BlackBII Posted July 17, 2010 Report Share Posted July 17, 2010 (edited) Here are my LED tailights. Idea was stolen from member - D_Venable. Credit goes to him for inspiring me. http://www.starquestclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=103771&view=&hl=taillights&fromsearch=1 Items needed4 12" Red LED strips I got mine on ebayToolsSealantHeatgunWires/connectors/soldering iron Remove the tail light, being careful not to break it. http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16181653.jpg http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16182020.jpg Use a heat gun to heat up the glue holding the lens on http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16182303.jpg Pry off the lense, go VERY slow, and be careful. I cracked mine on my first attempt http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16182750.jpg http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16182918.jpg Scrape off all the old glue, its easy to do now that its all warmed up from the heat gun http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16183217.jpg http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16183737.jpg Now you can decide what you want to do. I just placed mine in between the black lines on the lense, making sure they were straight and even. Using simple double sided tape make it's easy to line them up. http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16183018.jpg http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16183127.jpg Mark where they are going, hold them up to the light to line the up with the lines on the tailights http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16185039.jpg http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16185341.jpg http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16185328.jpg I used duct tape to hold them in place. Somewhat tacky, but I plan on making changes in the future. If you do this, use something more permanent. Like maybe some Epoxy. http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16190236.jpg Use some RTV or silicone to make the lenses seal back together, then press the peices together. I decided to leave the red lense in, to make it appear stock and not get harassed by the po-po's. http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16190414.jpg Press the lenses back onto the housing http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16190730.jpg Ta Da http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16192940.jpg http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/2010-07-16193058.jpg OLD vs NEW Just the Tail http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/DSC01320.jpg Tail and Blinker/Brakehttp://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/danteinien/Starion/DSC01321.jpg This is just how I did it. The wiring was simple. One LED strip for Tail lights, one for Brake/Signal. I simply cut off the bulb connector and connected the wires to my LED wires. They flash normally with the turn signals/hazards. I didnt do anything with the corner of the lights, but i like it that way. I think this makes the rear of the car look real slick. I plan on getting some LED bulbs for the reverse lights. Edited July 17, 2010 by BlackBII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomad Posted July 17, 2010 Report Share Posted July 17, 2010 Looks great. An novel solution to a sweet upgrade. And I hope no one starts to flame you, as you did give credit to D_venable as inspiration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_Venable Posted July 17, 2010 Report Share Posted July 17, 2010 Very nice, and very simple solution looks good, and I'm happy to serve as inspiration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creakyjoints Posted July 17, 2010 Report Share Posted July 17, 2010 I was thinking about using the flexible style strips. They are much narrower and would allow more lights to be used. With the Starion tails I was thinking one strip on each of the three sections for running lights and two (one above and one below)for brake and turn signal. I thought about using the stock red lens but I may go with some red translucent spray on the back side of the lens or maybe a light tint just to hide the ugliness inside the housing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDodson Posted July 19, 2010 Report Share Posted July 19, 2010 looks like i need to finish my led tail light conversion also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBII Posted July 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2010 Thanks! I'm thinking about changing them, but I like the clean, "one line of lights" look. I can't think of any other arrangements that would look this good. I did some interior LED's as well, along with a new front bumper and LED signals/fogs. I'll make a thread on that one soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuze Posted November 27, 2010 Report Share Posted November 27, 2010 Dammit Bill, you're a genius. Waiting on the fog conversion thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceboyler Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Sorry for the thread resurrection, but I'm taking the same route, and I'm trying to figure out if my lights are screwed up. My turn signals turn on the two lights in the middle only. Brakes light up the same set of lights (middle two). The outer lights, which I thought were supposed to be turn signals are just running lights apparently. How do I pull the turn signal, uh, signal in order to get orange lights for turn and red lights for brakes/running lights? Any wiring advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Komeuppance Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Wait... what LED lights do you have?? They didn't come with directions... lol?? -Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceboyler Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Sorry, the question isn't clear... I have instructions for the LED lights, but these are just LED strips, kind of a DIY LED tails The strips have wires to connect into the brake light, running light and turn signal (half the LEDs are red, half are amber so you can flash amber for the turn signal). I'm just not sure what wire to tap into for the turn signal. If you look at our taillights, there are 4 bulbs in each assembly: the reverse light is obvious, but the other 3 lights are my question. I thought, incorrectly apparently, that the outermost lights in each assembly (outermost meaning nearest the edges of the car) were the turn signals. Part of the reason I believed this is that the Aussie and Euro taillights have amber covers over that section of the taillight. The middle two lights (in my car, both in a grey bulb holder section) I thought were for running lights and brake lights. Hence the 1157 dual element bulbs. However, on my car, when I turn on the hazards or turn signals, the middle two bulbs on each taillight flash, and the outer bulbs do nothing. The outermost bulbs (which I thought to be turn indicators) appear to only be running lights/sidemarkers, as they turn off when the turn signals are on. What I need to figure out then, preferably from somebody like d_venable or somebody else who has gone down the DIY taillight path, is which wires I need to tap into in the taillight section to get a proper turn signal so the amber LEDs in the strips I bought will light on turn indication. Make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_Venable Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 there a wire you have to cut up under the gauge cluster hood on the fog light side to separate the brake and turn signal signals. Then you have to tap into the 3rd brake light wiring at the rear strut towers and run a new wire to each side so you'll have brakes again. I should have the info in one of my LED tail light threads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_Venable Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 http://www.starquestclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85004 I edited my first post with the correct wires to tap and cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceboyler Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 You, sir, are my hero! Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Komeuppance Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Here's another write up by Austin88tsi:http://www.beyonddarwin.com/Starion/JDMtail.html -Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_Venable Posted August 5, 2012 Report Share Posted August 5, 2012 Here's another write up by Austin88tsi:http://www.beyonddar...on/JDMtail.html -Robert Good stuff there, I used his write-up when I did mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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