More orange

[karluk29]

Not a fan of silver cars but it was not a bad deal a year ago, so a bit or orange has now been added. Mirrors... Bespoke tilted edged Barge boards.... Engine cover inc light up engine at night and through vents lol. 

Needs some front and rear orange now. Then alot of saving for the big mods. 

 

 

[AdeMorton]

really like the look... planning orange callipers?

[Cdm2018]

Engine cover inc light up engine at night and through vents lol. 

I have been trying to get this done for two years bought a couple of light units which work at high temp but not got round to figure it out and I am very dim when it comes to any diy 

how did you do this ? Be fab if you can give a boost ! 👍🏻

[karluk29]

@Cdm2018

It was really simple. 4 led flexi bars. 2 zip tied to the black bar running across the top near the window, a third stuck to the boot above the engine and as they came in a 4 pack 1 is stuck on under original boot light. All run from the fag lighter in the boot. Sorry for silly late reply as didn't see the post

[Cdm2018]

Any pictures of where you tied the light strips and how they were wired up ? Also where did you buy the light parts ? Sorry for all questions 

[2011 Chrome Orange]

@Cdm2018

I'll share what I did years ago for engine compartment lighting.  Its just some ideas to think about.

 

I bought 12V Giella LEDS which were sold as  “Intense heat and fire resistant”. The selling demo actually shows a torch placed directly onto a lit strip with no ill effects except carbon deposit and the lights were still shining brightly afterwards. So, they would withstand the heat of the engine bay. Unfortunately, I just looked for Giella LEDS and could no longer find info on them. But, I'm sure there are other brands out there.

 

Anyway, when mounting them, I wanted to be able to easily remove them as they were just for fun not long term use. So, I came up with using aluminum strips, wire ties, Velcro and spire/spring nuts.

 

In the first photo below, you can see the two LED light strips I added to the aluminum strips. The lights had adhesive backing that I used, plus added a few wire ties for good measure.

 

The top light I mounted to aluminum angle. I painted the one side black so it would blend in with the engine bay. On the other side, I added Velcro. I then used two sided Velcro (the round loops in photo) and mounted the two sided Velcro loops to the black engine cover mounting bar that crosses the engine bay. This enabled me to Velcro this light strip to the bar and remove it again in 2 seconds if I wanted. I just left the double sided Velcro loops on the bar. Or, they could have also been removed in another 2 seconds. (For longer installed time I did add two wire ties around the bar for safety)

 

For the bottom LED light strip in the first photo, I attached it to a small strip of aluminum using the light's adhesive and a couple wire ties for good measure. I then epoxied two spire/spring nuts to the aluminum. This enabled me to clamp this light strip to the heat shield closest to the boot using the spire/spring nuts as a "slide on clamp". Once again, this could be installed or removed in 2 seconds.

 

Front light mounted to engine cover bar:

 

Rear light clipped onto  heat shield by boot:

 

Here's the back side of those strips..

 

I also bought a cheap 12V remote on/off box off ebay. I think it was $15 at the time. I wired that to the lights and then to a cigarette lighter adapter that I plugged into the 12V port in the boot (I Velcroed the box in place so it was secure but easily removed). This enabled me to turn the lights on/off from the drivers seat using the remote control switch. There was no hard wiring into the cars harness and I could pull the whole system out as a unit in seconds with no evidence it was ever there.

 

 

Reading this, it probably sounds much more involved than it is. Oh, and while I think of it, don’t forget to add an in-line fuse (the 12V cigarette adapter I used also had one) and a few wire ties to hold the wires out of the way if needed. 

 

Not the best photos, but you should get the general idea.