horozontal led tail light conversion

[ttocs]

for the longest time I have been curious about modifying my tail lights for leds. I am not talking about putting the replacement twist-type but lining those horozontal bars with as mand leds as I could fit in it. I really want to work on my stereo but I need the cash from my settlement before I can get the sound damping and batteries, and its too cold in the garage anyway. So I decided I would tackle this project, its been in my head for ever....

I tried to take them apart by baking them but that was not happening so it was on to plan letter #2 - the dremel. After cutting the back section off I was able to see what I had to work with.

My idea is to use two different types of leds for the tail lights and the brake/turn signal so that you will not directly see the leds for the tail lights(just the light the emit) while the brake/turn signals will be facing directly back out of the red bars. The yellowish lines going across the bars are the brake/turn signals and are siliconed with the light side facing backwards. I will go back and clean up the excess silicone when it dries so ignore it for now. Those bars started off with 50 leds each, I had to cut 3 off of the middle and 6 off of the top so now there are 141 leds that will be blinding the person behind me(not really smoked lenses). I have not counted the tail light leds yet but there are a few there too... If you notice I have the bottom brake light going al the way across the bottom of the back up light as well so again all 3 bars will be lit from end to end. On the reflector I cut out the areas that seperated the lights from top/bottom so that the light can go all the way though it evenly and I will paint them white so that the will diffuse the tail lights evenly and hopefully not have hot spots. I will mount a clear led in the top of the back up light so that it will work as normal and still be plenty bright enough. Needless to say I will be able to sequence them as well. I need to get the back-up light and then put it all back together again, then I get to do it all to the other one if I like the way it comes out. I am keeping my stock lights of course in case I do not, too hard to tell right now.

 

[ForceRECON2010]

This is my first post and I'd like to say as nicely as possible... GET THE F OUTTA MY HEAD!! Just kiddin'. This is something I've been wanting to do to my tall lights since I bought my car. This is something I will follow pretty closely because i'd love to see how this comes out. So far... sounds like a good plan. Keep posted... Really lookin' forward to the outcome

 

[CC'S95GT]

I will also be following this.
I have already added a 1157 bulb to the bottom bar but I'm not really satisified with the light output due to the reflector inside. An led conversion bulb might help but I really want the light output to be the same in all 3 bars.
I wouldn't mind completely losing my back-up light, if there was someway to make it red on the inside and light up the whole bar.

 

[det_riot]

This has potential to be bad fuckin ass! Can't wait to see how this comes together!

 

[ttocs]

thanks fellas. Yea its been a plan of mine for a while infact I have had the lights to do it for a little over a year now. The only down side I see is that I will have to glue it all back together meaning to replace anyting I would have to cut it open again but with how long an led works hopefully it would be years before it happens....

 

[det_riot]

hmmmm maybe i'm thinking ahead for if you wanna do another set down the line but what if you made the cuts real clean, put a seal on it, and tried to fab up a lock or clamp type thing for easy access?

 

[AnthonyF]

If you are like me and real anal about the brightness of an LED you will be disappointed when this is done. Store bought LEDs vs. Car manufactures LEDs are totally different. LEDs can come in different wattages and you want an led with that is rated at 5w. I've thought the same thing and wanted to do it on many cars but it's hard and costly to buy the top notch LEDs. Hope yours turns out the way you want it! Good luck mang.

 

[ttocs]

any reason 5 watts is the magic number?

The only area that I am concerned about is the end that wrap around on the bottom. There is not much room there and the led strips for the tail lights stick up far enough that I will probably have to cut the back of the reflector out to clearance them. Because of this I have mounted some more leds on the reflectors edge to go around that bottom brake light set of leds.

Sealing it all back up and even making it look half-good from the back(which would never be seen) will not be all that hard. I plan on using the stock wiring hrns so that it will plug back in if I can. I will just clamp it back together and use some CA glue to "tach" it all together. After that some silicone and finally plastic-weld to fill the lines and some sanding should leave it lookin ok.

As of now the brake lights are siliconed in place and are holding really well. I did this last night and need to let it cure for 24 hrs before I try it out to see what it looks like(brake lights that is).

 

[Javi]

Im glad to see you got this going, i thought you had given up.

suscribed.

 

[Brian95SVT]

Subcribed

 

[ttocs]

they got put to the side last year with other projects and my health being in the way. Like I said last week I was feeling better and wanted to do some kind of project but didn't want to freeze my ass off. So far its just been time consuming because I would use some clamps/weights/small strips of duct tape to hold them in place while the slicone cured completely. Once that was done then I used a syringe with a long tip to then fill in the spots that the tape was covering and then wait another 24 hrs for that to dry. This one has taken some time as I had to make it up as I went along so the 2nd should go faster but not sure how long it will take, or how it will really look in the end.

 

[OnyxCobra]

this is a great idea, i'm very interested to see how it comes out.

 

[Steve-Oh]

I've considered this option as well but didn't want to experiment with my 7.5 million dollar export tailights! Nice work though, def subscribing.

 

[ttocs]

I am unsure if I will like them or not when its done but if I do they will go on, if I don't, dunno............

In other news for those of you that have asked. Once my disabilty settlement check comes in I will finally have the money to get the mold making supplies to try and make a fiberglass copy of my quarter window louvers. Those will be after the stereo project as I am tired of driving with no sound but at least the problem of not having the cash for the supplies has been fixed.

Know these I KNOW I LIKE and have been dying to make so I could paint them to match and install. Just been the problem of cash for the supplies(about $450 to start), now its just a matter of getting the time to get to them. I really made them out of curiosity(like the lights) and love the way they came out. It wasn't something I planned on making more then one set but with the mold I can so when they are available I will let you guys know.

 

[ttocs]

Do you think the person behind me, and on the side will be able to see me? Ignore the hazy nature of the lenses and the bad spots in the paint. The lights were smoked when I bought them but were damaged in shipping. There was no way to fix it other then to sand it down and I will start fresh from primer to paint them as well as smoking the lenses again. AT this point they have been sanded down with 800 grit and are ready now for painting, I did all this before I started so that I would not mess the lights up sanding. Once they are smoked and cleared they will look good as new.

I could not help while I was sanding to think what it might look like to smooth out the transitions from the lights to the painted areas. Fill in the crack between them and make a smooth transition from lense to paint. Still thinking but I can always do that later.

 

[JonBeast]

Interesting...I need to see pics on the car next to a stock light to really be able to tell the difference.

 

[purple96]

I want these bad! The big reason i took my 95 tails out was that even after i refinished the lens on them people still flew up on the ass of my car. Any idea if these will be offered for sale?

 

[CC'S95GT]

they do look sweet.
Can you set in in place on the car and get a pic a little farther away.

 

[bigjonsrt]

I always love reading your posts you come up with the most creative things. I still can't wait until i can buy a set of those louvers.

 

[ttocs]

right now the lense is seperate from the reflector which is what all the mounts are on. hopefully I will not feel bad this week and can spend some more time on them. Actually going down now to do some work on them.

selling them - I have not considered it yet, will need to see how hard the 2nd one is and how it comes out. This first one was time consuming but mainly because I was making it up as I went along but the next one should go faster.