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Door Lighting Project

X-S-Z said:
cj10jeeper I think you need to post some photos of the car outside in the dark.... I am curious to see the full effect of these mods...
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Good point - never got around to doing it. Will try one evening
 
If no one objects, I'll take a long and short shot of mine on my driveway at night just to add to the uniqueness of this mod.
 
acerboo said:
hi i notice you have the z4 illuminated door plates are they difficult to fit and wire thanks
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Don't think they are too difficult - dealer supplied retrofit kit, but they were already fitted on mine.
 
pvr said:
Although, I seem to be missing the mirror light like we have in the X5 :P
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My wife brought this up last night, as her 3 has lights too...

CJ, what the process to remove the door cards without mullering the clips (as I did on my old MX5)?

PS - I love this :evil:
 
Door cards come off easily.

A few torx to remove. One behind the door open lever. 1 inside the door pull handle and 1 behind the airbag badge. Remove those and unclip the inner mirror cover then pull the lower edge of the doorcard off and work around to the top. Be brave on the last bit and pull directly away from the window. 3 or 4 strong spring clips. It's easier if you use fingers as levers on those.

Have fun :)
 
Jeepers,
I am so looking forward to Spring and taking your lead.
Do you think the 5mm LEDs are OK? I was just considering 3mm instead; the output of these goes up and up as time goes by so no issue with light levels, but the 3s might be less conspicuous and easier to install??
 
ROZ said:
Jeepers,
I am so looking forward to Spring and taking your lead.
Do you think the 5mm LEDs are OK? I was just considering 3mm instead; the output of these goes up and up as time goes by so no issue with light levels, but the 3s might be less conspicuous and easier to install??
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I don't see any issue with smaller LED's at all. I just in the spirit or pioneering went with what seemed right at the time. Frankly they are invisible under the exterior door handles and for the inside the predrilled hole just happens to take a 5mm perfectly.
 
So looking at it all, I don't have any footwell lights, so the only dimming light I have is the main one. Jeepers, do you know what connection number it was you picked up from? I'm assuming that the loom is all in there, and only the lights themselves are omitted depending on the originally requested specification. Got to love BMW and there "bare bones plus options" policy 8)
 
ROZ said:
So looking at it all, I don't have any footwell lights, so the only dimming light I have is the main one. Jeepers, do you know what connection number it was you picked up from? I'm assuming that the loom is all in there, and only the lights themselves are omitted depending on the originally requested specification. Got to love BMW and there "bare bones plus options" policy 8)
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No I don't recall as I did it so long ago. I'd just drop the panel above the drivers shin where the light is located. Bet you the loom is there and just tied up out of the way and probably a spur off the loom that goes to the twin sounder/gong fitted to the same panel.
 
the puddle lights and ext door handle lights are exactly what i already have planned myself, great write up. would be pretty cool if you could list and link exactly what you used and where they where purchased :)

Brilliant, i'll be following this writeup myself very soon ;)

Also, the illuminated kick plates are very nice and i've seen some for sale for very silly money, can they be bought elsewhere at a reasonable price do you know?
 
Baracus (aka Steve) said:
the puddle lights and ext door handle lights are exactly what i already have planned myself, great write up. would be pretty cool if you could list and link exactly what you used and where they where purchased :)

Brilliant, i'll be following this writeup myself very soon ;)

Also, the illuminated kick plates are very nice and i've seen some for sale for very silly money, can they be bought elsewhere at a reasonable price do you know?
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Thanks for the comments :thumbsup:
Chances are slim of any of the suppliers I used even existing is remote as I sourced off Ebay. I purchased a bundle of the LED's with pigtails that I used in the inner and outer door handles, so can post you some if needed.

Pins and connectors for the door connector are just standard BMW items that you can pick up form the parts centre. LED's in the bottom of the door are pretty much anything. In fact if I did it again I'd use one of the newer 2 mm thick strip lights and just stick it on the bottom of the door.

Kick plates I suspect are BMW only, but do look nice
 
I already have quite alot of strip lighting which i had given me from a job i did not to long ago so i was goin to use them for the puddle lights and thought about a strip under the door handles so i'm unsure which way to do it now i've seen yours. The main ones i want are the ext door handles but while i'm there i may as well do the puddle lights too :)
 
Baracus (aka Steve) said:
I already have quite alot of strip lighting which i had given me from a job i did not to long ago so i was goin to use them for the puddle lights and thought about a strip under the door handles so i'm unsure which way to do it now i've seen yours. The main ones i want are the ext door handles but while i'm there i may as well do the puddle lights too :)
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Don't use strip under the door handles else I'm sure fingers will cause them to come off, or washing and the power cable will have to go outside. I simply bonded the tip of an LED through and exact sized hole and worked perfectly ever since
 
cj10jeeper said:
Baracus (aka Steve) said:
I already have quite alot of strip lighting which i had given me from a job i did not to long ago so i was goin to use them for the puddle lights and thought about a strip under the door handles so i'm unsure which way to do it now i've seen yours. The main ones i want are the ext door handles but while i'm there i may as well do the puddle lights too :)
Click to expand...

Don't use strip under the door handles else I'm sure fingers will cause them to come off, or washing and the power cable will have to go outside. I simply bonded the tip of an LED through and exact sized hole and worked perfectly ever since
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hmmm, yeah i did think about them comin off after bein caught by fingers. Where exactly did you drill into your? do you have a close up view?
 
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