adding indicators to stock mirror covers

[JJCRU23R]

does anyone know how to take off the colourmatched plastic off the side mirror?

Edited October 1, 2007 by JJCRU23R

[kelvin33]

do u need to put aftermarket LED indicator lights or just replacing??

if you are replacing then be gentle and pull out the mirror using a piece of cloth under the mirror and pull towards you...then u will see 3 screws if i remembered correctly to remove the motor... u see the clips to the back cover....

if you need to put on aftermarket LED mirrors then u have to remove the inserts and follow as the above...

hope that helps :)

[JJCRU23R]

ive got these chrome indicator lights with yellow and blue leds inside.

i tried to crack open the lense so i could possibly change the LEDS to all yellow.. but no such luck. unless someone has done this before and is confident of beign able to do it with mine... id love you to do it!

i dont like the way the chrome cover has to be attached onto the stock cover via doublesided tape. itll attract too much damn attention and i dont like the way it looks when its stuck on like that.

so i was thinking if i could possibly cut the leds off the chrome covers, then cut holes into the stock cover and poke the indicators through.

is it a silly idea or is it crazy enough that it just might work?

i managed to take off the stock cover.... just wondering if there is much room inside the stock cover to house the light.

does anyone have a stock mirror cover lying around that they can throw my way.. just so i can test it out?

[JJCRU23R]

i know its hard to explain in words, so i prepared this... your input would be much appreciated.

the LEDS are yellow and blue...

since it aint legal in these parts to have blue LEDs on the car id rather have them changed so that they are all yellow, but since it looks like i cant change it without breaking the lense, i thought of wiring up the blue LEDs to the same wires the illuminated doorsills are, so that the blue LEDS light up when the door is open.

Edited October 1, 2007 by JJCRU23R

[and1]

wow thats a pretty nice idea.. tell us how it goes.. good luck..

[BigBum]

Instead of cutting a wide hole the size of the indicator strip itself, just cut a tiny hole big enough for the wires to go through and stick the LED strip on top of your standard cover.

I bought myself a pair of LED strip that stick on the stock cover and have wires that go through the stock cover, down through the side of the car connecting to the wires of the side indicators of the car. Never managed to take off the stock cover so gave it up at that

[JJCRU23R]

yea bigbum that was another option i was thinking thinking about.

its definately simpler to do it the way you just stated, except i would find it impossable to wire them up with the side indicators, since i can only manage to pull out the indicators wiring about 2mm out of the hole.

its a really short wire! luckily the wires from the LEDs are long enough to go all the way up to the headlights and i located the wires up there already.

but yea, i did manage to take off the stock covers, which means in theory i can do my original plan but my main concern is the lack of space inside the mirror cavity.

i just gotta make sure it can accomodate for the bits of chrome plastic that surround the LEDs. once i figured that out, then its all good!

the plastic chrome covers are also providing the mirror look inside the lense, which is why i wouldnt take the LEDs completely off the chrome cover.

i wanted to cut the holes in the stock covers because the LED lense looks so thick (hope that made sense).

the clear plastic lense covering the LEDs is maybe 2-3mm thick.

if i cut holes into the stock indicators and poke the LEDs through, itll look less like its bulging out of the covers and it wouldnt be able to be pulled off by any old knob that realised they were stuck on with doublesided tape if i did it the other way. if i poked them through the stock mirror covers i figured they probebly wont stick out so much..

i was thinking of using clear silicone glue to attach the LEDs from underneith the stock covers and if i stuff up dremmeling the holes (made the holes too big or cut too much, i could always use bodyfiller and respray.

if i stuck the LEDs on the stock covers with double sided tape itll stick out by another mm...

so yea.. bigbums plan is much simpler, but i worry bout other people fcuking it up by pulling em off.. while the option i was thinking is gonna take a lot of work.. but itll look more the way i wanted.

you may or may not be able to tell, but the chrome covers are really big.. when i bought them it thought they would replace the stock covers, but instead they put double sided tape to stick it on. the chrome covers parts of the black sections of the mirror cover and overall i dont like the way it looks if i stuck it on like that. plus, i think it would be easy to pull em off... all the chrome on the mirror would attract some unwanted attention me thinks.

ill update once i figured out which direction to go.

thanks for your advice!

