Nissan 370Z Forum - DIY: illuminated kick plates color change

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- - DIY: illuminated kick plates color change (http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-do-yourself/5960-diy-illuminated-kick-plates-color-change.html)

Your looks sweet socal! Awesome idea that really turned out sweet...

I can't decide if I wanna go with an all blue interior like I did with my previous car, or a red interior to match exterior mods...

Or make the exterior mods blue to match the interior lighting lol Ugh decisions decisions! :icon17:

Glad you like them, I knew you would!

the project is such a PIA, I wont be back to do them large scale thats for sure.

Finally got my first kickplate modded with blue leds and wrapped in carbon fiber di-noc. Thanks to Cjanik!

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8...9230806.th.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I ordered some LED's for some mood lighting at the footwells... I'm thinkin the easiest place to wire them in would be the kickplates since they always come on when the door opens. Would I have to actually take the kickplates off or could I just find the wires in the footwells somewhere? Does anyone know where these wires would be without taking off the kick plates? Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by base64 (Post 728177)

Finally got my first kickplate modded with blue leds and wrapped in carbon fiber di-noc. Thanks to Cjanik!

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8...9230806.th.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

That actually looks much better than I thought it would. Nice stuff.

Looks good,I was going to do that but I got tied up in modifying other stuff then my wife said to stop rebuilding my new car.:rolleyes:

I maybe interested in getting a pair with red LEDs from you. But need to think about it

sorry to revive old thread, but I'm looking to REMOVE my OEM illuminated kick plates. Any thoughts on how to remove this without breaking it in half? The other DIY seemed to not go into detail on it...

Cjanik are you still selling these?

No I am not, I was loosing money on the setups

I just ordered some leds I'll be doing this to mine soon. I'll post pics when I finish. Nice DIY Cjanik!

Cjanik, can you list the tools/supplies you used during this process? Did you end up using double sided tape or another adhesive?

Good job! But to me I guess its not worth the trouble and risk. I like it anyway.

PM me if you need help with this mod.

I finished up my kickplates today. I ended up making my own circuits so I could use bigger stronger LEDs. I have an album with some pictures for those of you who care.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polymorphic (Post 1628950)

I finished up my kickplates today. I ended up making my own circuits so I could use bigger stronger LEDs. I have an album with some pictures for those of you who care.

Nice! I've been trying to make my own and it's been real difficult to do it the 'right' way - can you share with us the exact parts you used?

Quote:

Originally Posted by base64 (Post 1629575)

Nice! I've been trying to make my own and it's been real difficult to do it the 'right' way - can you share with us the exact parts you used?

Thanks! I picked up a board at radio shack made my own trace, then I soldered on two 3mm LEDs, cut the board with a hacksaw blade by hand. I then added a 100ohm 1watt 2% resistor off the board for each (4) boards. After each step I used a power supply to constantly test the LEDs and the voltage drop across each of the resistors, wired it up, used some 3m scotch double sided mounting tape to adhere the aluminum to the plastic.

Also as a side note I used a long kitchen knife to break the double sided tape when taking the kickplate apart. I found this to bend the aluminum a lot less than a screw driver. I also used a heat sync to hold the LEDs in place while soldering (this made it much easier than holding them with needle nose pliers/tweezers).

U got balls my man..

man i wish i could find someone to do this for me... no way i would attempt it myself : /

I didn't go through all 10 pages, and this is an old thread so if your still around if someone paid you to do these would you be up for it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by V8Killer (Post 2322261)

I didn't go through all 10 pages, and this is an old thread so if your still around if someone paid you to do these would you be up for it?

I've been asking for this for years now, but no sadly he nor anyone else does this at the moment. :(

Might be something to get 180*Customs to look into??

The aluminum covers are so fragile that doing it without putting a single scratch or bend in one is almost impossible. Not that it mattered for me but I wouldn't take someones money because of it.

And another picture I just took right now, maybe this will convince y'all to do this yourself :tiphat:

http://i.imgur.com/Lsjgwnwl.jpg

Dude, thats badass... I mean like seriously.. BADASS!

