RedGrandAm2003
03-20-2006, 07:01 PM
Step By Step Process for custom angel eyes for any era GA, or any thing for that matter. I was bored, so yeah.
1. Go out and buy the following items if you don’t have them already
Heat gun
Rotary Tool With Cutoff Wheels
Drill With 5mm or 3/16th Drill Bit
Clear window blind rods
Gloves
2x LED's per ring
2x Resistors per ring
Super Glue
Rubber to melt (Clear rubber recommended)
Soldering Gun and soldering wire.
Electrical Tape
Needle Nose pliers
Wire Strippers
If you cant afford A Rotary tool, or just don’t like power tools, buy a hacksaw... if your really cheap, just buy the blade. But be careful whichever way you choose.
Now before I even start this, I'm going to stress this one point:
BE VERY CAREFUL! I dont want anyone to get hurt.
2. Figure out the Circumference of what you want to angel eye.... or just get a rough estimate like I did, and just cut the rod more than you'll need so you don’t have to worry about it being too short. It’s best to leave a good 2 - 3 inches on each end so you can hold it and not worry about pinching/twisting it. Example: My 03 GA fog light was about 5 inches wide I think, so I found a drinking glass with a little less diameter. You can actually see there’s a ridge on the 99+ fogs, so you can glue it right on there. Between that ridge, and the edge of the fog lens.
3. Take the piece of cut window blind rod and stick it in the oven for a little while, but not too long!!!! ***NOTE*** [Rod's are EXTREMELY HOT] Always use gloves to handle them! Place the heated up rod on a pan of some sort (I used the bottom of a cookie/pizza pan) and make sure it is flat on the pan. Turn the rod around the glass that you placed on there, and it’s best to have someone give you a hand to hold the cup there so it doesn’t move around on you all the time. While bending the rod, be careful that it doesn’t become hard and then you snap it in 2 pieces. if you need to reheat, throw it back in the oven, or use a heatgun to finish. When finished bending, you should have one side overlap another. Trim the 2 - 3 inches you left yourself to handle the rod, but don’t trim too much. use the heat gun to heat up the higher overlapping part, so it'll bend back to straight, and you can properly make it flat, and even with the other side, to avoid any problems with gluing the ring on the lens’s afterwards. Now trim the rest to give adequate room for the LED's + wiring. That should be about 1 inch max, the smaller the better.
4. Now take your drill, and 5mm drill bit, or 3/16th bit, and start drilling a hole in middle of the rod for the insertion of the LED. Most LED’s are 5mm or 3/16th’s. Ensure you’re purchasing the right LED or they won’t fit. While drilling the ends of the rod, be very very careful. Put the ring in a vice for best protection! You can alternately hold the ring, but be VERY careful, and I don’t recommend this to someone who’s hands aren’t steady, or aren’t comfortable with using a drill. Personally I used my hands to hold it, but I was careful (See mom, No holes! :lol: ) Once you’ve drilled deep enough, you can put the LED’s in. **Side Note** You might snap the edges off the ring when drilling… both mine snapped some edges because I was going slow with the drill, that’s why its best to use a Vice to secure them and you can drill faster without it catching and snapping. Also I mentioned its better to have 1 inch or less from when you trimmed the left over ring, because the less room, the tighter the LED’s are in there, so you don’t need glue to secure them (which means they’ll be easier to replace). At the end you’ll be melting rubber on them to protect them from rock and other road debris from hitting them and breaking them, which will also secure them in place. **DO NOT GLUE LED’S INTO THE RING YET**
5. Now the part where it’s most frustrating… Removing the fog lights! If you’ve got the experience, go ahead and just remove the bumper… it’s easier. As to what I did, was just raised the car up with a jack, and secured with jack stands, removed some clips/bolts etc, to access the fog light mount. I believe there’s 2 speed clips on each side. (Speed my foot) Also there’s the adjuster on the back, just completely take that off, but remember how everything goes back on or you’ll be posting on the GAOC “How do I put the fog lights back on?” and someone will have to make a new how-to for that. Anyway, remove the fogs, if you don’t need to use the car, and have enough time for glue to dry, and then leave everything the way it is, if you want to use the car and don’t have enough time, put tape around the plug to prevent any water from going into the plug. and ensure the fog light switch is off. Put the bolts back on there and now you have a fog light-less grand am! Remove the bulbs and place them aside. Do not touch the bulbs with your bare fingers, or else the grease will reduce the bulbs life. If you do, clean with alcohol.
