AcuraZine - Acura Enthusiast Community - DIY: White LED front side markers

First and foremost I do not deserve any credit for this modification. The original thread is here - https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/new-way-modify-your-side-markers-636010/ - and I would like to thank JPTL04 and BFORBRIAN as well as all the other members in that thread for helping me make it possible to complete this modification.

I didn't solder my wires and I think soldering it would have been smarter and better.... Therefore some of my materials may be different if you take the soldering approach.

Materials Needed..
Dremel - My pops had one but he only had a engraving attachment on it. I ran to home depot and 'bought' a "starter cutting kit" dremel attachment.
2x oznium LED modules in white - http://www.oznium.com/super-bright-12v-led-module . You can get it in Straight Chrome or Straight Black. IT DOES NOT MATTER. I made the mistake of getting Straight Black and had to wait a few days because it was on backorder. I thought Black would look better but it doesn't matter because you can't see the LED module from the outside anyways..
Safety Glasses - As you use the dremel to cut the plastic, bits and pieces of plastic WILL fly into your face.
Double Sided Tape - You will need this so you can raise the level of the LED board a bit... You'll see later in the guide
Water Proof Silicone - I didn't solder so I had to use this because I cut a slit on the side of the sidemarker to route my wire outside of it...
Plastic bonding Epoxy - This is to use when putting the side marker halves back together..
Scissors - I don't even know why I had these in the picture....
Dykes/Wire cutters - You'll need this regardless you solder or not..

http://imageshack.us/a/img580/9549/20121230174107.jpg

Here's my factory front drivers sidemarker

http://imageshack.us/a/img259/9484/20121230174146.jpg

With a sharpie I marked a line to cut. Not really necessary but for this DIY I tried to make it as visually understanding as I could.

http://imageshack.us/a/img255/1697/20121230174214.jpg

I even marked the inside edge...

http://imageshack.us/a/img202/6489/20121230174223.jpg

This is the dremel I used on HIGH speed setting..

http://imageshack.us/a/img715/884/20121230174246.jpg

The "purchased" attachment

http://imageshack.us/a/img571/4130/20121230174301.jpg

Did a nice outline with the dremel and also cut the side edges

http://imageshack.us/a/img39/2535/20121230174832.jpg

Repeated for the opposite side...

http://imageshack.us/a/img42/802/20121230174848.jpg

One side done... Repeat for other side

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/6158/20121230191339.jpg

This is what it looks like with the LED board removed..

http://imageshack.us/a/img266/1038/20121230192133.jpg

Here's the actual LED board we will be re-using. Notice how it has a + and - label right in the center of the board. I used that as reference to the harness side of the wire located on the car. I actually made a mark on the side marker so I would know which oznium wire goes where.

http://imageshack.us/a/img803/3614/20121230192159.jpg

Labeling which side is which..

http://imageshack.us/a/img541/1435/20121230192302.jpg

On the insides you will notice there is a slight notch right in the middle on both sides of the side marker. You will need to dremel this down to a flat surface in order to be able to fit your Oznium LED module into it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img407/9418/20121230192615.jpg

Here is the other middle notch on the opposite side...

http://imageshack.us/a/img521/6992/20121230192625.jpg

Take a dremel to it and try to flatten it down as flat as possible.

http://imageshack.us/a/img839/1115/20121230192706.jpg

Here's one side as flat as I could get it...

http://imageshack.us/a/img607/4004/20121230193117.jpg

Here's the opposite side again, smoothed out

http://imageshack.us/a/img233/3756/20121230193128.jpg

This is where the wire cutters come into play... With the stock led board still in place, take the wire cutters and cut off the LED. There are 4 legs for each LED. Shards of plastic will go flying off

http://imageshack.us/a/img843/1461/20121230193243.jpg

Here's how the LED board should look with the stock LED removed

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/8550/20121230193712.jpg

I kept the pointy things on the stock LED board so that my double sided tape can actually stick into something.. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL NEED TO TRIM THE DOUBLE SIDED TAPE SLIGHTLY SO THAT IT WONT BE TOO WIDE. I tried using the double sided tape without cutting it slim and it would not fit into the side marker housing... I had to cut about 3-5mm off the double sided tape to get enough clearance to be able to put the led back together in the side marker housing.

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/6241/20121230193904.jpg

I used 3 layers of double sided tape to clear the screws

http://imageshack.us/a/img715/3048/20121230194119.jpg

Notice how I have all the double sided tape perfectly straight and not hanging off the edges too much..

http://imageshack.us/a/img685/8452/20121230194215.jpg

Here is the side marker housing... I spent a bit extra time just to perfectly smooth out all the edges and get rid of the burrs of the plastic from cutting it open. Smoother cleaner surface will make re-installing and epoxy-ing it back together easier and cleaner.

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/2492/20121230195302.jpg

Here's a side shot of it all cleaned up and de-burred.

http://imageshack.us/a/img826/24/20121230195318.jpg

Here's the Oznium LED module on top of the 3 layers of double sided tape. The Oznium LED module comes with 3M double sided tape already installed on the under side. You just have to peel the red tape off.

http://imageshack.us/a/img841/7781/20121230195346.jpg

Again... Pay attention to how straight I installed the LED module. If you were to have it angled too much, when you try to close both halves of the side marker together it will not close because the module is preventing it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img29/517/20121230195408.jpg

Here is the oznium module installed and both halves of the side marker closed together. I also cut a slit so I could pass the LED module wiring through.. Just test fitting it to make sure its straight and closes correctly. At first it would not close and I had to spend about 2-3 minutes dremeling the inside walls and edges to get enough clearance for it to properly close...

http://imageshack.us/a/img715/7762/20121230195931.jpg

Here's the side view of the slit I made..

http://imageshack.us/a/img9/2461/20121230200051.jpg

Here it is all epoxied up...

http://imageshack.us/a/img268/4761/20121230201336.jpg

Here's the side shot with the slit for the led module. Instead of using epoxy to cover the slit, I used the waterproof silicone.

There you are. That's my approach (one of many methods) of doing these LED front side markers.

The reason why I didn't solder them is because I had no idea how to approach it... I was thinking about soldering the LED module using the + and - contacts on the stock LED board but I didn't have a clue how I would be able to put double sided 3m tape above it to clear the screws

Underneath the LED board are 2 pins that also connect to the + and - terminals of the plug. I thought about soldering the LED module to that but didn't know how to make room in the side marker for the wire to curve around like that lol

This is how I plan on installing them...

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9185/20121231011252.jpg

I cut off some of the insulation to expose the wiring and just folded it over itself about 2-3 times to get it pretty bulky. I plan on sticking the + and - leads into the corresponding spots on the harness side of the connector located on the car. I will than meticulously wrap all exposed wiring with electrical tape until everything is perfectly covered.