How To Guides

A set of helpful step-by-step guides that I'll be adding to regularly.

Guide 1 is at the bottom of the page, for guide 2 onwards please click on the link in the index.

Guides Index:

How to fit a BMW 3 Series dash clock in four easy steps
How to dye your Bongo carpets

Guide 1:

How to fit a BMW 3 Series dash clock into your Mazda Bongo in four easy steps

What you need?

3 snap lock connectors (pack of 10 available from Maplin for £2.49)
Pliers
Keys to remove stereo (if applicable)
Metal file (possibly if clock surround needs trimming / filing)

To complete the job:

Step 1:

Remove the existing blanking plate, cubby hole or other item fitted above the stereo. In most cases these items can just be pulled out as they are only held in by a few clips.

Next remove the stereo head unit. This can be done using the keys provided with the stereo. If you aren’t sure how your stereo comes out a quick Google search should help here.

If you need to access the back of either the stereo or the blanking plate section you can remove the glove box. Open the glove box and you will see a small plastic peg on either side of it – these pegs keep the box in position.

If you want to remove the Mazda Bongo glove box you need to locate the pegs shown in the picture (one located each side of the box)

To remove the right peg simply ease the glove box to the left and it will pop free, do the same on the left side (pushing to the right) and the glove box will then drop down and can be easily released.

After removing the stereo head unit and the attached cabling you will see a second block of wiring running into white connectors. Remove this second block of wiring from both the head unit cabling and the white connectors.

The second block of wiring is by my right hand

This will allow you to work on the wires more easily.

Step 2:

At this point I would check to see how well the clock fits into the top opening to see if any trimming will be required.

If the clock isn’t fitting well you can trim / file down the clips and the surround. Do this bit by bit to ensure you achieve a good fit.

File the clips if needed

Step 3:

The clock should have three wires protruding from the back – orange / yellow, brown / black and grey / red.

You need to connect these wires to the wires on the removed section in the following way:

Orange / yellow clock wire to yellow wire

Brown / black clock wire to black wire

Grey / red clock wire to orange wire

The easiest way to make the connections is to use the snap lock connectors. Simply slide the connector over the existing cable then add the new wire in one side and squeeze the metal blade with the pliers. The blade then cuts into the insulation of both wires and completes the connection.

Using the blue snap lock connectors to connect the clock wires to the wiring loom

Once you have wired up the clock you need to reattach the wiring to the Bongo.

Here you can see the fully wired up BMW 3 series clock

Step 4:

You are now ready to fit the clock – push it firmly into the dash. At this point I would make sure it is working.

Next you need to reattach the stereo head unit wiring and push the stereo back into its housing.

You may need to pull some of the wires through from the back so don’t put the glove box back until both the clock and stereo are both fully fitted and you have checked everything works.

Finally refit the glove box.