6. Now take the lights and if you want, can try separating the lens from the housing, try using a heat gun, I didn’t try that, but I tried prying at it, and other things. It’s probably glued. If you managed to separate it, just follow what I did; just make your own judgment, like if the ring will fit in the housing, and some other things. Ensure that the ring will fit nicely on the lenses or you’ll have to find a smaller, or larger diameter glass and try again. **DO NOT GLUE LED’S INTO THE RING YET** Now that it sits perfect on the lens, how you want it to be, get out the Rotary Tool/Hacksaw. Put the cutting wheel on the Rotary Tool. It’s up to you what thickness you want the wheel to be, it’ll be showing up on the ring itself. When making cuts, evenly space out the cuts, and do not put them too close or it’ll just look like one solid light. Because what happens is the light follows the ring, and the cuts redirect the light outward, and appears to be a separate light. You can use a sharpie to make your lines so you can follow them if you like. **SAFETY NOTE** [Use Safety Glasses, or full face protection] Now make your cuts, but don’t make them too deep, just about ¼ of the way or less, preferably less. Always check your cutoff wheel when making the cuts because the plastic will melt on the wheel and you can remove it by unplugging the Rotary tool and remove with your finger nail. You can see in the pictures I’ve included that some cuts are wider than others… that’s because of the built up plastic. Now after you’ve cut all your lines around the ring, you’re finished with that.
7. Now you’re going to be playing with LED’s. This is where it gets interesting.(Because I mostly have no idea what I'm doing other than what I'm posting) You can pick LED’s up at ebay, or else Radio Shack, or whatever the new name is. Please refer to Dave C’s guide on Circuits and LED’s. His post is here. http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37686.
Now that you have the proper LED’s and resistors, you can either put both LED’s in the ring and twisting the anode (positive/longer) together, and the cathode (negative/shorter) together. And then add the resistors on the anodes. Now it’s best to test to see if they work correctly! **NOTE** [Never connect an LED directly to a battery or power supply. It will be destroyed almost instantly because too much current will pass through and burn it out.] To test them, just run a wire from each wire to the battery, and make sure positive to positive, and negative to negative. Now if everything is ok, Solder together to ensure it wont disconnect anywhere, and then you'll have to tear it all apart later when they're not working. Be careful with soldering because it can damage the LED, or break the anode/cathode inside the led, and now your out 1 LED. Use electrical tape to wrap up each anodes and resistors, and cathodes. Now glue or do what you want and put the LED’s into the ring. Superglue the rings on to the lens, and put pressure on them for 24 hours to make sure they wont come off. Now we’re halfway there! If you managed to remove the lens from the housing, then glue the lens back on too. After its dry, use a lighter or the soldering gun to melt rubber on to the LED's where the gap is to ensure it debris wont destroy your hard work.
