Alright so I did some looking into with kouki tails for my S13.
Yes they look beautiful, but with clearcorners.com, and the dual LED ring they install makes them look MINT!
Only thing is, who the hell is going to spend over $1000 on these lights?! yeah ridiculous.
So I propose, with combined knowledge in the forum, we find a way to save our money and make a DIY thread. I did a bit reading up on how to angel-eye headlights with CCFL kits on HIDplanet.com
Main questions: -How does one SAFELY open the lenses?
-What diameter of CCFL would be needed to fit perfectly?
-How to wire to parking light?
Hopefully this thread takes off with lots of input, because it’d be an awesome mod and save hundreds of dollars to the individual.
…Personally I’d check in the computer world and find some CCFLs there, they make nice round ones for going around computer fans and it’d suit your purposes perfectly.
As far as opening the light housing up, put it in the oven at like 200F for a few minutes. There’s tons of tutorials on this online.
Yeah that’s where I’m looking right now…I just dunno the length to get and the wiring to the parking light.
I’ve went with a buddy to get his headlights on his Infiniti upgraded, and the seller heated the headlight in his oven. Heh, at first my bud and I looked at eachother like “this guy’s on crack” but it works pretty perfectly. Still I’d be $hitting bricks with a new set of kouki tails to try this on in an oven; I’d just want it to all go down perfectly and safely.
I’ll be posting again with more news on what I found with CCFLs unless somebody inputs first
So far on ebay, the CCFLs are mainly in a bar (mostly laptop replacement parts). Some of the circular ones come in the fans. But what’s important is finding a CCFL ring that is as complete as a lit circle as possible.
I was also thinkin of doing this myself too, but i need to get a set first, preferably used.
How about copying what clear corners did and use LED Rings instead of CCFL?
the site says:
The two rings consist of over 300 wide-angle high-intensity LEDs which also vary in brightness. In parking lamp mode, the rings have a crisp glow that illuminates both chambers. When the brakes are applied, the rings increase in brightness in conjunction with the main center clusters. Each tail light consists of approximately 400 very bright and highly visible LEDs. This upgrade is often referred to as the holy grail of tail lights for the S13-chassis and is said to resemble a jet engine’s afterburner.
I was thinking of either that or a close-to solution. Now thinking about the density of all those LEDs and the luminosity from that many would beat the CCFL hands down. Also why you’d use a CCFL in CLEAR lens housing than coloured…LED light would for sure get through it clearly (this is why ppl use LED bulbs in their smoked out lenses if they have em)
That’s one hell of an array of LEDs though…man I’d kill to find out or even see a pic of what’s used exactly or how they did it.
Alright so I found a couple of DIYers that were “make your own camera flash” that’s pretty much an LED array in the shape of a ring that goes around the lens.
I can’t find too much in the way of an LED array that’s ready for sale (that doesn’t require an inverter or any additional circuitry/power adjustment). If anybody has anymore info for materials or anything with a LED array, please feel free to share.
I’m still concerned about the CCFL holding a more uniform luminosity than an array of LEDs.
