Illuminated Emblems DIY Style (Pics inside)

Did some up with white today! Still looks blue because of the blue background, but its a cooler blue, looks real nice. I wonder what the red would look like on the blue background....
Rear:

Front:


Matt

 

I really don't think it will attract any attention, unless your already driving recklessly. I have passed a number of cops, and haven't even seen them look. From what I've read they are less inclined to spot you if its an indirect light, as apposed to a blue forward facing led (hideous blue windshield nozzles....). These are merely a glow so I have my doubts they will stop anyone just for that. We can hope!

Post some pictures when you get it done up John, cant wait to see these on other cars!
Matt

 

EC-
Well, I've done my fair share of pulling trim off of cars.. my last car was a '95 neon...let me tell you that thing was held together with plastic fasteners!

The inside panel must be removed first, this is done by starting with the hatch open, and working your fingers under the bottom area where it contacts the painted hatch. Once your fingers are inside, and probably all cut up, pull the panel off, while working around the edges. Mine came off with a ton of force, but somehow none of the clips stayed in the hatch. They stayed where they were supposed to, in the plastic cover. However if they do pop out of the plastic, you must remove them from the metal hatch and reinstall on the panel before reinstalling the cover.

Next are four that hold on the outside trim, I believe they are 10 mm, could be wrong though. I had to use needle nose pliers on the two by the access button, as I didn't have a deep socket of the correct size. Once loose they thread off easy by hand.

Once all four nuts are removed, unplug the button, and the plate light harness's. Place a bunched up towel over the latch on the floor, and close the hatch nearly all the way. The towel will keep you from accidentally locking yourself out, remember the button is unplugged...

While the panel is in place, not how the rubber weather seal is positioned along the top of the trim panel. It attached to the rear window seal, and is overlapping the panel. This will be important to replicate when reinstalling the trim later.

Now the fun part! Grasp the rear plastic trim (the whole piece that runs horizontally above the plate, and houses the emblem) on the right side where it meets the metal body. CAREFULLY pry this away from the hatch JUST until you hear the plastic clips pop out. This will be loud, scary, and you will think you broke it. As long as you stop when it unclips, nothing should break.

Now work your way from right to left, grasping the trim on the bottom, and popping off each clip as you come to it. You can open the hatch to reference where they are, its best to pry from as close as possible to avoid any chance of breaking the trim panel.

Once all the clips are removed, it should come right off. The emblem can now be unclipped and removed.

While you can remove the emblem with the credit card trick, unless you take the rear panels off as described above, you wont have access to the wiring or to the plate light module where I run my wires through.

Let me know if I can be of any more help!
Matt

 

No problem! A pry tool would help, or use a wash cloth to protect your hands. I personally like doing it with my hands so I can tell exactly how much pressure I'm using, and where.

 

Some new photos!

















Matt

 

Aaron- First four are the blue on the rear emblem, the rest are the front. Seems the rear lights a bit brighter, at least on the low voltage power pack I use to test them indoors. On the car, its not as noticeable, but still a bit dimmer. I think this may be in part to the size difference and the way the length of the el wire. Not positive though. Its not an issue to me though, since technically your not supposed to have forward facing blue lights I like it a bit dimmer in the front.

EC- I'm sorry, I totally forgot to take pictures of the back....I've got another set I'm putting together so I'll be sure to snap some for you.

Matt

 

EC-
Here are some pictures for you, sorry it took me so long!

 

Peter, I really wanted to try and do one with red and blue. That way it would shine blue but when you hit the brakes it would switch to red. Not sure how it would reflect, but I think it would be neat. Unfortunately the supplier of EL wire is out of stock of the thin EL wire that would be needed to do both colors in one emblem. They do have red in thicker wire, so just red is possible.
I'm really digging these plasti-dipped ones: