Brighton96 Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 I've been kicking the idea around of doing a Dodge-esque LED tail light set up on the wagon. I just can't decide if it looks good enough to go through the hassle. Let me know what you think. I will also be using flexible LED tubing so it'll give a nice smooth light instead of the ugly LED bright spot dots. http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t637/96Brighton/845474808453118531_zpsnz2l1uxg.jpg http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t637/96Brighton/LED%20Lights_zps7ewlider.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrikkaBrock Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 What about doing a straight across on the bottom, above the ambers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 What about doing a straight across on the bottom, above the ambers? Oh yeah that may be better, it'd be kind of weird to have red LEDs in the orange section of the tail light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadhp Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 I'm thinking about doing something kinda related. I'm going to take my spare garnish and try to illuminate just the S U B A R U letters... we'll see how it goes I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoman10 Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 I think it would look dope. Subbed to see the outcome Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted April 18, 2016 Author Share Posted April 18, 2016 Just an update, I've been ordering materials and trying to track down a good set of taillights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdug18 Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 I've been toying with the idea of making the whole back a huge brake light, and removing the subaru letters in the process. I've thought about the LED brake lights, but controlling them is the issue. OEM's use a PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) to control the brightness , but the solutions for home brew seem few and far in between, either making them yourself, or going with someone else's design that doesn't work for our application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted May 2, 2016 Author Share Posted May 2, 2016 I went out and measured the tail lights and made up a little diagram. These are the measurements I will be using to order LED Strips. I rounded to the nearest .5in so that I have some room for error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdug18 Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Any update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 Any update? I've been having issues tracking down a good spare set of taillights :/ I figured this project is gonna be at least a week and I'd prefer to not tie my car up that long so a spare set is required and all the ones I found so far have had hair fractures or cracks in the lenses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxerLove Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I've been having issues tracking down a good spare set of taillights :/ I figured this project is gonna be at least a week and I'd prefer to not tie my car up that long so a spare set is required and all the ones I found so far have had hair fractures or cracks in the lenses I have been thinking about doing a LED Tail light mod such as this on my 98 LGT sedan. I also have a set of spare tail lights with cracks or scratches. I considered just using the cracked ones while i tear apart my nicer set to mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 I have been thinking about doing a LED Tail light mod such as this on my 98 LGT sedan. I also have a set of spare tail lights with cracks or scratches. I considered just using the cracked ones while i tear apart my nicer set to mod. The set on my car currently is not bad but I don't want to spend all the time and money on the mod if the taillights look like shit, and it seems they all have some more of hair line cracks in the lenses. I'm going to keep looking and will have pictures asap though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David E Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 So picked up a set of tail lights from a '97 wagon today to give this a try. How do you open up the tail lights and center section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeMarioii Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 would look good. My all black wagon, the tails were body matched color and a strip around the whole length of the tails was a "brake, turn, rev, led strip" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_desha Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 I think the tails are butyl sealed iirc. They should be able to be opened with a heat gun or after a bake in the oven. If they're sonicwelded though you gotta cut them open Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 So picked up a set of tail lights from a '97 wagon today to give this a try. How do you open up the tail lights and center section? You can put them in a oven and bake them which softens the glue and lets you pull them apart but it'll stink up the house. I am not going to try this method because the plastics are old and dry, I'm going to carefully cut around the edges with an exacto knife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 I forgot to mention, to do this job properly you are going to need to replace the lens sealant, to get the right stuff you need to buy new sealant, you can buy it from https://www.theretrofitsource.com/accessories/build-materials/morimoto-retrorubber-butyl-glue.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choover1101 Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 I just want to say I love this idea. I would love to see any pictures of during/after yall have. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 I just want to say I love this idea. I would love to see any pictures of during/after yall have. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk I will be taking lots of pics and I'll write up a how-to once I get started. I am still looking for a second set of taillights but I want them to be perfect.. so I think I need to lower my standards of 20 year old plastic :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_desha Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 I saw someone put an led strip in the center section on the Headlight Junkies FB page but when I went back to find it it's gone, I knew I should have taken a screenshot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David E Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Any body out there know how to design an LED circuit? In addition to LED strips for out line I want to replace my existing lights with LEDs in some sort of pattern. Maybe the Subaru constellation logo for running lights and more for stop signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted November 19, 2016 Author Share Posted November 19, 2016 Any body out there know how to design an LED circuit? In addition to LED strips for out line I want to replace my existing lights with LEDs in some sort of pattern. Maybe the Subaru constellation logo for running lights and more for stop signal. The only thing I could think of is a little ghetto but would give you the sharpest shape, you can get an EL panel, which is just a uniformly lit panel and then you can get a Subaru decal negative made out of vinyl and then lay it onto the panel. Look around on Superbrightleds.com to get some ideas, that's where I get all my stuff, no more chinese ebay LEDS haha Like this https://www.amazon.com/Adafruit-Electroluminescent-EL-Panel-ADA414/dp/B01BMRCUL6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1479599130&sr=8-5&keywords=EL+panel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 You could check out Aaron Cake's video about led tail light build for a Mazda Cosmo. That might be deeper than you are talking about, or maybe not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeMarioii Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Most tails need to be cut open. Subaru LED badge in either tail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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