S13 coupe LED taillight conversion

[Dammitboy]

Thanks for the compliments guys. And yes, they are going on a stockish S13.

Yep, Broadfields' right. I painted mine silver, but you can use any color you want. Mind you these are prototypes, as i plan to have professional boards made up eventually.

The difficult thing about this is removing the lenses. I hate to say I've ruined 2 sets so far. The problem is the red & amber lenses wrap around the housing & like to break easily, or if you use too much heat, you'll warp the lenses also.

Anyone have suggestions?

[gregfarz78]

I've heard people putting them in the oven on very low temp to warm them up then they pry loose easily...don't know how long though so might want to research that or find junkyard tails to experiment with. Looks real nice though wish I had the patience for that I know its a lot of work

[Scuffed_ChukiCoupe]

nice project, keep us posted, id def like to see the finished project on this.

[nightkid86]

for headlights I use 240* for like 10 min

[GTR PrYdE]

um, ****ing sick? yeah

[hiimelvin]

Broadfield I'm going to eat your brains and gain your knowledge.

And yesm, those taillights are looking siick.

[Redevil]

Wow you really went over board with the number of led's you used. Did you use real sf or bk's. How many ma's are you running them at? I used 40 in my 3rd brake light and that was a little too much.

Also they sell silver perf boards at fry's.

[Nacho_240]

Very nice work! Will definitely be waiting impatiently for the finished product.

[White Comet]

looks really impressive. how much time total will it take to do this?

[Dammitboy]

Wow you really went over board with the number of led's you used. Did you use real sf or bk's. How many ma's are you running them at? I used 40 in my 3rd brake light and that was a little too much.

Also they sell silver perf boards at fry's.

Red & amber are genuine superflux. White are HKB.

Red is 2.80 FV, 70 MAAmber is 2.80 FV, 70 MAWhite is 3.60 FV, 100 MA

Controlled by a PWM.

I used 30 for my 3rd brake light, I thought that was alot! 40 would be bright!!

[KDashy]

Looks awesome.

[bmadd2402]

[94_240sx]

The difficult thing about this is removing the lenses. I hate to say I've ruined 2 sets so far. The problem is the red & amber lenses wrap around the housing & like to break easily, or if you use too much heat, you'll warp the lenses also.

Anyone have suggestions?

Nice job, man. Have you thought about doing something like this?Back door access!!!

[Greddy323]

i want some hahaha. really nice

[Sil40_Mayhem]

That is the hot, sweaty sex right there. Great work! Clearcorners.com can shove their pricey LED tails right up their, well, tails!

[Hijacker]

I was thinking back door access would be a key factor for those lights. I would have to try to replace some of those LEDs once they burn out. Given how much of the rear housing is removable, I would think this would be an easy task.

I'm thinking it would be best to install some plastic clips or studs of some kind that you can mount the perf board to from the rear access of the housing assembly. That way they'll stay in place and not vibrate out, and you have easy access for replacement.

It could also eliminate the problem of having to pull the lens cover off if done properly. Just a few ideas.

Other than that, those are definitely the hotness

[1unar3clipse]

Nice array, how many LED's to a section?

[s13point5]

even tho i own a hatch, im very interested in seeing the finish product

[Dammitboy]

The back door approach would have been convient, but not possible with S13 coupe tails. The way they are made, you cannot cut them up. I want a clean, OEM look when finished.

I found a better way to remove the lenses recently, so the project continues!

The red portion has 140, Amber has 100, reverse has 50.

I'll post a few pics of the finished tail in action later.

[94_240sx]

I found a better way to remove the lenses recently, so the project continues!

You gotta tell us how.

[psmith]

Can't wait to see more of this project. Awesome work

[Dammitboy]

You gotta tell us how.

Cook em' low & slow like ribs. 175 degrees for an hour.

[1unar3clipse]

Cook em' low & slow like ribs. 175 degrees for an hour.

ahhh, baking.

Best way IMO, I hate using the dremel and scaring up the plastic housings or the soldering iron for its nasty burnt plastic fumes.

How did you decide the array numbers? based on resistance requirements or by aiming for an OEM filled look about it visually?

[Dammitboy]

How did you decide the array numbers? based on resistance requirements or by aiming for an OEM filled look about it visually?

What I wanted to do was fill up as much space as possible, & I did not want hot spots the way incandescent bulbs give. Plus the corner that wraps around has light now wheras before there was very little.

[Dammitboy]

Made a daylight video, I'll post a night time vid later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=443GuPKhXlo
Modified by Dammitboy at 11:53 AM 5/16/2008

[94_240sx]

Made a daylight video, I'll post a night time vid later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=443GuPKhXlo

sick

[motoman399]

Nice job, man. Have you thought about doing something like this?Back door access!!!

i think im going to try this in my s14 center section. if it turns out nice ill continue to the outers. thanks for the ideas guys

[dontuhatepants]

They look great. Do they flicker? It looks like they are in the video but it might be the camera. And I'm really interested in a write-up and where you got all the supplies from.

[Dammitboy]

Do they flicker? It looks like they are in the video but it might be the camera.

Nah, that's just an artifact from the camera capture. Pictures don't do these things justice, They are retardedly bright!

[onosqv]

absolutely hot dood.