jaygreig
Well-Known Member
One of the first "mods" I did to my T was to make some usable headlights ( and taillights). I popped one of the smiley light pods off and went to my local WallyWorld and started looking like a crazy person holding this lightpod up to various packages, like a little girl making barbie dolls kiss. Finally found what I thought might be a good candidate and bought one $1.50 +tax.
With the taper of the cap, I knew it wasn't going to be an exact fit, but close enough for something I had originally anticipated to meet a violent untimely death. I was also a little disappointed with the meager 12 Lumen rating..
Dremel out the internal molded pin
Dremel out the back of the lightpod...all of the concave part needs to go..add a notch for your ground wire to exit.
pop the plastic lens out (from the left as shown) LIGHT!! thumb pressure...careful not to crack it. Then use a cutting wheel to cut it about an 1/8th back from the "grip texturing"
Ending up with this
Sanding it down to give a straight edge and to fit...the right clearance helps fitting them back up to the stock bumper
Solder the ground to the outside of this ring (I used 20gauge) also recommend scoring the area you're going to solder with an exacto knife to give it a little more to stick to.
Solder the positive wire to this...recommend pre soldering this before joining the wire...saves time in contact with the soldering iron which can easily melt the plastic around and below...ask me how I know...
Should end up with something like this (plus the wires of course)...I put a bevel on the edge of the lightpod to help with such a dramatic step up...didn't go nuts since I planned to cover them.
Easiest wiring and mounting is with two wired in series with a 6v reciever supply...
I opted to go ahead with 4 and a separate battery stick giving 12v...also in series...I had to offset cut the mount holes for the pods to kick out the angles on the outside two lights...mostly to overcome the brace blocking the beam, but also because it helped with lighting up the left and right a little more for turning...I used elmer's school glue to mask the lenses and spray coated them with black PlastiDip...
All in all I am happy with the result...driving at night is A LOT easier with a bright throw of almost 25 feet...with usable light out to about 50 feet (enough to see some terrain contour and most obstacles) The durability has been great, with this kit taking plenty of flights, they haven't even flickered. Not bad when considering since I had everything minus the flashlights on hand, it only cost me $6.42 (tax included).
Hope this helps anyone looking for lights with some throw on the cheap. I will post up the taillight "mod" also...it ended up being about $10 in the configuration I made.
With the taper of the cap, I knew it wasn't going to be an exact fit, but close enough for something I had originally anticipated to meet a violent untimely death. I was also a little disappointed with the meager 12 Lumen rating..
Dremel out the internal molded pin
Dremel out the back of the lightpod...all of the concave part needs to go..add a notch for your ground wire to exit.
pop the plastic lens out (from the left as shown) LIGHT!! thumb pressure...careful not to crack it. Then use a cutting wheel to cut it about an 1/8th back from the "grip texturing"
Ending up with this
Sanding it down to give a straight edge and to fit...the right clearance helps fitting them back up to the stock bumper
Solder the ground to the outside of this ring (I used 20gauge) also recommend scoring the area you're going to solder with an exacto knife to give it a little more to stick to.
Solder the positive wire to this...recommend pre soldering this before joining the wire...saves time in contact with the soldering iron which can easily melt the plastic around and below...ask me how I know...
Should end up with something like this (plus the wires of course)...I put a bevel on the edge of the lightpod to help with such a dramatic step up...didn't go nuts since I planned to cover them.
Easiest wiring and mounting is with two wired in series with a 6v reciever supply...
I opted to go ahead with 4 and a separate battery stick giving 12v...also in series...I had to offset cut the mount holes for the pods to kick out the angles on the outside two lights...mostly to overcome the brace blocking the beam, but also because it helped with lighting up the left and right a little more for turning...I used elmer's school glue to mask the lenses and spray coated them with black PlastiDip...
All in all I am happy with the result...driving at night is A LOT easier with a bright throw of almost 25 feet...with usable light out to about 50 feet (enough to see some terrain contour and most obstacles) The durability has been great, with this kit taking plenty of flights, they haven't even flickered. Not bad when considering since I had everything minus the flashlights on hand, it only cost me $6.42 (tax included).
Hope this helps anyone looking for lights with some throw on the cheap. I will post up the taillight "mod" also...it ended up being about $10 in the configuration I made.
