Updating the Look of the 99 Diablo Roadster

Two of the modifications that were made to update the look of my 99 Roadster...

The first was the wheels, I had a set of Hercules Murci Roadster wheels put on it. Stock color w/black murci roadster lug nuts. My big worry with different wheels was any kind of issue with rolling diameter or differences in tires. I don't have any issues with these because they are all the same size as the OEM wheels on the 99 Roadster and so they can use the same tires. In fact, I had my tires pulled from my wheels and put on the Hercules rims so there are no issues with tire differences, rolling diameter, etc. because all the tires on them are the original tires.

Second change was the interior light. I always hated the stock one because it looked like a 1970's overhead kitchen light. And it was white and nothing in the interior was white so it stood out when you looked in the car. And it was impossible to actually use. They "fixed" the interior light in the 6.0 but the 6.0 interior light is a different width and height and won't fit in the same hole. I didn't want to have to modify the car at all. So, I made a snap-in replacement.

I bought another 99 roadster interior light and cut it up until I just had the frame with connector snaps in the back and the plug. Then I bought a 6.0 light and managed to merge the two together. Then the base plate/"adapter piece", made from the 99 light, was wrapped in black leather to match the car so no black plastic is shown and the old 99 plug was hooked up to the 6.0 light internals.

If I want to switch back to the old 99 interior light, this one can just be popped out/unplugged and the old one popped in/plugged. Since the base plate is a 99 frame, there weren't any changes to the car and there aren't any changes to the indent on the leather since it has the same dimensions as the 99 light (since it is an actual 99 light base plate).

Steve at Driven Exotics did the work on the leather wrap, install, etc. for the interior light and did the Hercules wheel swap. So, if you would want to do something similar, Steve is the man to contact. I'm very happy with the new look.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Others have commented they like the OEM ones better as well but yeah.. just a subjective matter of taste. I love the look of the Hercules ones. Couple other guys in the area have the non-Roadster Muci wheels (not sure if they have a name other than that, Hermera is the lp640 wheel) and they do look good as well with the large holes. To answer the other poster, yes, it is one of the Millenniums.

 

Sorry 'bout that

The last mod I'm thinking of making to the interior is the control panel. It is really the last thing that dates the car. The leather interior is timeless and the exterior I wouldn't change at all.

I had a guy made a circuit board connecting the AC panel of a Diablo to a 6.0 AC control panel. He did a great job but after getting all that done, I decided to forget it because it is just too much of a mod.

Instead I'm thinking of having a new control panel cut that looks like the attached image. It is just a piece of sheet metal/aluminum with square cutouts and a bend to it.

I'd skip putting in the ash tray and that allows all the buttons to be put in a recessed rectangle in the center except for the window buttons. I'd have a cover that lays over the center that is hinged so you can flip it up to access the buttons when you need to get to them.

The window buttons would be kept outside of that (as in the pic) so you don't need to flip anything up to get to the windows since they get used regularly. The other buttons are pretty much set once and forget. If I wanted revert the whole thing to its original state, I'd pop in the original piece of sheet metal and have the controls and ashtray put back in their place. This change wouldn't change the basic look of the car or the usability of the controls (in fact, it makes it easier for a passenger because they don't have to look around to find the window control).

The cover would be leather and maybe a little metal for a highlight so it would match the rest of the interior. The buttons on the existing control panel make the interior look busy and covering them would allow the eye to take in the leather instead of focusing on the buttons.

I also had a new stereo put in car. The Alpine is nice but it doesn't have any mp3 connectivity. I got a JVC KD-AVX77. It has no buttons on the front (except a power button) and is just a touch screen 1 DIN LCD Panel (not a flip up). This also cleans up the interior by removing more busy buttons and you can put any background image on it you want. And I can put all my music on a single USB stick and then don't need to deal with CDs at all.
Image Unavailable, Please Login