Looking to do illuminated cupholder (Almost Complete)
 

I created an illuminated cup holder in my WRX by using a simply LED from Radio Shack. I'd like to the Z one better, by using a very thin LED wire/rope/etc similar to the piping on the doors and dash of the Cadillac CTS that illuminates. If anyone sees some lighting material like this, please let me know.

illuminated cup holder fabrication & installation
 

I am not sure of the Cadillac CTS door/dash illumination; however, it sound unique. Could you post pics of what your implying so one can understand what the lighting look like?

I think the way to go with what I want to do is to use neon wire/EL wire. I haven't been able to find any LED's similar to the neon wire stuff. I haven't settled on anything just yet. I'm in the process of tinting my windows, but it's been in the 100's so I haven't finished this task yet. Google neon wire and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I know that pep boys sells strips of tiny led's that are on like a peice of tape, u could attach that inside the holder, idk just my idea

Maybe you can implement an "angel eye" ring inside the cup holder for more evenly diffused lighting.

-Phuong

Im willing to try something when I get my 370z, but Its gotta have holes drilled in the cup holder and the LED's behind it because when you slip in a cup, you dont want to damage the LED's. Not something I may approve of, heh.

Regarding last two posts...

This is along the lines of what I´m looking to do. I´ve been in Mexico for 4 weeks, and got another 2 weeks to go before I get home and have some time to start tinkering with this mod.

Reviving this thread, as I'm thinking of tackling this mod. EL wire is in abundance these days....even though I will likely be selling my Z before too long.

Ordered the parts to do this. I'll post up pics when completed. I may also put together build-kits for these, if I can find a cheap enough supplier to put these together. Buying the parts as I have done, doesn't create much profit I could stand to gain on them at a price people would likely pay. Be back in about a week.

There's another company called Plasma Glow. They have all sorts of lighting stuff at fairly good prices.

Just in case, there is one OEM 370z Cup holder selling on ebay right now. In case someone wanted to have a spare one to play around.

I'm just about done with this. I'm posting up pics of the EL wire taped in the cup holder; as I purchased a .22mm and a .26mm wire. The .26mm size is newer and supposed to be 20% brighter. However, the .22mm is plenty bright enough and really a better fit. The .26mm protrudes from the lip of the cup holder and could give you problems with larger size cups; like a big size from Taco Bell or say Route 44 from Sonic. Since the .22mm is plenty bright, I'm going with the smaller size. I'll post more pics after it is glued in place but I need to get in bed as I start a new job tomorrow morning.

.22mm EL Wire

.26mm EL Wire

So you'll notice that the orange wire looks yellowish up against the orange interior lighting of the Z. I'm checking with the retailer about whether red would be a closer match.

That's still pretty cool, regardless. How much did it cost?