usdm side lights

[stubrun]

right guys i have had a few people asking on various forums how i did my side lights so here is a little diy guide to help any one out who wants to do this simple sweet mod.

Ok to start off the bulb holder in the indicator cluster is a singe element holder as seen here:-

You will need to source 2 duel element holder as found in the rear clusters of most cars where

The sidelight/brake lights are combined, mine came from a m series civic 5 door, it is best to get the bulb holder with a good length of wire, more the better as seen here:-

In the duel element bulbs there is a dim element (which will become your sidelight) and a bright light(which will become your indicator) so the duel element holder will have 3 wires coming from it, one is the earth and the other 2 are feeds, the easiest way to test them is to pop a bulb in and use a battery to test it, remember to make note which one is which :-

Now that you know what goes where, you will need to test fit the holder into the indicator cluster, everyone i have done has never fitted but this is easilly resolved with a stanley blade and a b*****d file, remember to shave a bit off, test it shave some more so you get it just right to prevent moisture etc seeping through, once the holders are nice and snug in the cluster its time to turn to the wiring

I have found the easist thing to do with the indicator wiring is to added male spade connectors on both the feed and earth and plug it straight into the oem plug and secure it with some masking tape, remember to tape up the wiring as the sight of visible wiiring :S i use plastic armouring for the wiring as it looks oem and prevents the wires rubbing on any metal edges, heres one i made earlier -

Ok first place the 2 spade connectors into the cars original plug remembering to make sure the polarity is correct here is a quick picture of the oem plug and the terminal locations:-

If all is well you can now tape this plug up with masking tape to help secure the wires and add a bit of water proofing to the plug.

Before you refit the indicator cluster (eg models) run the remaining wire from the indicator to where the side light holder is, remove the sidelight holder and if you would like to test which one is live/negative on the plug with a multimeter but the y are the same as the plug for the indicator (see above pic) once you have located the live feed for the side light, make sure you have enough slack wire on both ends, cut this wire.

There are many ways (spade connectors, solder,scotch locks etc) to secure the 3rd wire from the indicator to the side light, but i always use spade connectors, as you can see in the pic below i have used a spade connector with a piggy back which is simple but most importantly if you want to remove this its just a case of pulling the female spade connector off it.

Fit the 3rd indicator wire onto the piggy back, making sure to tape this up so its out of sight and mind.

Repeat this process on the other side.

And all going well you should have either the usdm look:-

or the jdm look:-

. hope this helps, any Q's PM me

[james]

I LOVE IT MAN I WILL BEING DONIG A NICE PRIJECT WITH MY LIGHTS (SPRAYING, DE-TANGO, USDM STYLE)

whats the differance between jdm and usdm

[stubrun]

actually its the wrong way round, people are under the impression that amber corners make a car look jdm, but the cars leave the factory with the clear indicators with tango in them, there is a factory in japan that make the orange indicators, and the cars in the us usually have their sidelights like this, if ever you get stopped by the police and he tells you that is illegal, just turn and look at his bmw sidelights they are the same, its happened to me loads of times haha. glad i could help mate

[james]

im in ireland , the copers here cant afford bmw

[stubrun]

hahahahahahahaha fair point

[EKLewis]

Nice write up, gotta get this going on on mine!!

[stubrun]

sweetas