8. Install the fog lights back into the car. There should JUST be enough room for the ring and the fog light. Don’t forget to put the bulb back in there too. Just put the speed clips back in, and screw the adjuster back in, everything should be fine. Take your soldering stuff and wire cutters/strippers outside to your car, and solder the wires to the Resistors. Its always best to strip about 1 inch of wire on each end. Run the Negative wires to a bolt in the frame to make it easier. What I did was take 2 wide washers, and wrapped the bare wire around the bolt (with the threads(clockwise) so it tightens you when tighten the bolt) and the between the washers and bolted to the frame. Take the positive wire from the fog light on the right hand side of the car, and put it to the positive resistor + wire on the Left hand side fog light of, so you don’t need 2 wires going up to the battery. Now that you’ve got to run the wires up to the battery and you’re finished. If you want to have them on all the time, then this will probably be your best route. **NOTE** [I recommend you to use an inline fuse to make sure nothing happens with you’re LED’s or electrical system]
Installing a switch, and alternate route to power source:
Run the wires to your dash. (What I did was I just ran them up the left hand side, and then between the hood and quarter panel, and then over the weather stripping. Don’t worry about the door rubbing it, I’ve had mine on there for a year and there’s no wear on it.) Run the wires behind the fuse panel. I put my switch on the top of that little useless opening next to the door on the dash. I just removed that, drilled a hole, and put in the switch. Just run the wires through the switch and you’re finished with that. Run the wires back under the hood, via the same process you took to get there. I also installed an inline fuse. **NOTE** [I recommend you to use an Inline Fuse to prevent anything from happening to your LED’s or entire electrical system on your car] I didn’t go to the battery either. I took an alternate route to the Fuse box. You can see the fuse box has a + sign. Remove the fuse box cover, and then loosen the bolt a bit, wrap the bare wire around it, with the threads(clockwise), so it tightens when you tighten the bolt, and now you don’t have wires sticking out of your battery. So far, I’ve blown 1 fuse, so it’s best if you have an inline fuse. Play around with your brand new LED fogs, show some friends, flick on and off with the switch, go nuts. And you’re finished. Enjoy!!!
Tips:
Try hooking them up to the parking lights, or turn signals. Best if they were hooked up to the parking lights which I may end up doing. You can have fun with your car alarm and watch them flash!
LED’s take very little power. I’ve left them on for a whole week without starting it, and my car started fine with no hesitation, so you can wire direct to the battery.
Also, just incase, this is all at your own risk. If you run into troubles, lots of people know how to do this, so just post on the boards and you’ll get an answer on any problem you run into. If there’s anything that I’m missing on this, just let me know, and I’ll update it.
Now here's some pictures!
1. Go out and buy the following items if you don’t have them already
Heat gun
Rotary Tool With Cutoff Wheels
Drill With 5mm or 3/16th Drill Bit
Clear window blind rods
Gloves
2x LED's per ring
2x Resistors per ring
Super Glue
Rubber to melt (Clear rubber recommended)
Soldering Gun and soldering wire.
Electrical Tape
Needle Nose pliers
Wire Strippers
If you cant afford A Rotary tool, or just don’t like power tools, buy a hacksaw... if your really cheap, just buy the blade. But be careful whichever way you choose.
Now before I even start this, I'm going to stress this one point:
BE VERY CAREFUL! I dont want anyone to get hurt.
2. Figure out the Circumference of what you want to angel eye.... or just get a rough estimate like I did, and just cut the rod more than you'll need so you don’t have to worry about it being too short. It’s best to leave a good 2 - 3 inches on each end so you can hold it and not worry about pinching/twisting it. Example: My 03 GA fog light was about 5 inches wide I think, so I found a drinking glass with a little less diameter. You can actually see there’s a ridge on the 99+ fogs, so you can glue it right on there. Between that ridge, and the edge of the fog lens.
3. Take the piece of cut window blind rod and stick it in the oven for a little while, but not too long!!!! ***NOTE*** [Rod's are EXTREMELY HOT] Always use gloves to handle them! Place the heated up rod on a pan of some sort (I used the bottom of a cookie/pizza pan) and make sure it is flat on the pan. Turn the rod around the glass that you placed on there, and it’s best to have someone give you a hand to hold the cup there so it doesn’t move around on you all the time. While bending the rod, be careful that it doesn’t become hard and then you snap it in 2 pieces. if you need to reheat, throw it back in the oven, or use a heatgun to finish. When finished bending, you should have one side overlap another. Trim the 2 - 3 inches you left yourself to handle the rod, but don’t trim too much. use the heat gun to heat up the higher overlapping part, so it'll bend back to straight, and you can properly make it flat, and even with the other side, to avoid any problems with gluing the ring on the lens’s afterwards. Now trim the rest to give adequate room for the LED's + wiring. That should be about 1 inch max, the smaller the better.