Just did mine today. Thanks for the DIY!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...E2065B45F1.jpg

would you do this as a service?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cjanik (Post 98796)

ok, so I read on the other threads here that you couldnt change the color of the illuminated kick plates because it doesnt have a bulb. However, doing electronics for LVMPD for a living and not accepting "NO" for an answer in general, I went ahead and changed the colors and decided to do a complete DIY for anyone else interested.

This is something I only recommend for experienced DIY'ers. If you have never done a DIY with simple electronics before, you may damage any part of the kick plates and it could render it ugly or unusable.

Anyhow, here's how it all began, I ordered a PG 370z and didnt like the idea of having an orange light with a silver car, so i decided to rip apart a kick plate and see what kind of LED i would need to turn the orange into white LED's.

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/start.jpg

picture of the old color:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/oldcolor.jpg

Now flip it upside down and you'll see tabs that need to be bent upwards to allow the plastic peice to slip off:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/backtabs.jpg

upclose of the tabs after i had them flipped up:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/tabsopen.jpg

For reference, all of the circles are tabs that need to be bent. Yes there is a tab under the cloth tape in the picture below. And the rectangular boxes are where the glue/double sided tape is located. the glue is holding the aluminum top piece to the plastic bottom piece.
http://www.the370z.com/members/cjani...scrape-off.jpg

once you get the tabs open, carefully pry the ends open and then scrape the double sided tape off that holds the two pieces together:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/sideflip.jpg

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/wedgetop.jpg

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/wedge2.jpg

You need to make sure you are very careful when you stick something in between the two to open it up. Use something long and flat and dont allow any sharp points to hit the metal part or else you'll cause damage to be visable from the other side,
[http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/damage.jpg

once you get it off, this is what you will see (use this image to see where you need to seperate the double sided tape without poking the aluminium:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/interior.jpg

Now, lift the tape off the box thats on the metal section and then cut the caulking that is holding it on:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/tapelift2.jpg

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/cutglue.jpg

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/lift.jpg

once you cut the glue off and pry the "box" off, this is what you will have:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/apart.jpg

Now you need to pry the metal cover from the "box" open, and take the plastic Z out:
http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/pryz.jpg

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/zopen.jpg

carefully cut away the LED board from the plastic Z. It is also held on by clear caulking, so carefully cut it away and then you'll have two LED boards per side, I circled the actual LED's that need replacement:

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/ledboard.jpg

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/ledboard2.jpg

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/ledboard3.jpg

Those items that I have circled and look white, thats the LED and its a 1mm LED. I used the white LED's here: SMD LED (UT-692NW)
You can use any of the color LED's on that website, or any site, just make sure its a SMD LED around 1mm.
This is where the hard part comes because you need to solder off the old LED's and solder on the new ones, I am not to be held accountable and am warning anyone who isnt familiar with this not to do the soldering. these are very small parts and can easily be messed up.

When you have your new LED's on, make sure the LED's work. before you REVERSE THE ORDER of everything. putting it back together is the easy part, just make sure you have clear caulking in hand to glue the parts back together.

if you have any questions i'll try to answer them, I love my new illuminated kick plates and cant wait to put them in my car (gotta wait for it to arrive first ha!)

http://www.liquidc4.net/images/kickplates/newzcolor.jpg

OH YEAH, dont forget the rep points if you found this useful, took me a while to get the pics uploaded and posted on here with this DIY :tiphat:

and a BIG THANK YOU!!!! TO VIPOR, for hosting these images for all of you to see!!

the other colors:
http://www.the370z.com/members/cjani...717-yellow.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/cjani...e7716-blue.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/cjani...ite-silver.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/cjani...9-img-1131.jpg

I'd like to buy a set done in RED, where can I buy them already done?

is there an easier way to simply replace the existing (but failing) LEDs? I do not want to change colors

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cT...S9uq7q_g=w2400

Was able to keep the OEM orange for when the door opens, as well as add RGB led's that you can connect to a controller.

Link to Google photos video below. Don't mind my snorting, i am sick :roflpuke2:

LED "Z" Sills

Why dont you mod kick plates for a side hustle? $$$