Project: Skyline light

[99_SI]

My first real project post so don't hate too much. I have seen some of you with same mod and decided to make one of my own. Always liked how the tail light garnish was body color on Gtrs but not Gtss. But wait...if it's a lense how about a light inside? You can have such a thing? So off I went. Heat gun, a blade, small screw driver and couple of hours later I had this:
What a pain...on my burnt finger tips Next an electronic wizard and truck tech Miro from a shop I worked at before volunteered to make me a board with LEDs to light up the letters . And after an X amount of trial and testing different LEDs we had this:
Specs on the LEDs and step down power converter to follow


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[flipridah17]

That will look crazy! I have seen a Skyline in japan that had that! It looked good. What about the Tail lights?

At one point, ebay had one for R33 sedan.. But it was custom made. pm me how much it ended up costing you.

[99_SI]

Thanks man. I thought I was gonna be a joke of the community. Glad you like it. I went with smaller LEDs because I wanted to match the brightness of stock tail lights . LEDs tail lights are cool but I wanted to keep that retro look of the rings that made the ass so recognizable....power converter is enroute from Hong Kong ...hopefully in couple of weeks will be fitted and painted.


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[99_SI]

Project: Skyline light

So after a few weeks of waiting for the power converter and making sure I apply 3v to these LEDs and replacing one Chinese led the board is working fine . More details on the converters(yes 2 converters) to follow. For now I had to fit the damn thing inside the lense and make sure all the lettering lines up. Easier said then done. The idea here was to trim the inside of the black backing to recess the board because when u put the lense on top and seal it both pieces are close together. This whole project is kind of a spur of the moment so don't hate. Yea that's double sided tape with 2 layers of 1/4" high density foam to prevent the board from moving and secure it in place. This was a test fit and power up in the dark, excuse the phone pic: I know, the letters don't line up well so this is when the spur kicked and I've decided to leave the garnish transparent and just smoke it along with the turn/reverse lenses. Anyway at this point I'm tired and so are my friends but a test fit on the car was in order. What do you people think? Like ?


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[99_SI]

Project: Skyline light

Update: what a pain in the ass was the fitting of the board inside the lense, tucking the wires, assembling the regs and hooking up to the car. Used a 12v to 5v and then 12 to 3v to the board. No resistors on the board , flowing 1.3A steady at 12v. Board is Getting moderately warm but should be ok since it is outside. LEDs/board are from sayal, regs from eBay. Had to perform a little magic marker to blend the board inside lense:
During daylight LEDs are barely visible only up close.
BTW spliced into tail lamps around plate light jumper for power and the ground behind liner on the back of the trunk.
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[99_SI]

Project: Skyline light



Daylight pics, inside garage. Overall took 20 hours to build the board and unseal / reseal lense, install, hooking up voltage regs ...still got smoking to do....parts were no more than $100...it's the man hours...ya I know...doesn't line up...but it's hard to lay the LEDs out to match the lettering...that's why Y came out so-so.....because it's not a standard proportional Y....
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[future_R34]

Cool DIY. May have to follow suit

[Cuami]

Not sure how this would look... But what if you paint matched the lens with the colour of your car? (excluding the letters of course). Then instead of trying to line up the LEDs, you just fill the entire area behind each letter with LEDs or use an LED light pad (like in the link below).

Edit: Link - http://www.phoeniximaging.com/4500_backlights.htm

Edit x2: Realized painting the lens may take away from the look of the rear end... But may be an option for those who don't care much for that section

[99_SI]

Project: Skyline light

lol that was the idea in the beginning but because i used led and led board the letters don't quite line up. Gonna smoke the whole clear section including blinkers soon ...although that light in the link is pretty cool. One of the Chinese led already burnt out so I might even try it ....


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[99_SI]

Update: more Chinese LEDs burnt out..,converting to what Cuami said soon


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