RugbyDad

As you can probably tell from the title, this build thread is going to focus mostly on light mods that I have done, am doing, and will do to my . Nothing too spectacular (not going for the most VIP car ever here) but there will be some new things that I've personally never seen on a car but mostly the normal stuff: rims, coilovers upgraded stereo, and maybe a supercharger and high stall TC. << But thats a big maybe.

Anyways to some videos and pics and feel free to ask me any and absolutely anything about what or how or where I got things from.


Side note: Can anyone tell me what that whistling noise is when I turn the car on? Happens everytime I turn on my car. Much more prevalent when engine is cold.

Video just shows the lights working. I plan on re-wiring the emblem to run off the dome light. I just have to run the wire in through the firewall and then I'll probably parallel tap into the footwell + wire. Right now its wired to a fuse under the hood labeled HL R Upper or something like that.

Heres some pics of the headlights:

I just posted this because it kinda looks all bentley-ish


Lights off


Running lights on


I never use my high beams and with so much light now coming off the front of the car, I don't think I'll ever need them again. So I'll change the bulbs out, probably some silverstars to just try to color match the rest of the lights. I may go LED but I hardly see the point to spend so much. I was thinking of getting some LED switchbacks for the high beam, wiring them up to the relay that controls my turn signals for yet another front end turn signal but I'm thinking that may be too much lol.

Low beams:


More to come especially in the lights department . I'll probably install my mirror covers this weekend. Just got to prepare myself for the daunting task. Oh and just FYI, this is my first real wiring project. I've spliced wires together for a radio but never anything of this magnitude where I'm testing and retesting wire configs to make sure things work the way I want them. Thank God everything is LED, otherwise there would be some serious fuses blowing and wires burning and all types of nonsense that I'm not prepared for.

Stay tuned.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

i love me some lights, but don't go overboard or it will be like those LED lights in the windshield squirter all over again. in other words, it will be too outrageous and tacky.

automotive lighting is pretty simple if you abide by a few things like current draw and polarity. just ask here if you have any questions.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

I like the look of the lights and grill. Did you make that grill yourself? It gives the car a really modern look. What was your method to pull off the angel eyes? I know some on here might think it's old but I really like it. These all seem like things I could do to give the car a different look.

RugbyDad

The grille I did myself. I just pressed the mesh into the chrome surround with it sitting face up on the ground. Then flipped the surround over and reworked the mesh to fit around the bolt tabs. Then cut to size. Then reworked all the little parts like the corners and even more around the bolt tabs. Took me about an hour and a half.

The angel eyes I can't really comment on. I bought housings with those already installed. If I could do it myself I would have probably did it with the xb angel eyes just for pure brightness. I don't think angel eyes are old. They can still look tasteful if done right. I personally went with the angel eyes because I felt it matched my side turn signals more than a projector retrofit would have. In all honesty, I don't particularly like the way projector retrofits look. People either tend to go with that spider eye look or with gatlings.. Neither of which tickle my fancy.

RugbyDad

Finally finished my mirror cover turn signals.

Day shot. W/ Flash

Night shot. No flash


Purrrty. Position light wire tapped into front sidemarker positive. Turn signal parallel tapped into the front turn signal wires. Puddle light parallel tapped into the footwell lights. Ran all the wires according to hiroshi's DIY. I did mess up though. Put the housings on the mounting bracket backwards so the mirrors no longer bend inwards toward the windows. They bend the opposite way lol.

RugbyDad

JDM baby!!!! Got some vled 5k's coming...

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

sweet! didn't see that you used switchback LEDs for the signals, and nice touch for signal accents under the headlights. very benz-like, i dig!

RugbyDad

After ordering my vleds and a new 7440 socket, I have installed my JDM "sidemarkers" which I wired to the fogs. Originally I was going to hook up a relay to make them cornering lamps as in they turn on when I hit the turn signal. Now I may still do that but for now, yea, hooked to the fogs.

anyways pics.. First is fogs off. Fogs on in all the rest. Light output is horrible but the 5k's match almost perfectly.. The fog housings need a VERY good cleaning. You can see it makes the light look slightly yellow.

Sc0pe

iTrader: (1)

I'm super jealous of your headlights, since that lower switchback LED "eyeline" is what I wanted to do lol, granted, I wanted to go a little further, but hey, props to doing what I couldn't really do myself haha. Looking forward to seeing where this build goes, considering I absolutely love seeing light mods!

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

here in cali we actually have a law prohibiting more than, iirc, 6 sets of lights on in the front. you sir are borderline illegal haha.

RugbyDad

New headlights. Liked them better than my older ones. Got an idea for some new corner lights too. Chasing. Already put in my order for chasing taillights, they're just taking forever to do them. Backlogged I guess.

Sc0pe

iTrader: (1)

Now while I really like these lights (guessing you got them from CP lol) the downside is there isn't really any red on your car to really match the accents to .___.

RugbyDad

Still looked good if you ask me. But after my accident (see attached photos), I'm getting rid of them and doing a complete custom retrofit of my own. Just waiting on parts for that.

Hiroshi12

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear about your accident but judging from the photos it's not too bad. Details?

RugbyDad

Got sideswiped. 3200 in damage from the insurance company. Already purchased parts. Made to order fenders from Japan through CP. One off front bumper with kia optima quad fog lights. One off headlights with dual toyota avalon quadrabeam projectors and dual morimoto led strips. One off chasing corner lights. One off chasing taillights with chasing 3rd brake light. One off rear bumper with ls460 tips and led rear fogs. It's all coming. I was actually working on the tails and 3rd brake light today. But they sent me a huge cluster of wires. Just a huge mess. Took me all day to unclog it all.