Are all 7 segment LED displays the same?

[brad]

I've been attempting to rehouse an existing effect that has a 2 digit 7 segment display mounted in an inconvenient place.  I'm considering two solutions so I can place the display where I want on the box, and I'd really appreciate some opinions on them...

First of all, I could just desolder (and probably damage) the original display and just run some wires to a pair of new 7 segment displays that are mounted where I want them.  Is there any reason why this wouldn't work?  The original display is an old red LED common cathode (I think) unit.  Could I even change it to blue?  Or just stick to red?

Another option could be disconnecting the display driver daughter board itself and making a DIY clone in the correct dimensions.  At least this way I could avoid potentially damaging the original.  The problem with this is that the LED driver IC seems to be an obsolete part.  Would it be easy to find a substitute, or am I better off just sticking to Plan A?

Thanks for any help!  This is the first time I've dealt with LED displays 

This is the datasheet for the LED driver IC:
http://www.ortodoxism.ro/datasheets/MitsubishiElectricCorporation/mXuvzvq.pdf

Here's the schematic for the display daughter board:

[Andre]

The original display is an old red LED common cathode (I think) unit.

Since 2 pins of the LED display connect to Vcc, I think it's a common anode type display.
Checking the driver's datasheet confirms this.

I think the easy way is to  go for Plan A but with this being a DIY forum you could of course try to make your own display board.

You could probably use 2  HEF4094 shiftregisters , 2 ULN2004 inverting buffers  and 16 resistors to replace the M66311.
But since "FP" after the M66311 suggests it is a SMD type IC, you wont' get it to be the same size as the original board.

André