Edited October 7, 2007 by JJCRU23R

[JJCRU23R]

gday...

guess those of you who have commented on this thread might be wondering if i went through with doing this...

well to update yall on whats happend so far... while just after i made my last post on this, i went and cut my mirror cover and for the last few months ive been driving around looking like this:

kinda sad.. make me not want to attend the monthly meetz :P

i also cut the hell out of my chrome mirror covers.. didnt actually get a pic of that (i think?)

anywayz to update you on whats happened now, i went to jaycar and got some advice on what i should do and this is what i ended up with:

ive got a cheap ***** soldering iron so i cant control the temperature... my soldering was a bit too hot, leaving not such a clean and shiny weld where the wires meet the circuitboard. it works anyway...

the lense isnt glued to the cover just yet... but ive soldered everything i needed to and drilled holes so that the LEDS can poke into the thingo.. kinda hard 2 explain without pics showing peice by peice..

but basically the the thing from back to front goes like this

1.CIRCUITBOARD

2.LEDS

3.BACK CHROME BIT (whats left of the chrome mirror covers. ive drilled holes for each of the LEDS)

4.INDICATOR LENSE

5.STOCK MIRROR COVER (hole cut out to house the indicator lense)

there isnt much room between the stock mirror cover and the black plastic surrounding the mirror, so i am going to cut bits of it away so that itll all fit.

further updates as long as i aint got a job in the world right now...

jase

Edited January 8, 2008 by JJCRU23R

[1rocky]

lots of work there and looking good

[J e r e M y]

that is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet... :P where r u..i`ll steal em off u xD

[JJCRU23R]

UPDATE

after carving out the black plastic with the dremel, i managed to get the stock cover to clip in PERFECTLY with all the extra plastic and circuitry inside. the only thing left to do is wire it up!

WOOHOO!

[JJCRU23R]

hey guys ive been driving round with the indicator installled but the wiring hasnt been laid down correctly. ive been trying to open up my side mirror to run the wire through without success.

there are 3 screws on the bottom of the mirror that look like they require an " * " shaped screwdriver. is there any other way of getting the wires through the mirror without having to unscrew those 3 screws?

HELP!

i wanna get this fixed sooner than later so i can start on the other side.

[CAP]

Hey looking good! You can actually get * shaped screwdrivers. I have a tiny one used for mobile phone bits I've also got various sized cordless drill bits in that shape so they are around, If you were in Melbourne I'd let you use mine!

[JJCRU23R]

has anyone actually opened up the mirrors completely before? i cant seem to take the mirror part off...

also, it seem the * shaped screws are in pretty tight.. might have something to do with the spring looking mechanism inside..

im kinda worried about ruining the mirror or the motorised bits so any help from someone with experience wiring up side indicators into the mirrors your help is much appreciated

[Dennis_ZZE122]

i bought my * shaped screws driver at Bunnings for less than 20 bucks and yes the * screw is pretty tight

just use some force to un-screw it and from memory the motorised bits are well covered so you dont need to worry about breaking abything

[JJCRU23R]

thanks for the info guys!

i was going to spend $12.95 on a pack of drill bits that included a couple of the * screwdrivers, but my hardware store had a couple * security screwdrivers (as they call em) collecting dust on a hanger on the wall for just $5.50. they were cool enough to let me take the screwdriver out of the shop to see if they fit, and i found a good fit!!

BARGAIN!

if im not playing no limit poker at the carousel in plumpton tonight ( and every thursday night! 6.30 registration, 7pm start... $20 buy in - ALL INVITED!), ima put the wires through on this so i can finally be done with the drivers side and start working on the passenger side.

I AM VERY EXCITE! HI 5!

Edited January 24, 2008 by JJCRU23R

[Samson]

gday...

guess those of you who have commented on this thread might be wondering if i went through with doing this...

well to update yall on whats happend so far... while just after i made my last post on this, i went and cut my mirror cover and for the last few months ive been driving around looking like this:

kinda sad.. make me not want to attend the monthly meetz :P

i also cut the hell out of my chrome mirror covers.. didnt actually get a pic of that (i think?)

anywayz to update you on whats happened now, i went to jaycar and got some advice on what i should do and this is what i ended up with:

ive got a cheap ***** soldering iron so i cant control the temperature... my soldering was a bit too hot, leaving not such a clean and shiny weld where the wires meet the circuitboard. it works anyway...