4. Now take your drill, and 5mm drill bit, or 3/16th bit, and start drilling a hole in middle of the rod for the insertion of the LED. Most LED’s are 5mm or 3/16th’s. Ensure you’re purchasing the right LED or they won’t fit. While drilling the ends of the rod, be very very careful. Put the ring in a vice for best protection! You can alternately hold the ring, but be VERY careful, and I don’t recommend this to someone who’s hands aren’t steady, or aren’t comfortable with using a drill. Personally I used my hands to hold it, but I was careful (See mom, No holes! :lol: ) Once you’ve drilled deep enough, you can put the LED’s in. **Side Note** You might snap the edges off the ring when drilling… both mine snapped some edges because I was going slow with the drill, that’s why its best to use a Vice to secure them and you can drill faster without it catching and snapping. Also I mentioned its better to have 1 inch or less from when you trimmed the left over ring, because the less room, the tighter the LED’s are in there, so you don’t need glue to secure them (which means they’ll be easier to replace). At the end you’ll be melting rubber on them to protect them from rock and other road debris from hitting them and breaking them, which will also secure them in place. **DO NOT GLUE LED’S INTO THE RING YET**
5. Now the part where it’s most frustrating… Removing the fog lights! If you’ve got the experience, go ahead and just remove the bumper… it’s easier. As to what I did, was just raised the car up with a jack, and secured with jack stands, removed some clips/bolts etc, to access the fog light mount. I believe there’s 2 speed clips on each side. (Speed my foot) Also there’s the adjuster on the back, just completely take that off, but remember how everything goes back on or you’ll be posting on the GAOC “How do I put the fog lights back on?” and someone will have to make a new how-to for that. Anyway, remove the fogs, if you don’t need to use the car, and have enough time for glue to dry, and then leave everything the way it is, if you want to use the car and don’t have enough time, put tape around the plug to prevent any water from going into the plug. and ensure the fog light switch is off. Put the bolts back on there and now you have a fog light-less grand am! Remove the bulbs and place them aside. Do not touch the bulbs with your bare fingers, or else the grease will reduce the bulbs life. If you do, clean with alcohol.
6. Now take the lights and if you want, can try separating the lens from the housing, try using a heat gun, I didn’t try that, but I tried prying at it, and other things. It’s probably glued. If you managed to separate it, just follow what I did; just make your own judgment, like if the ring will fit in the housing, and some other things. Ensure that the ring will fit nicely on the lenses or you’ll have to find a smaller, or larger diameter glass and try again. **DO NOT GLUE LED’S INTO THE RING YET** Now that it sits perfect on the lens, how you want it to be, get out the Rotary Tool/Hacksaw. Put the cutting wheel on the Rotary Tool. It’s up to you what thickness you want the wheel to be, it’ll be showing up on the ring itself. When making cuts, evenly space out the cuts, and do not put them too close or it’ll just look like one solid light. Because what happens is the light follows the ring, and the cuts redirect the light outward, and appears to be a separate light. You can use a sharpie to make your lines so you can follow them if you like. **SAFETY NOTE** [Use Safety Glasses, or full face protection] Now make your cuts, but don’t make them too deep, just about ¼ of the way or less, preferably less. Always check your cutoff wheel when making the cuts because the plastic will melt on the wheel and you can remove it by unplugging the Rotary tool and remove with your finger nail. You can see in the pictures I’ve included that some cuts are wider than others… that’s because of the built up plastic. Now after you’ve cut all your lines around the ring, you’re finished with that.
