ok,
hit is hard this morning.
Not a good start to the day.
broke one of the rings right off the bat.... Looks like i will be one eyed willy for a day or five.
opening the lights and paint was simple all you need is the confidence to get it done. I was VERY apprehensive, but had ZERO issues!
First order of business was to mount the ballasts. I used some clear RTV adhesive / sealant to mount the ballast to the back inside corner of the light box, there is allot of space under the shroud, this was the spot i chose.
once i got the box placed i went to work on the circuits.
Instead of taking the wires outside the actual housing i cut and soldered them to an inside circuit. I figured less holes in the housing is better, less reseal issues later.
directly under the bulb is the parking light connection. A striped green/white wire (hot) and a black wire(grnd) that run to the parking light circuit board, they are connected by a clip connector to their power feed, and the light is mounted with two screws, unhook the feed and unscrew the parking light.
I removed the circuit board and unhooked the parking light, this gives you a bit more room and maneuverability.
solder the ballast hot (red) and parking light hot (Green and White), slide the shrink tube down over the Y for future use, then close the circuit with the dead end on the connector, let it cool, slide the shrink tube up and over and hit it with a heat gun. Repeat this process for the ground. the other light is the same.
once i got it all wired up i tested it by hooking it up to the car. worked fine, took a minute for the CCFL rings to brighten, but they (it) is instant now.
Resealing the lights was a PITA! the adhesive still sticks to other adhesive, so maneuvering it to get it close was a challenge. once it was somewhat lined up i put it in the oven. same as break down, Preheat to 250ºF bake for 11 mins. Once they are out its time to get to pressing till the clips grab.let it cool a bit then put the screws in. the adhesive was still a little warm when i put the screws in so it sucked it up pretty nice.
All in all the kit was pretty easy to install. This is what i used
1. Solder gun w/ solder
2. heat gun, for heat shrink, can be used on sealant also
3. Krylon Fusion (plastics spray paint) flat black (no sanding or primer req)
4. shrink tube
5. clear RTV adhesive/sealant
6. mechanics gloves
7. rubber gloves (no fingerprints inside the lights)
8. AAC.COM 370 CCFL kit
9. Phillips head screw driver
10. 2 part epoxy ( a little dab will do ya, good thing too because i have to replace a ring right now, it broke after placement if i had gone nuts with the glue id be FUCT)
11. always good to have some vinyl on hand, i used it on the reflector.
i used the other DIY items to remove the lights and front facia.
questions and comments welcome. thanks for looking.
Eric