the lense isnt glued to the cover just yet... but ive soldered everything i needed to and drilled holes so that the LEDS can poke into the thingo.. kinda hard 2 explain without pics showing peice by peice..

but basically the the thing from back to front goes like this

1.CIRCUITBOARD

2.LEDS

3.BACK CHROME BIT (whats left of the chrome mirror covers. ive drilled holes for each of the LEDS)

4.INDICATOR LENSE

5.STOCK MIRROR COVER (hole cut out to house the indicator lense)

there isnt much room between the stock mirror cover and the black plastic surrounding the mirror, so i am going to cut bits of it away so that itll all fit.

further updates as long as i aint got a job in the world right now...

jase

wow~~ Good job~ looks nice, u make me want that now ... haha

[poohbear]

Just out of interest, what kind of LED did you use?

can't really see clearly with that photo...

Nice job btw, but could have also used a LED strip or somethign similar.

[JJCRU23R]

gday pooh,

well first of all the LEDs and circuit board (i cut 1 board into 2) and other bits came from Jaycar.

the amber LEDs are clear when switched off.

i actually discussed this with fellow TOCAU member D_ice before i moved forward with what ive been doing.

they have 3 types of LEDs at Jaycar, the prices are based on how bright you want the LEDs to be. if you buy 10 or more the price is cheaper. from memory, the LEDs i bought were around 90c each? but yea not 100% sure about that, but what i am sure of is the guy who served me showed me what all 3 types looked like when lit. i chose the second brightest, mostly because i didnt want the mirror indicators to be heaps brighter than my existing indicators.

theres no sure way of knowing that until i wired the thing up and once i wired it up to the car, i saw it was close enough match.

the most expensive LED they had was REALLY bright. the 2nd most expensive was sufficiant.

the reason i chose to DIY the LEDS instead of using LED strips is because i bought the chrome covers to begin with and i wasnt happy with how they would look if i had installed them. it would have been stuck on with double sided tape and it looked like anyone can just pull it off! although hilux's and landcruisers have chrome mirror covers as stock, im sure it would bring attention to my corolla since chrome covers are not common for corollas..

the original LEDs that came with the chrome covers were flat and were laid on a flexable circuit board which i could not find in any local or online electronics stores. I would have used the originals except half of the lights were BLUE. i could have used jsut the yellow leds and left the blue ones off, but it seemed like a waste and im a bit of a perfectionist so if i want something done a certain way, i HAVE to figure out a way to make it.

taking off the blue LEDS off the original circuit board would have been a good idea except i could not find clear + flat amber LEDs to replace them. so i had no choice but to go for the regular looking LEDs and they just would not fit within the space of the indicator lense.

heres the original LEDs and circuit board.

making the LEDs DIY style also made sure i can space the LEDs exactly where i want them. it would have been nice to fit 6 more LEDS on the circuit board but the mirror covers start to bend... the circuit board doesnt flex so i did what i could with the flat space that i had.

Edited January 28, 2008 by JJCRU23R

[JJCRU23R]

Just out of interest, what kind of LED did you use?

can't really see clearly with that photo...

Nice job btw, but could have also used a LED strip or somethign similar.

oh yea of course you of all people would say that.. just so i buy some of your stuff lol!

[JJCRU23R]

gday,

with the rain being all over the place and never having enough sunlight to get this thing done for since i got that * shaped screwdriver, i finally had the time and sunlight to get the hard parts out of the way and threaded the wiring through the mirror and connected the LEDs to the headlight indicators and heres the end result:

[J e r e M y]

That looks SO GOOD >.< u should make them ey :P hahaha.. I WANT XD

[Dead]

JJ

You are the **** Macgyver of home car mods. To think that Brandon and I used to think that your home made wingtips looked like green prawn crackers...

I hang my head in shame, and perform Harakiri on myself for dishonoring you in past tense.

/cast disembowel

[JJCRU23R]

hey i actually havent finished that mod yet!~ muahahha! yea youre right badboyz i guess the homemade wingtips wont work out unless i figure out how to shape em exactly the same... but might as well do the diy fibreglass job some c-one wingtips like others are doing on here.

not to mention my home made booster bum for my hatch door... thats like 40% done but havent touched that in a long time...

but yea as of now... i gotta cut a hole in my other mirror and put my other leds in... this mod isnt finished yet!

[CAP]

well done !