DIY LED mirror housing
This is a rather small DIY, but you guys might find it useful. Good for Gen1-1.5. Anthony aka SolaraGuy22, you should have some input here too as yours looks better.
Tools needed are:
² philips head screwdriver
³ 10mm socket
LED(s), and thin gauge wire.
First pull off the little black triangular cap that is directly on the other side of the mirror housing, right above the door panel.
To remove the door panel---
There is a screw² in the door lock/handle panel, a screw³ under the carpeting in the window control panel, unplug the window controls, a screw² under a plastic cap towards the front of the door panel itself, and 2 screws² at the bottom of the door. Now there are only plastic snap things holding the door on, yank on the door and it will pop off. The door is still connected by wires going to the tweeter, unplug it. Now put the door panel out of the way.
Now remove 3 screws² that hold on the mirror housing. Unplug the mirror from the door. Once you remove these the mirror housing will be removeable.
From here are 2 ways to put an LED in the housing. The way I did it was to just peel away some of the weather stripping and shove a wired LED through the tiny little hole, and trust me, it's not that easy, but possible.
The other way to do this was done by Anthony (SolaraGuy22) and he removed the weather stripping to reveal I think 3 more screws² that hold the mirror and motor. Remove these and the mirror and motor should fall off into your hands.
ALWAYS BE SUPER CAREFUL WHEN DEALING WITH THE MIRROR AND MOTOR! They are quite fragile and not cheap to replace.
With the mirror and motor removed you have full access to put LED(s) whereever meets your liking. Please keep in mind that while these are totally legal, they are exterior lights. Having blue exterior lights on your car while you are driving is illegal and a cop WILL pull you over if he sees it.
Now for the wiring. I don't have heated mirrors so I noticed that there is still a wire for the heated mirrors, but it stops at the plug to the mirror, so I just spliced the +wire from the LED to that wire, and splice the -wire from the LED to the ground wire in that plug, should be a white w/ black stripe wire. Then I followed that wire to where the wires enter thru the rubber hose to inside the car, right behind the triangular little kickpanel by the foot rest. I can't remember the colors of the wires off the top of my head, but I will report back tomorrow with the colors, from my car at least. This wire you're gonna splice into the turn signal wire that runs thru that kickpanel, under the doorway, to the lights in the back. Again, I'll edit this post to add the wire colors today/tomorrow (I'm at work, and I work nights, it's 0300 right now )
Anthony, please chime in with your tips.
Brilliant Silver 03 Nissan G35 6MT
In the struggle for justice, I is prepared to lay my life on the line. Just like Martin Luther Vandross did.
In the struggle for justice, I is prepared to lay my life on the line. Just like Martin Luther Vandross did.
-
pythonjosh - SolaraGuy Street Racer
- Posts: 1860
- Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2003 5:53 pm
- Location: Torrance, CA