I've had some fun tonight. I recently purchased a used 5-switch toggle panel on NAM so that I could activate the existing rear fogs in my '03 MCS. When I got it, I realized that the fog switch was for the front fogs, not the rear. Doh! I had also purchased a couple of dummy switches a while back and pulled them out to see if I could at least fill up the panel. When I started looking closely, I realized that the existing fog switch had a hole in the end for an LED to shine through. I also noticed that one of the dummy switches was the same. So I took the new panel apart and started looking at how everything worked.



Dummy Switches..


Each symbol has a separate LED behind it (in the black tube above each toggle) that shines on the back of the switch cover plate. The cover plate is made of translucent white plastic that is painted a flat black with the symbols as clear knockouts in the paint. So the only thing different about the configurations that BMW puts in the MINI is how many switches are added and how the cover plate is painted. I got an idea from this. First, I mounted the dummy switch with the LED hole in it in the rear fog postion along with the retaining clips. It's real easy, it just snaps into place.



Then I drilled out the plugged hole in the cover plate where the rear fog switch goes. This was the trickiest part coz I didn't have the right sized bit handy. I drilled a hole with the biggest bit I had then mounted a tile cutter bit from my Dremel in the drill and carefully enlarged the hole.
Unsnapping the two separator bars made this a lot easier. You can see the white plastic edge around the hole.



I "painted" the white plastic edges with a black Sharpie to make it look a bit better.



Then I got creative. With a very sharp Exacto knife and some small files, I etched the rear fog symbol out of the paint on the cover plate. Here's how it turned out.



Everything back together...



And, finally, I mounted my new toggle panel in my car and turned on the lights to see how it looked. Voila!



It ain't perfect, but in a moving car at night, nobody's gonna notice.

So, it's off to my MINI dealer soon to get those rear fogs activated. Woohoo!

 

Wow, nice.

 

Very nice.

 

Nice work!

Annette

 

I'm impressed with your etching skills. I have been tempted to etch something in my blank spot for a long time but have not been brave enough/confident in my etching skills. Nice work!

 

Excellent work, Big Daddy! Amazing that you could be so detailed while wearing the requisite Canadian mittens, eh.
I found that the sharpie does a great job of coloring - with the black surrounds and the 'chrome' toggle, it's not even noticeable.
I didn't realize the seperator bars snapped out like that. Good info.

 

Dude, that is awesome! Excellent job!

Now I don't feel so bad about losing the toggle panel to you, and about the one you removed...?

 

Yeah I agree that turned out really good way more patience and skill than I have.

 

Wow, that's ingenuity. Awesome work. Don't know if I would have thought to do that!

 

Big Daddy gots Skillz! Very nice!

Where would one find dummy switches?

 

good job and good info for the next guy... thanks !

 

Wow! I wonder if the switch relabeling kit could be illuminated like that by just etching a big rectangle :

 

From cannibalized toggle racks. You might try a request in the Marketplace...

 

Where do you get these??

 

The "MINI Unauthorized Owner's Manual" came with paper ones, but vinyl reproductions were available here. Looks like the '06 spy kit had something similar.

 

Hmm. I bought my MINI used. Is the unauthorized owner's manual something that came w/ the car new?

 

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. This was really an easy mod, tho I guess it helps to have some artistic ability.

BFG9000s idea is a really good one, I think. It would be a lot easier just scraping off a rectangle under the stickers. I'm working on getting a local shop to print up some of these decal sheets and will post here when they are ready.

BD

 

Very nice job.. Looks awesome.

 

I'm impressed!

 

LOL. Don't forget the requisite Molson Canadian brewskis as well!

 

thats cool...always wondered if someone had modded that and put something in that open space

 

Nicely done (not seen this before)

Only downside of this mod is, the PCB doesn't have the LED that illuminates the tip of the rear fog toggle, so if you have it activated by the dealership, you won't have any indication inside the car of whether the rear fogs are on or not.

 

You have two options...find a used toggle that has the hole in the end that allows the LED to shine thru, or very carefully drill it out from the inside. The LED is already installed in the toggle panel.

 

I think I may have another idea for getting a graphic etched, and look much more professional.

Open up a graphics editor on your computer. Create your design, but keep in mind that the design itself won't show, and will be cut out. Print the design onto that sticky-backed paper (label paper, I suppose). Cut out the design itself from the paper. Now put the rest of the paper (not the cut out portion) onto that panel (may have to be cut down a bit to be manageable), sticky side down. Now use some gel paint thinner, and a small Q-tip. Dab it onto the the panel, removing the paint only in the area where the design used to be (and was cut out from).

Should work, no?

- Matt

 

that is amazing, where did you happen to get the stock looking switch at?