BenWA's washer nozzle LED mod >>>

This is something I did a while back but haven't had time to post up







I passed a Taco in Seattle a while back that had amber LED's mounted inside the hood scoop, sorta along the same inspiration as Ford Raptor grille LED's. I thought it looked really cool and wanted to do something similar, except I don't have a scoop so I figured the washer nozzles were my best bet.

It was a pretty quick and simple mod, and cost me less than $10.

I used these weatherproof self-adhering LED's that cost about $3 apiece:



http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-wired-bolts/little-dot-smd-led-accent-light/639/

And made some plastic wedge-shaped blocks that I glued to my washer nozzles.

I used 5/16" thick PVC-like plastic that I got at my local plastic shop for about a dollar.

I used a dremel with a cutting wheel to cut out the basic wedge shape, and then fine tuned the shape to conform to the top the washer nozzles:





I could have done a much cleaner-looking job of it, but I was kinda lazy and just wanted to get it done.




I cleaned up the rough edges of th eplastic wedges with some sandpaper and a utility knife, and then glued them to the washer nozzles with E6000 adhesive.

Once the adhesive cured, I stuck the self-adhering LED's onto the faces of the blocks and passed the power leads thru the holes for the washer nozzles in the hood. The leads are flat electronic wires (sort of look like magnetic cassette tape) which made it pretty easy to tuck them under the nozzles and into the holes in the hood.

I spliced into my parking lights so the LED's turn on when my parking lights or headlights are on. I think you could also splice into your DTRL's and turn signals.

Closeup of the mounted wedge and LED after some cleaning up and touching up with black paint:



It would be cool to mold and cast some plastic wedge blocks that look and fit better over the washer nozzles for a more stock look.


Photo doesn't do these things justice. The amber color matches the DTRL's very closely, and these little suckers are bright!

I've been running these LED's for several months now, thru rain, car washes, and everything else and they have held up solid. I think it's a pretty cool and unique look, and the price was right.

Pretty much every person I pass stares at them, lol.

 

Want

 

Only thing I need to see is a close up of how you attached it and how you wired it. Nice mod! Might do this.

 

cool

 

Added pic to OP...

 

Sub'd.

 

Very cool!

 

Anyone on TW good with molding and casting plastic parts? Would be cool to cast some cleaner looking wedge blocks for this mod, that look more stock.

 

Also, you could probably put two of those LED's side-by-side on each nozzle for a little more of a bang.

 

Great minds think alike. Just sent you another pm. Lol

 

I might do this and put 3-5 of them in the hood scoop!

 

Probably illegal in some states but looks good nonetheless.

 

I'm fairly sure that as long as they are amber they are legal pretty much everywhere, but best to check your local and state laws just in case. Your local auto parts store ought to be able to tell you.

 

Update: one of my LED's burned out but they are so cheap and easy to replace that it hardly matters. I replaced both sides just to be safe and the newer version of these stick on LED's are even brighter than the first set I had.

 

~ a year and a half before they burned out? That's not bad at all! do they have any type of weather roofing on them?

 

Yeah, they come coated with some kind of epoxy or something. I've been thru the car wash a million times with them, thru ice/snow storms, etc. They are relatively durable, and even if I have to replace them every couple of years its so cheap and easy who cares.

 

Just had a thought on these. Wonder what it would look like if I wired one up on top of my cb antenna. :Cool: lol.