7. Now you’re going to be playing with LED’s. This is where it gets interesting.(Because I mostly have no idea what I'm doing other than what I'm posting) You can pick LED’s up at ebay, or else Radio Shack, or whatever the new name is. Please refer to Dave C’s guide on Circuits and LED’s. His post is here. http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37686.
Now that you have the proper LED’s and resistors, you can either put both LED’s in the ring and twisting the anode (positive/longer) together, and the cathode (negative/shorter) together. And then add the resistors on the anodes. Now it’s best to test to see if they work correctly! **NOTE** [Never connect an LED directly to a battery or power supply. It will be destroyed almost instantly because too much current will pass through and burn it out.] To test them, just run a wire from each wire to the battery, and make sure positive to positive, and negative to negative. Now if everything is ok, Solder together to ensure it wont disconnect anywhere, and then you'll have to tear it all apart later when they're not working. Be careful with soldering because it can damage the LED, or break the anode/cathode inside the led, and now your out 1 LED. Use electrical tape to wrap up each anodes and resistors, and cathodes. Now glue or do what you want and put the LED’s into the ring. Superglue the rings on to the lens, and put pressure on them for 24 hours to make sure they wont come off. Now we’re halfway there! If you managed to remove the lens from the housing, then glue the lens back on too. After its dry, use a lighter or the soldering gun to melt rubber on to the LED's where the gap is to ensure it debris wont destroy your hard work.
8. Install the fog lights back into the car. There should JUST be enough room for the ring and the fog light. Don’t forget to put the bulb back in there too. Just put the speed clips back in, and screw the adjuster back in, everything should be fine. Take your soldering stuff and wire cutters/strippers outside to your car, and solder the wires to the Resistors. Its always best to strip about 1 inch of wire on each end. Run the Negative wires to a bolt in the frame to make it easier. What I did was take 2 wide washers, and wrapped the bare wire around the bolt (with the threads(clockwise) so it tightens you when tighten the bolt) and the between the washers and bolted to the frame. Take the positive wire from the fog light on the right hand side of the car, and put it to the positive resistor + wire on the Left hand side fog light of, so you don’t need 2 wires going up to the battery. Now that you’ve got to run the wires up to the battery and you’re finished. If you want to have them on all the time, then this will probably be your best route. **NOTE** [I recommend you to use an inline fuse to make sure nothing happens with you’re LED’s or electrical system]
Installing a switch, and alternate route to power source:
Run the wires to your dash. (What I did was I just ran them up the left hand side, and then between the hood and quarter panel, and then over the weather stripping. Don’t worry about the door rubbing it, I’ve had mine on there for a year and there’s no wear on it.) Run the wires behind the fuse panel. I put my switch on the top of that little useless opening next to the door on the dash. I just removed that, drilled a hole, and put in the switch. Just run the wires through the switch and you’re finished with that. Run the wires back under the hood, via the same process you took to get there. I also installed an inline fuse. **NOTE** [I recommend you to use an Inline Fuse to prevent anything from happening to your LED’s or entire electrical system on your car] I didn’t go to the battery either. I took an alternate route to the Fuse box. You can see the fuse box has a + sign. Remove the fuse box cover, and then loosen the bolt a bit, wrap the bare wire around it, with the threads(clockwise), so it tightens when you tighten the bolt, and now you don’t have wires sticking out of your battery. So far, I’ve blown 1 fuse, so it’s best if you have an inline fuse. Play around with your brand new LED fogs, show some friends, flick on and off with the switch, go nuts. And you’re finished. Enjoy!!!
Tips:
Try hooking them up to the parking lights, or turn signals. Best if they were hooked up to the parking lights which I may end up doing. You can have fun with your car alarm and watch them flash!
LED’s take very little power. I’ve left them on for a whole week without starting it, and my car started fine with no hesitation, so you can wire direct to the battery.
Also, just incase, this is all at your own risk. If you run into troubles, lots of people know how to do this, so just post on the boards and you’ll get an answer on any problem you run into. If there’s anything that I’m missing on this, just let me know, and I’ll update it.
Now here's some pictures!