Come rag on my attempt at some DRL's
03-19-2011, 06:37 PM
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Come rag on my attempt at some DRL's
Another member's post made me decide to do my own DRL's. I didn't want to hijack his thread for comments on my own setup, so here's my thread.
I really like how it turned out & the pictures don't quite do it justice. . However, I realize that some may find it ricey, so I wanted to get an idea of others' opinions. Let me know what you think. (Epic post "Oh no, they're going to laugh at you." comes to mind. hahaha)
Also, should I put matching mesh in the fish mouth as well or just relocate my power steering to behind the mesh on the left?
Hopefully I'll get some daytime pictures tomorrow to post as well. Night pics:
I used a relay to run power to both my new led strips and to the parking lamps that I changed out with led bulbs. All 4 locations have new ground points for the new wiring. This takes the parking lamp switch completely out of the picture because all of this is now wired to acc/switched power. So whenever the ignition is on, I have these as my DRL's.
Color match between the strip, park lamp, and HID is great. I didn't feel like this was as much of an R8 rip-off as putting the led's directly along bottom of the headlight, because I'm accenting the lines of the body kit itself with the additional LEDs.
NOTE: The front bumper isn't paint matched yet. I just bought it from another person on the forums and haven't gotten the car to the shop yet.
I really like how it turned out & the pictures don't quite do it justice. . However, I realize that some may find it ricey, so I wanted to get an idea of others' opinions. Let me know what you think. (Epic post "Oh no, they're going to laugh at you." comes to mind. hahaha)
Also, should I put matching mesh in the fish mouth as well or just relocate my power steering to behind the mesh on the left?
Hopefully I'll get some daytime pictures tomorrow to post as well. Night pics:
I used a relay to run power to both my new led strips and to the parking lamps that I changed out with led bulbs. All 4 locations have new ground points for the new wiring. This takes the parking lamp switch completely out of the picture because all of this is now wired to acc/switched power. So whenever the ignition is on, I have these as my DRL's.
Color match between the strip, park lamp, and HID is great. I didn't feel like this was as much of an R8 rip-off as putting the led's directly along bottom of the headlight, because I'm accenting the lines of the body kit itself with the additional LEDs.
NOTE: The front bumper isn't paint matched yet. I just bought it from another person on the forums and haven't gotten the car to the shop yet.
03-20-2011, 05:25 AM
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Is the mesh something that I should be able to find at Lowe's, Advance Auto, or somewhere like that? I'm going to see if I can find some this week.
*edit: nevermind - found it at Lowe's
Also, thanks guys! I totally expected more negative comments than positive, so only getting 3 positives and no negatives was a great reassurance that my taste isn't horrible and that my "BeyonZe" is not a complete embarassment to the Z community.
*edit: nevermind - found it at Lowe's
Also, thanks guys! I totally expected more negative comments than positive, so only getting 3 positives and no negatives was a great reassurance that my taste isn't horrible and that my "BeyonZe" is not a complete embarassment to the Z community.
Last edited by SparkleCityHop; 03-20-2011 at 05:57 PM.
06-30-2011, 11:27 PM
#7
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Sparkle your car is full of cool things! Since you’re so good at electronic stuff maybe you can help me. I’ve always wanted more light output from the back-up lights on my Z. The other day I was looking at the cluster that holds the rear signal light and rear back-up light units. The signal light reflector is huge and it occurred to me that it might be possible to sneak an extra bulb in there and wire it to the back-up light circuit.
This would not only double the reversing light output, but it would also extend the light out to the sides more. Alternatively, maybe the signal light bulb and socket could be replaced with a twin filament unit. One filament for the signal light and the other for the extra back-up light. Is any of this possible, and if so what would be the best was to go about getting it done.
This would not only double the reversing light output, but it would also extend the light out to the sides more. Alternatively, maybe the signal light bulb and socket could be replaced with a twin filament unit. One filament for the signal light and the other for the extra back-up light. Is any of this possible, and if so what would be the best was to go about getting it done.
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07-01-2011, 11:58 AM
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Sparkle your car is full of cool things! Since you’re so good at electronic stuff maybe you can help me. I’ve always wanted more light output from the back-up lights on my Z. The other day I was looking at the cluster that holds the rear signal light and rear back-up light units. The signal light reflector is huge and it occurred to me that it might be possible to sneak an extra bulb in there and wire it to the back-up light circuit.
This would not only double the reversing light output, but it would also extend the light out to the sides more. Alternatively, maybe the signal light bulb and socket could be replaced with a twin filament unit. One filament for the signal light and the other for the extra back-up light. Is any of this possible, and if so what would be the best was to go about getting it done.
This would not only double the reversing light output, but it would also extend the light out to the sides more. Alternatively, maybe the signal light bulb and socket could be replaced with a twin filament unit. One filament for the signal light and the other for the extra back-up light. Is any of this possible, and if so what would be the best was to go about getting it done.
Add a new wire from positive on battery, add fuse right at battery, and run wire through car to the back where you want new lights. Use a standard automotive relay - split the wire running to your backup lights and put the relay in line where you split the wire (this will make the new line that you ran only be active when your regular lights are on, and will make sure that you aren't changing the resistance/voltage on the OEM circuit). Then run attach the end of your new positive wire to the relay. run a wire from the other terminal on the relay to your new lights/bulbs/leds and run a ground to the body off of the other side of them. This is the safe/correct way to do it.
If you aren't comfortable doing the above yourself, print these directions and take them to a stereo shop. They are used to doing this stuff. But be sure to emphasize that you want a relay in place and do NOT want the additional lights simply wired in series with the OEM lights.
Last edited by SparkleCityHop; 07-01-2011 at 12:01 PM.
07-01-2011, 12:44 PM
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I've had 100% positive response so far (to my face) - and that's with me traveling through multiple states. I also realize that what I do to my car won't be everyone's cup of tea and that some might love it to my face and talk trash once I'm gone. 
I'm not drawing attention to it that much yet. I'm still working on the programming for the website to go live, so I'm not taking it to the July 4th parade at the beach like I had originally considered. I should have business licenses and website live by end of Q3 and really start marketing the business by the end of the year. Hopefully by next year's race season, the car and business will both be "active".
I'm not drawing attention to it that much yet. I'm still working on the programming for the website to go live, so I'm not taking it to the July 4th parade at the beach like I had originally considered. I should have business licenses and website live by end of Q3 and really start marketing the business by the end of the year. Hopefully by next year's race season, the car and business will both be "active".
Last edited by SparkleCityHop; 07-01-2011 at 12:48 PM.
07-01-2011, 05:04 PM
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Nah, I'll leave the interfoolers to people who put titanium tips on stock exhaust (or burns the tips with a torch to imitate ti tips) and things like that. 
Last edited by SparkleCityHop; 07-01-2011 at 06:06 PM.
