I've noticed how absolutely true that statement is. It's funny how, at least from what I've seen, other car forums don't "dive in" like FD guys do. Most of the others seem to be more "oh look at my CAI" or "look I painted my valve cover". Here, run of the mill topics are like "I'm designing my own OEM replacement tail lights." Or "I decided to pull my motor for more aggressive porting".

 

Do you know the legality of having yellow parking lights on tail lights?

 

I was wondering about about that too. I am working on v2.0 of my tails where the amber ring is red instead.

 

Can you do all three red, with all three flashing for the blinker? Many modern cars don't have Amber at all in the tail. I like the Amber though.

 

I am trying to do it better with sequential turns.

 

Either red or amber is allowed for the rear turn signal lamps. The parking (running) lights have to be red.

The actual requirement is listed in 49CFR, 571.108.

 

Damn, I really like the look of the yellow there.

 

away with the amber!

 

The pics makes it look funny, but the inside two rings are actually red. The outside one is amber. When you hit the brakes, that is red also and when you activate the turn signal, the outer amber rings flash amber (and are filled in the inside with amber).

I think this is legal but since I wasn't putting these on the market, it wasn't as big a deal.

I do know with taillights and headlights, putting on an "off road only" disclaimer means nothing and won't absolve you of legal liability. Nobody is going to care though as long as the lights are equal to or brighter than the OEM units.

 

Ya, I see that. I like the look of two red and one amber. If I could do that and keep it legal I'd be happy. Guess I'll have to go talk to the CHP in my area.

 

That's the OEM configuration - so I don't understand why you would think the color alone would make it illegal...?

-M

 

Having a parking light/daylight running light on the brakes that is always on and is yellow/amber I believe is legal right? Unless it's a blinker that is only on when you're actually signaling.... This is always on for the outer ring though, which I like but don't believe I could run with, cops are picky out here.

 

Can't edit this, I meant illegal*

 

I added the third ring on my car because of the Pettit flares I run, aka "baby's got back".

When I added the third ring, I thought it would look weird to try to run a red LED circle behind the amber lens of the turn signal. Hence, the third amber ring on the outside that serves as a parking light. Had considered just having the ring and its middle come on only with the turn signal, but I think it looks better on my car to have all three on at one time. On a car without the Pettit flares, the two-ring setup looks great. I did a set for another forum member and got to see them in person. In fact, I think he still runs them on his car.

Easy to swap back the wiring if I were to ever need to do it.

Now I just need to wire up the sequential turn signal option (aka Mustang style) and I will be done. Bought the components to do this around 2 years ago but they have been sitting in my car down at Kilo Racing.

 

If you kept it a two red ring set up, it would be cool if the blinker flashed Amber 'ring, dot, ring, dot'

 

Dam sequential would be sexy

 

Third brake light prototype.

 

Maybe you could post up a pick of "stock" versus your upgrade so we could see the brightness difference?

 

Stock is running at 14.2v with new bulbs so slightly higher than running voltage. Led is running 12v at 2/3 power. I have to under drive the leds because at night they are just overkill at full current.

 

^maybe a night shot would better demonstrate the difference in brightness. Just a suggestion....

 

Best I can do.

 

^Much better. Yea, the light distribution on the LED bar is much brighter and very even. Thanks for taking the time to show us!!

 

I would love to get even just the third brake light even if I dont do an LED conversion to the tail lights. The brightness alone would get more people to notice that I am hitting the brakes.

 

I am offering free third brake conversions for the first five people in my taillight group buy. There are a few spots left.

I will be offering just third brake lights here in a couple weeks.

 

Per Peter Hahn's request, pics of my recently completed 99 spec LED diffused circle turn signals. Check out my build thread for more details.

I started with these from RX7Boutique:



They offer a number of different styles but I liked the thick black lip on this style. After the retrofit, ended up with this:



When you turn the car on, then the LED rings activate as well as an outer "DRL" bulb:



When you activate the turn signal, then the white DRL bulb goes out and the amber blinks:



Finally, when you turn on the headlights, then the white outer DRL bulb goes out (too bright at night) and the inner parking light comes on: