vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

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..



Here's my factory front drivers sidemarker



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.



I even marked the inside edge...



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



The "purchased" attachment



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



Repeated for the opposite side...



One side done... Repeat for other side



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



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.



Labeling which side is which..



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.



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



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



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



Here's the opposite side again, smoothed out



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



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



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.



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



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



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.



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



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.



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.



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...



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



Here it is all epoxied up...



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...



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.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

you should post a 56k internet warning lol its lagging my slow dsl internet 1.5mbps download speed

I understand this is a very nice DIY but one day I will make the mother of all DIY's for the white sidemarkers because I can't believe people still made a long term working bright white LED while retaining the stock look(not adding an extra LED strip). I'm sure it works great and your work looks just fine but I'm sure there has to be another way!

KJ TL-S

iTrader: (9)

Nice work! And paperboy, if that's true, go for it! But this is the most helpful diy I've seen for the job so far!

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

Sorry for the large pictures... Completely forgot to resize them. I just re-uploaded all 31 pictures to imageshack re-sized for 56k / cell phone friendly but I can't edit my post. Buhhhhh

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Nice work, Viet.

omnuts

Great job, I remember doing this a few yrs ago.

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

Awesome DIY!
I think most can do this without a proper writeup just by looking at the pics!

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

One thing that I noticed so far is that the "White" Oznium LED Module is more of a 6,000K-6,500K white. During the day when I press the key fob to lock or unlock my car the side marker looks almost purple when compared to my 5k switchback LEDs.

At night it looks bluish-white like 6000k. When I drive next to other cars or past glass windows and glance at the reflection of my side marker it looks far from pure white. This really bothers me since I have 4,300K OEM HIDs and 5,000K switchbacks. My side markers seem out of place now!

I wish someone would have mentioned the color temperature is closer to 6,000k-6,500k for me!

BOSSTLtypes-S

night time pics?

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

sub'd to read from home

Bigdaddy310

Nice. And very helpful

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

All the good threads have busted links

MBP_TL

^I agree with you about busted links^

I just did this mod today too since one of my side markers were flickering.

navicolb

dang someone please get these pictures back up :/

Waffeey

Right! I have been wanting to buy some side markers online for awhile but if i can DIY it that's even better.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

there's a guy that used to be on here that mods oem sidemarkers with leds (any color or temp) and comes with a lifetime warranty. send me a pm if you want his info. i think he mods them for $75 shipped front only or 130 for all. i only did the front to match my switchbacks