First of all, thanks and props to Deltaphi, 959frontier, Kalikikopa and everyone else here for the help.
But anyway, my airbag light (red one middle cluster) wont stop blinking at me after about the second time I removed my cluster- before any soldering took place. First time I took it out just to see if I could. Second time I cracked it open to see how much of a b*&%$ it would be to get the needles off. Third time was the live fire. Just curious if anyone else has had this problem, or if I have completely F'ed up my $889 gauge cluster.
Also, Im stumped just like Deltaphi about the HVAC controls. Not sure if a wide angle LED is a solution, but its almost like there is a tinted film that is sealed under that clear plastic diffuser.
Find some cat-5 (ethernet)cable or telephone cable. Use that solid strand wire to make a string of 3 or 4 1206 LEDs (in series) per bulb location. Before you desolder the bulbs, mark on the board which contact is + and -. When you pop off the face of your HU and separate the board from the buttons, youll see a clear plastic piece with the buttons. Once you figure out your wire routing, Disconnect that plastic piece from the buttons and place it on the board to make sure you wont pinch or crush any wire or LEDs.
For the display, you have to desolder that metal border, then twist the tabs to pull it off the board. The beeotch part of this is to make a "stand" to solder your 1206's to so that they face toward the display- and you have to fit 3 per side in that little space. Youll see what I mean.
Its very tedious work, and I wouldnt recommend it without a good soldering setup and basic electronics knowledge, but it is well worth it in the end.
Ill do a write up for it if enough people are curious- if not just PM me.