Kizashi Club

I decided I wanted to add daytime running LEDs instead of the hideous dimmed bright bulbs. iJDMToy.com offers multiple LED strips which is where I got mine from.
https://store.ijdmtoy.com/ProductDetail ... trip_SKU58
Here's the LED Strips. Because the gold film was showing through the clear vinyl, I taped off the LED section and then painted the base a brushed nickel color. Krylon for plastics is what I used. Next came the tough decision. In order to get the headlight assembly to come apart, I had to heat the rubber butyl adhesive holding it all together. so in the oven it went. 300 degrees for about 3 minutes. Be sure not to let any of the headlight touch the oven walls. Once out of the oven work quickly and pry apart the clear lens from the housing. if the black seal seems to tear instead of pull apart, put the headlight back in the oven to heat it up some more. With the lens off the housing, turn it over and look for 3 torx screws, size 10. To run the wiring through the frame, I drilled a small hole in the corner. Once it's turned over you won't see the hole and the wires will be hidden up under the lip of the frame. I used 3M double sided Automobile adhesive to attach the strip to the silver reflector and installed the reflector back to the clear lens with the 3 Torx screws. Drill a small hole on the backside of the headlight housing to route the wires through, then seal it with silicone. Put everything back together and place it back in the oven long enough to heat up the sealant then press together tightly. Repeat with the second headlight and put the front end of the car back together.
Now to get power to these.
In the fuse box in the Engine, find relay #33. its for the Rear Defogger. Remove the relay and the slot closest to the firewall is powered when the key is on or engine is running. Strip the wire, lay it in the slot then press the relay back down firmly. Ground the other wire to a generic ground somewhere in the engine compartment. Job well done! Audi who?? Mercedes what?? To turn off the factory daytime running lights, the plug is in the cabin, close to the brake pedal along the firewall as shown in the Service Manual, item #28. Just unplug it; however this also disables the Brights as well. I'm currently working on wiring in a relay that bypasses the daytime dimming function but restores the factory brights. That's a project for another day.

Awesome job!

Wish I would have had the guts to do that for mine. I like the bottom look. Not sure if I'm brave enough to bake my housing like that.

Finished product looks amazing though!

Would be nice to just find out what causes the voltage change for low/high. Be nice to bypass like you said.

Again great job!

Metatrox wrote:Awesome job!

Wish I would have had the guts to do that for mine. I like the bottom look. Not sure if I'm brave enough to bake my housing like that.

Finished product looks amazing though!

Would be nice to just find out what causes the voltage change for low/high. Be nice to bypass like you said.

Again great job!

Thanks! I like yours too. With the matte bumper covering it gives the front of your car an "angry" look. I'm considering the bumper vinyl but since I'm required to have a license plate in the front it seems it would make the plate stand out even more.

That's a very clean install. Awesome work! You're a brave man, but it's great to really see the DIY stuff start to take off.

Yeah I see what you mean about a front plate would stand out. Maybe not too bad though.

DIY is about all there is right now. LOL not enough aftermarket stuff yet.

Great DIY guide and awesome work!

As the others have said very brave also but that's what makes your car unique.

If i were going to do something like that id take the easy route and probably put 2 strips along where the fog lights are ( my kizashi doesn't have fogs ) I guess you would need waterproof led's.

Thanks everyone. I did hesitate at first about putting the headlight system in the oven however there's several things that I considered. In any area where the summer weather is extremely hot, it makes sense that the headlights and other pieces should hold up to extended high heat situations. Especially since the interior can exceed 120 or higher with the windows up, etc. Also, just because the temp of the oven was set at 300 degrees doesnt mean the headlight system actually reached a core temp of 300. all it was meant to do was increase the temp of the butyl sealant enough to make it pliable. Knowing what I know now it's not as big a deal as you'd think.

As i said before. Great Job! I might try this the day i have to take the bumper off and everything so i can replace the headlights with HID or something.

This looks amazing and I am quite jealous of the look. It just makes the car look more refined.
I am worried about doing this for a number of reasons though. One I just don't trust myself to do this correctly and wiring was never my forte. The biggest worry I had though was that baking the lights might oxidize the the clear plastic light covers. I have seen many cars driving around with lights that are supposed to be clear but they have been oxidized from weather exposure and I was thinking that baking at 300 degrees might accelerate this process. Can you continue to keep us updated to if this will cause oxidation and make the lights opaque.

This all being said I still want this done and think it looks awesome.

amettman wrote:This looks amazing and I am quite jealous of the look. It just makes the car look more refined.
I am worried about doing this for a number of reasons though. One I just don't trust myself to do this correctly and wiring was never my forte. The biggest worry I had though was that baking the lights might oxidize the the clear plastic light covers. I have seen many cars driving around with lights that are supposed to be clear but they have been oxidized from weather exposure and I was thinking that baking at 300 degrees might accelerate this process. Can you continue to keep us updated to if this will cause oxidation and make the lights opaque.

This all being said I still want this done and think it looks awesome.

If I crash into a tree at night because my headlight lens were cloudy you guys will be the first to know.