HannibalACP82

So I have been dying to put footwell lights in my S2K for awhile now. I know it can be a little "ricer" but I really thought it would be a nice touch and I hated how dark it got in the cabin at night...coffin like.

I was inspired by a few shots I had seen of other S2Ks as well as cars in general with footwell lights and decided to give it a go.



My buddy Jimmy is always willing to jump in on any project and gave me the encouragement and help to get the project off the drawing board and turn it into reality.

I ordered 2 12in strips of Red LEDs (have a red/black interior and I didn't want to be blinded at night by white LEDs) off of eBay for a total of $4.99 shipped from Hong Kong. They arrived an 5 months to the day later we finally got around to installing them. .

Stage 1 was to wire the lights together and then wire them to a cigarette adapter so we could plug them into the outlet in the S2K. This was relatively easy to accomplish but meant I needed to plug/unplug the lights to turn them on and off and left wires running from the footwells along the center console to the plug.

Stage 2 was the wire the lights directly to the fuse box as well as wiring in a switch so that I could turn the lights on and off (since we were wiring into a fuse that was always on).

Stage 3 (which still is to take place) is to wire the lights to a 3 way switch and then to the remote lock/unlock system. The goal is to have the lights come on whenever I unlock/lock the car and then go off when the door is closed or the system times out respectively. The 3 way switch comes in to play so that when I want to leave the lights on I can toggle it and over ride the system. That will be a winter project!

As for the specifics I wired the lights together and ran the wire above the radio. I took off the knee pads in the car (trim piece below and to the left and right of the center tunnel) and ran the wire up over the radio and behind the knee pads.



On the drivers side the lights are ziptied to the foot heater by running a zip tie around the LED strip and through one hole and out another hole in the heater.


This keeps the lights out of the way but I can easily access them if I need to change/remove the LED strip. As for the passenger side Jimmy did his best Tim Allen impression and we zip tied the LED strip to a thin piece of aluminum. We then removed the lower dash trim piece and drilled small holes into two tabs that are part of the plastic trim hidden behind the removable piece. This allowed us to mount the aluminum with the LED strip to the car via a set of screws and then hide everything behind the removable trim piece. Both placements allowed for an even distribution of light without being able to see the actual LEDs short of crawling in the car upside down.

We placed quick disconnects between the strips and the wire as well as between the wires on either side of the radio/center console so that we don't have to remove the entire installation if we find ourselves changing things out/modifying further/etc.



Finally (per Jimmy's suggestion) we used a fuse jumper from Radio Shack.


They run like 8 bucks and this allowed us to tap write into the fuse box rather than splicing to a live wire. We also ran a ground up to same grounding bolt the fuse box uses. I just loosened the ground bolt a half turn and slid an extra ground wire into place.




For now I only have my pictures of the install once completed but I can do back and take pictures of everything else if people show an interest.

Car lights on with no flash



Car lights off with no flash


Car lights off with flash



Let me know what you think!!!

YoG628

you should aim them up or a little more towards the front of the car instead of aiming them straight down. they look too bright and distracting. Looks like the passenger side isn't hidden very well as well.

HannibalACP82

Good observations. First they look much brighter in the pics than in person. I played around with the settings on my point and shoot for awhile but I couldn't get that accurate of a representation of the light intensity.

Secondly I realized when I finally got around to posting the pics that I had the old pics on my hard drive from before we re installed the passenger side lower trim piece. You can indeed see the LED strip in the pics right now but it is fully hidden once the trim was re-installed. I will have to update the pics once I find the photos/retake them.

villain2000

I like. Do I smell an Allegheny tech day in Maury's warehouse?

HannibalACP82

We could set something up. The fuse jumper, the wire, the connections, and the switch all run under $20.00. Then it just comes down to time and whatever type of LEDs you want to run.

sparrow

I don't like. I like the idea but dont like the red. Too boy-racerish for my tastes.

takeshi

It's partially the exposure. I mean, consider how bright the dash cluster is in the last 2 photos versus real life. This is why you have to be careful with relying on photos.

HannibalACP82

Out of curiosity what color would you have choosen? I was worried white would be too intense and since I had the red/black interior (best color combo IMHO) blue/green/yellow were out.

Red also has the advantage of not ruining your night vision so even if the footwelll lights were a bit brighter short of any glare issues they wouldn't be that distracting.

sparrow

white... I have white led's in my footwell but I don't leave them on when driving. They only come on when the door opens. I had color lighting in my car when I was in High School. Probably why I feel yours are boy-racerish.

HannibalACP82

Cool! Makes sense. I remember my best friend wired Blue LED pedals into his parents Mazda 626. I thought they were the coolest thing ever back then. I guess a part of me still likes them. haha