Joe, how is the tranny swap coming along? From the looks of things you are planning on whippin it to Ross Dock, that is cool!

 

So far so good, just got back from CT the other day, inspected the tranny in person and then put a deposit down on it.. They gave it to me for $700 with FREE shipping + replacement warranty if it's defective/fails! It came from a wrecked TL from some kid (stupid college kids). The transmission's impecible and there's no damage.. even the fluid itself's still the same reddish color as if it hasn't had any problems so far.. no mild burns, burn scents, or anything.. checked the vin of the car also, the thing's clean. I have to save up an extra 400 this weekend which I'll get on monday and then I'll be able to pay off the tranny that same say and have it shipped to me.

Meanwhile, with the foglight mod, i'm looking for a stronger grinder disk to give myself some clearance for the fogs, if that doesn't work and I can't use the OEM's, I'll go ahead trade them in for RL fogs (almost the same size) and they'll do me justice. I'll be using the H7 bulbs for brightness.. they'll be close to lookalike HIDs so that'll be nice.

Niko! where's my price quote for that bumper repaint job? lol

 

Aight.. thats whats up. Joe putting in mad hours to get his machine back on the road!

Keep up the good work homie!

 

2 more weeks and it the kit is all yours!!

 

Alright... unplugged the battery, getting the AT tomorrow... once I unplug those coolant lines, I'll hit the point of no return. Wish me luck.

 

You still never posted the part number for the fog light wiring harness. Or did you use a different wiring harness to wire up your fog lights? I have this already
Part# 33116-S84-A01 BULB (HB4) (12V 51W) I need to wire them up and that's where I'm stuck.

 

joe,

i saw 2 of your pics on an old thread for the white LED gauge conversion...





It looks GREAT and i was hoping you can give me more details as to how your progress is (sanding the backside?!) and what led bulbs you are using, would really appreciate that!

 

It looks GREAT and i was hoping you can give me more details as to how your progress is (sanding the backside?!) and what led bulbs you are using, would really appreciate that!

^ Hey there... wow, it's been a while. lol You know what? before you even attempt to do this, go ahead and go buy a spare cluster from the junkyard and practice the mod on that. I actually finished the mod, but there was no sanding involved, the white surface area is what happens when you use nail polish remover to wipe off the shitty filter that's on the back of the gauges.

- I was actually using the hyperwhite led guages I got from Ledautomotive a while back, originally i wanted the cool blue look until i saw someone's lexus pass by.. then i got jealous and did this. lol Pretty much, there's a thick plastic (transparent) layer that's kinda partially attached to the back of the gauges.... as long as you find a way to peel back the gauges from the thick plastic (without removing any of the needles), you'll be able rotate the gauges to where the thick cover's not over it and you'll be able to get to the filter to apply the nail polish remover. If you're going to try this, a sock's the best thing to use for the remover since it helps wiping off the filter very easily.

I used the #194 led bulbs.. you can find then SUPER cheap on ebay or www.besthongkong.com <- i recommend this place over anything else.

Also, if you ever want to do an led conversion for the rest of your car, just let me know, i have like 2,500 resistors and 100+ blue and white leds just sitting around here in my drawer. hahaha

If anything, you're more than welcome to ask

Also, if you're going to do this mod, just by around 9-12 bulbs... you really need around 5-7 for the cluster alone, but you'll have backups incase of anything happening. I'll be doing a turning signal mod soon, where my signals on the dash will be blue instead of green

 

Thanks for all the info

First off, DAMN, $0.50 for a 194 bulb... excellent price! Too bad that site doesn't carry other type of bulbs for cars... like 74, 3175, 1157 etc. I am also curious as to how you utilized 194 bulbs for the gauges... because I know for a fact that the bulbs on the backside are 74 type bulbs with the twist-in socket.

I'm actually in the process of doing this project already... got the dash opened up and replaced some of the AC lights as well as odometer. One problem I'm running into though... is that the 2nd light bulb for the AC speed & temp controls is smaller than the smallest neo-wedge (that's what they are called) bulbs I could find on the internet... check out this pic:



This is the backside of our AC controls cluster (for non-nav people). The "big" ones are 10mm wide while the "small one" is ~7mm wide... What sucks is that the LCD also uses those small ones.... so even if I do replace all the big bulbs with LED's i'll still have a greenish-yellowish backlight! If you have any ideas about this... please do shed some light

Oh and! All the other buttons... Trip/Select/Reset... Sunroof... TCS/Cruise, etc. Those use the same small ~7mm neo-wedge bulbs as the AC backlight. I have read Nate's guide in the LED replacement which requires soldering, but I am pretty iffy about all that work. If I could simply find all the replacement bulbs I need it would be much more risk-free.

