Ho Ho Hoooo
Happy Holidays from Blue Cav Customs!
I would like to offer you guys a little something I discovered recently in exchange for all of the great ideas and advice I have received here this year. Not all of you will be able to use it, but to those I offer my sincerest wishes for the coming year.
Ready? Let's begin.
Did you guys with power door locks know that GM originally intended for them to be lit?
I was messing around with mine one day, peeled off a sticker and lo and behold, ther was a place that looked like a bulb belonged there...
Here's the old door lock switch that we all know and love...
Now GENTLY remove the whole mechanism and flip it over. It's easier if you remove the door panel first and squeeze the retainer from behind.
In the first 2 pics below, you can see the area that lies beneath the sticker and the 4 contact points that I drilled the middle out of. In the third pic, you can see the inside where the bulb would go. Be VERY careful prying this switch apart but it can be done if you take your time and pry gently in the right places.
Your switch may be white, that's cool becuase I have sen both and they are the same mechanicly.
Now pop out the old black switch and have a look at the back. You can see that the plastic on the back is MUCH thinner, and that the thin area is ONLY where the white icon on the front is. At first, I thought that light would shine through the thinner plastic, but further research proved me wrong. By the way, do NOT drill until you have removed the switch or the drill could slip all the way through and puncture the switch and your hand (and I have the scar to prove it!)
Now I forgot to take a pic, BUT it is very easy to cut the square area in the switch out with an Exacto. When you are done, you will have a switch with no icons but hopefully a nice square hole in the middle (does not have to be perfect). Get some thin clear plastic that is easily cut (I used an Eclipse breath mint box and it worked perfect (see below) Cut a square that is slightly larger than the hole in your switch so you can trim it a little. You will eventually be able to pop it in to the hole and it should stay in by itself (small gaps are OK) See the second pic below.
We're mostly there, but of course this plastic is NOT going to stay there forever by itself. Fill the back of the switch with 1/16" of clear model glue (I used the blue tube from Testor's) or any other clear adhesive you trust that can be sanded. When the back dries overnight, cover the front of the switch with a thin layer, right on top of the plastic square you made. Be sure to fill all gaps/holes between the clear plastic and the black switch. When it's all dry, use a fine grain sandpaper to fuse it all together into one smooth piece (see pic below) The glue will dry a little bit opaque, which is a good thing because you do not want the light to be at 100% anyway. When turned on, it will show as a big square-shaped window of light.
Put the whole thing back together and wire in your choice of LEDs, making sure that you have a hole all the way through the switch so the light can get through. If you drill an 1/8" hole, a Plasmaglow LED will fit beautifully into the hole. If you do NOT have a power source wired into your doors (shame on you) you will need to do so, and there are plenty of people here to show you how (or email me).
Here is where my gift comes in. I had a small batch of thermal-print decals made up, black with silver icons. All you have to do now is stick them on by hand while the light is turned on, then use a heat gun to wrap them around the switch. Voila! Looks stock but now it lights!
Off
On! (this pic does not do it justice - better ones soon) The actual light is a darker blue, this is a daytime pic.
This project is probably NOT for everyone but if you are an LED freak like me, its perfect. I now have all of my stock lights in blue (even Power Window switches thanks to Buzz122) and all I have left are a few in the cluster (turn sigs, warning lights etc) which are getting done by a circuit board specialist this spring. I will have more pics of all this soon.
NOW, the first 10 people (serious modders who plan to actually do it only) to put their email here will get a gift of 2 decals by Christmas, free shipping. After that, I may need a small donation because it cost me 20 bucks to print these.
I would like to see pics of other colors, etc. I was gonna keep this to myself to be unique but I figured I owed the JBO community something special. I hope that it works out great for those who are interested.
Anyone who has trouble seeing any of the pics can check out the CarDomain page that hosts them:
Better Pics
Once again, Happy Holidays - I look forward to rebuilding my business in the New Year to better serve the Cav and Fire owners here. You guys have all been great.
Sincerely,
Steve Wood
Blue Cav Customs
bluecavcustoms@yahoo.com
