I was Bored and...

[qwall]

looks kick ass

 

[69MyWay]

Looks great!

 

[BigRed]

Look great! But MASSIVE problem guys!

Does it come in RED? Hehehe :cool

 

[BlackNBlue95]

Look great! But MASSIVE problem guys!

Does it come in RED? Hehehe :cool

Yea goto pep boys.. thats where i got the neon they come in all colors of the rainbow.. and even black light.. hee hee..
I started a trend LoL....... no actually i head this idea somewhere on here and I just figured I would try it and see how it works.. and it looks good now everyone is wanting the neon..
-Rick

 

[Hotred94]

I've been messing around on my vette since it is now confined to the garage for winter. I also thought it would be cool to have some kind of lighting behind the gills. I wanted something more subtle than neons so I designed an LED circuit with one red LED in each hole (my vette is red). It works great and it cost me less than $2.00 for everything. I put it on a switch so I could turn it on and off when I wanted.

Now for installing! Where the heck can you pull off the power on the headlights? I really don't want to cut into a wire to tap power, and all of the wire lugs are fully enclosed in the plugs. The very first plug I tried to pull off broke at the first touch. I hate that brittle plastic problem. After years of making those things you'd think GM would get a clue. And why don't they provide a convenient power source on the headlight circuit? Would that be too convenient? Well anyway, I'm still looking for a power source. Any suggestions?

 

[BlackNBlue95]

I've been messing around on my vette since it is now confined to the garage for winter. I also thought it would be cool to have some kind of lighting behind the gills. I wanted something more subtle than neons so I designed an LED circuit with one red LED in each hole (my vette is red). It works great and it cost me less than $2.00 for everything. I put it on a switch so I could turn it on and off when I wanted.

Now for installing! Where the heck can you pull off the power on the headlights? I really don't want to cut into a wire to tap power, and all of the wire lugs are fully enclosed in the plugs. The very first plug I tried to pull off broke at the first touch. I hate that brittle plastic problem. After years of making those things you'd think GM would get a clue. And why don't they provide a convenient power source on the headlight circuit? Would that be too convenient? Well anyway, I'm still looking for a power source. Any suggestions?

Still working onthat one myself.. I've got my gound all done just need to setup a switch and power.. I thought about LED's but I wanted the neon to be seen and wasn't shure how bright the LED's would be.. Could you send me a pic of how you set yours up.. I would like to see it.. RCesak@aol.com Thanks,
-Rick

 

[Hotred94]

My purposes for backlighting the gills is a little different than yours. I have the dark red metalic paint, which appears black at night (like most dark colors) but when light hits the metalic it reflects back with some interesting shades and patterns. I really wasn't looking for show lights, but just a way to play with the metalic reflections. The LEDs provide just the right amount of light to emphisize the gill indentations along the side of the body. The end of the gill indentations back near the doors pick up the light nicely. I wanted people to do a double take wondering if they had really seen what they had just seen. That is also why I used red LEDs with the red paint, so the light source would be hidden in the color and not be as obvious, but more eerie.

I used one of the new narrow focus, "superbright" LEDs, and put one in each gill hole far enough back so they could not be seen directly. They are definately not as bright as the neons, maybe one fourth as bright, but for what I wanted they were perfect. If I had a digital camera or a scanner I would post pictures, but I don't have either one of them. I'm really quite pleased with the overall effect, and I am considering other places to mount them; again, just to play with the reflections.

 

[BlackNBlue95]

My purposes for backlighting the gills is a little different than yours. I have the dark red metalic paint, which appears black at night (like most dark colors) but when light hits the metalic it reflects back with some interesting shades and patterns. I really wasn't looking for show lights, but just a way to play with the metalic reflections. The LEDs provide just the right amount of light to emphisize the gill indentations along the side of the body. The end of the gill indentations back near the doors pick up the light nicely. I wanted people to do a double take wondering if they had really seen what they had just seen. That is also why I used red LEDs with the red paint, so the light source would be hidden in the color and not be as obvious, but more eerie.

I used one of the new narrow focus, "superbright" LEDs, and put one in each gill hole far enough back so they could not be seen directly. They are definately not as bright as the neons, maybe one fourth as bright, but for what I wanted they were perfect. If I had a digital camera or a scanner I would post pictures, but I don't have either one of them. I'm really quite pleased with the overall effect, and I am considering other places to mount them; again, just to play with the reflections.

Very cool idea... where did you buy the led's at the superbright narrow focused ones...

 

[Hotred94]

I got the LEDs at a Standard Electronic Store in town here - 10 cents a piece. You can also get them at a Radio Shack but they will cost you something like 1-3 dollars each.

 

[vetahlk]

If one was to do this to a red vette what color would be good?

 

[BlackNBlue95]

If one was to do this to a red vette what color would be good?

RED hee hee any color you want it all i think looks cool...
-Rick

 

[Hotred94]

I don't think you want any green or orange lites (euw!), but red, blue, and even yellow or clear seem to work good depending on what effect you are trying for.

 

[BlackNBlue95]

I don't think you want any green or orange lites (euw!), but red, blue, and even yellow or clear seem to work good depending on what effect you are trying for.

Well green looks good on a green car.. orange might on an orange car.. my friend has a z28 he cut the camaro lettering out on the bumper and put plexi glass behind it and has neon tubes in green behind it at night it looks bad a$$ to see the camaro letters glowing green.. he did a nice job on that.. so I would say it's a matter of preference.. I think mainly as my own rule of thumb most times the color neon should be the same color as the paint or a color that compliments the paint.. it's all a matter of taste I love my gills glowing blue.. really looks cool..
-Rick