The whole removal of nasty filter behind the tach/speedo seems too hardcore for me... I think i just experiment with some new bulbs and see how it looks at least i'll get my odometer to be fully blue!

for the turn signals... that's what im just about to do next it's gonna be great!

Let me know what you think about those smaller wedge-bulbs... also what kind of LEDs exactly do you have laying around?

 

I don't know if there are any smaller led bulbs you can just swap with the original small bulbs in the climate control unit, but I went with the LEDS, I have both the 3mm and 5mm LEDs and they light up at 8000 mcd (same as the lights you saw in the dash), so they're pretty bright. The thing is, there's a blue filter that you have to remove behind all of the buttons on there. You can just pop out some buttons and remove them with tweezers if you want. For the small bulbs you shown in the pictures, you can remove the original bulb from the plastic harness and just put the leds in place of where the bulb was. That's what I did, I'm sure you're happy it's looking good at the moment. if anything, give me some feed back.. and i'll go ahead and help you make everythign in your car blue...

preview!



you know you love it!

 

if you have a bunch of extra resistors or leds.. i could use a few.. im thinking of taking out taking out part of the dash tomorrow and checking it out. I’m not positive about doing my led conversion since I am thinking of selling my tl-p and getting a tl-s.

 

if you want, send me a PM and I'll fill you in on how I can send you the leds

 

where are the god dammed fogs joe

 

werd

 

Okay guys.... It's been a while, but I'm finally able to get back to modding after all of the hectic work from school finally died down, along with the mechanical problems from the summer... lol. Here's a few pics/updates: I installed my "new" cleared headlights tonight, Nakayama Rims, and refinished the wiring for the 9006 bulbs/fogs ... I took off the bumper (after the pictures), and waiting for the silicone (as a reinforcement) behind the fogs to finish curing; so, after they're completely done I'll post pics of the other mods.





Once again, sorry for the wait!

 

those wheels look good joe

 

NOT impressed joe.... i wanna see fogs

 

^The fogs are on already, just waiting for the silicone to cure. Pictures will be provided in a few.

 

Damn joe, you came a long way. An OEM kit will really set it off. And lol @ how anxious you got a bunch of people over your fogs. Make me some too..

 

oh boy, lets see the fogs already! you made me wait too long joe, i sold my 99 and got a 02 tl-s JUST FOR THE FOG LIGHTS!!! Lol, jk about the reasons for sale.

 

Must say this car looks pretty hott in person... A little body work and a interior detail is all this thing needs..

Joe actually let me drive it, and I must say its alot more responsive/smoother than my TL and his has double the miles.

 

did he put the fogs on yet?

 

some rice, some nice. overall: 7/10

 

NO I am about to get on his case about this to, holes are cut and alll....

I must say this is one talented kid....

 

We all have a little rice in us

 

Just read all 11 pages for nothing.......What a waste. I don't see the dificulty in just posting the damn pics of the fogs.

 

rims are looking good!

 

So where are the pics of the fogs homie? Im sure after almost 2 months the silicon has cured?


Where is the rice?

 

alot of us have a different definition of "rice", word gets thrown around alot on Azine

 

all the blue neons, the red engine covers, the red calipers, the white led windshield wiper nozzles. think thats about it.

 

just things that dont belong on a certain type of car. nothing sporty or classy about any of those things i mentioned.

 

I'm so sick of this thread!! The only reason i keep checking in is to finally see some pics of the God Damn "OEM fogz" he got from Autozone....lol :whataloadoshit:

 

 

 

I agree, im getting tired of lookn at cheap ass shit on what is suppose to be a clean, classy, sporty car.

 

y is this thread still alive?

 

lol

 

fogs!!!!!!!!

 

hey nice car man. i gotta 97' TL and i put the neons under my dash and under the back of the front seat so it shines on the front floor board and the back. i ran my power for them from my remote wire for my system and grounded them out under the dash. but nice job. i also like the engine paint. im wanting to do something similar to that but should i use the high heat spray paint or is it ok using regular paint?? i mean i dont want my car to catch on fire or anything.

 

i gave up on joe already