the door, (at this time it will only be held on at the top of the door) and carefully pull/push the door skin upwards, it just pulls up, its held on by that black strip of plastic or rubber next to the window glass. u dont have to take the cover off the the speaker to get the door skin off.

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/1729/howtoremovedoorlights5xd.th.jpg (http://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=howtoremovedoorlights5xd.jpg)

while u have the door light off, take the bulbs out and solder some leds in like i did, looks great. at night when u have the door open it lights up the whole side of the car, looks good.

also if u want to add a total closure unit while u have the door skin off, ask me i built them and have a few spares sitting here.

the standard speakers are made so the part that mounts onto the doors that has the screw holes in it is recessed about 30mm from the top of the speaker. so the magnet doesnt sit very deep into the door. when u buy speakers, the mounting holes will be level with the top of the speaker, so the magnet sits too deep in the door and interferes with the window. u eill need to make some spacers out of wood to lift the speaker out of the door, u have a big gap, about 40 or 50 mm i think or more between the metal of the door and the speaker cover, so u can lift the speaker out a long way so accomodate for some big magnet speakers.

if u need any more help with this feel free to ask. or help with anything else, i know a lot about how to do things in the vectras, ive had 2 of them, total closure, sound systems, wireing, neons stc

[R3N]

Welcome to the forums, I'm sure someone with a Vectra can help you out, with the dash, its easy as Clint said.

[seaney]

thanks guys, will definitly need to know how to remove the intruments, just to put a new light in behind the odometer. at this point we cant easily tell how many its done. not a huge problem obviously.

Also, has anyone got a template on making a couple of spacers that will allow a 6 inch speaker in the door?

[Clint]

dont actually have a template but i would just make the outer diameter of the spacer so it has about 1cm on both sides of the speaker, then just cut a circle out of the middle roughly the same size smaller than the speaker and if try if the speaker fits in the spacer, if not cut more out til it fits.

probably a bit dodgy but its not really worth making a perfect spacer for it. the spacer for mine was a didgy jagged circle shape, all it has to do it lift the speaker out of the door, the spacer cant be seen as the speaker and spacer sits under the speaker cover