Operation X

Weekend Summary!

I received new LED 881 lamps. These seems to be better quality but not as bright. they glow well enough to do what I want for daytime running lights.

Also the big thing this weekend was this.

I didn’t open it for a couple hours. then just said F-It.

And you get 50 HP right out of the box.

I’ve corrected my speedo, disabled the dtc code that has been giving me trouble until I can find a solution to it. and I lowered my idle from 850 to 700rpm. Which i have to say makes the GT2 lope pretty good. Right now there is no stalling with it that low but I’ve only driven it this morning at 700 so time will tell.

Last, My LEDs for the 3rd brake light came in. This will be the test bed for wiring and testing before I go full out on making a set of LED tail lights.

Last night I did a little tune up, oil change and new o2 sensors. This should help my fuel economy. But probably not by much :-\

One step closer to getting some layers of paint down.

I tested the compressor. The motor runs great. The pump however needs a little TLC. It shouldn’t take more than replacing the valves and gaskets.

Been playing with tunes but haven’t really had time to do it the right way. Maybe over Christmas holidays I will.

Also, first step to full LED taillights. I decided to do the 3rd mount first. It works very well. I ran out of LEDs. So, I only got half the rows mounted but even those look good on the car.

Lastly, I’ve been playing around with some Projector designs. I’m using a single bi-level projector on each side and filling in with some LEDs so that it’s more than just a round light in the square hole.

This is not a final design but probably close to what I’m looking for.

In tradition, I hit yet another deer this new year. It was minor damage mostly my headlight, signal housing, and fender. I fixed most of it but had to get creative.

After a little tweaking:

Luckily, I had to buy a pair of headlights last time so I had a spare for this side. The signal marker wasn’t so lucky. The lens was shattered. But surprisingly the housing was still intact. So, I made a lexan lens to act as a temp lens until I figure out what I want to do.

Lexan… its whats for dinner!

Crappy seal job, I know. it will be night shaded and this is only temporary.

Among other things, I redid my led 3rd brake and decided to see what the spaced leds looked like because it was half the leds. This is going to be easier for me to wire and solder. Since my deer episode cost me a front marker, I decided to change those as well. They are going to be a little different as well.

I got the Turn Signal housing all put back together and threw some nightshade on.

It’s all all fixed apart from some minor fender and paint damage. It’ll just have to ride as is until the warmer months.

I started working more on the ALL LED project.

Baked the tails:

It’s not hard to separate these, 10 mins @ 200F. you got to do it quick though. By the time I got one apart I had to heat the other back up for a few mins.

So I’ve decided that rather than just make some LED tails, I’m going to convert pretty much everything I can to LED. I’m not going to buy direct replacement LED lamps that fit where the stock lamps do. No. I’m going to create a it from scratch. I’m beginning with small lenses like the 3rd Brake and now the Rear Dome light. These are more for testing than final designs. I’m just making sure my circuit design can stand up to the electrical system.

I’m calling this part of the project “All LED”. The most exciting part of the project is I plan on using a Raspberry Pi to control some of the functions, namely the sequential signals on the front and rear. The plan is to have ~5 panels light up in sequence sorta similar to the Stang but a couple steps further. Along with that the Tails design and layout will look different. I’m working up a photoshop again and maybe a video simulating the sequential pattern.

Along with this I’m creating my own projectors and using LED to fill the area inside the headlight cubby. I plan on ordering the parts kit tomorrow.

I also plan on ditching the road lamp housings. I’ll probably throw them up for sale. To replace them I will incorporate a running light in the front signal area. All this will be very discrete and no blinding oncoming traffic! I’m taking in consideration the brightness and placement of all the LEDs I don’t want to blind, just be seen.

“Rear Dome Light Conversion”

Board installed:

Old light output!!

New LED output!!

Appearance

Update!

I just ordered a set of retrofit HID projectors. These are standalone modules for many stock housings that convert them to a High Quality HID headlamp system. Should ship tomorrow, maybe Thurs. But I’m excited as I will use them to create a custom headlight as I’ve posted before. Because the final assembly is like 6 inches long I’ll probably have to cut the radiator support to allow it to fit recessed in the headlight area.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com

I got the projectors in the mail.

I had to see the beam pattern but it’s just on a table connected to the car

I spent all weekend designing the housing assembly. It’s going to be made out of sheet aluminum because it’s the easiest to design for me and I have a shop at work that has stock of this material. This is the design.

Today I got some of the first pieces. Tomorrow I will have the rest of the headlight assembly parts. I’ll just have to come up with a way to mount them on the car where they are adjustable.

Day 1322:

Starting to look like a headlight. There is only a few more parts left to make. Then I can mount it in the car, clean it, and spray the black on. I’ve also got to order more LEDs so hopefully I can put them in this weekend, weather permitting.