My New SC Tinker Toy :)

[Elemental One]

Floyd.......

wow ....some nice mods on the interior lighting.........

Are you on the peninsula???


-Robert

[floydkahue]

Thanks!
I'm in Southeast King County.

[Eww-an E]

Originally Posted by floydkahue

I put the cup holder on a 9V because it was easy. I'll hard wire it later.
If the lights fall off (which they probably will eventually) I'll Shoe Goo them down. IMO flipping the lights downward has pros & cons...it illuminates the cup holder better & doesn't shine in my eyes when I'm getting in the car, but it also doesn't illuminate clear cups & bottles as well.

Gotcha!

[floydkahue]

So, I got this Element in part as a good ski vehicle. I already know what you're going to say; why a 2wd SC? Well, since most of my driving won't be going to mountain, I'll get by with some nice snow tires. I'm not going off-road; I'm traveling highway & watching the reports for the nice days.

Other than missing 4wd, this is the perfect ski vehicle. But it needs mats to protect the carpet from all the snow and mud...





Ah. That's better. But what about the ski boots?



Yup. A cargo tray will do nicely.
But what if it's dark, wet, cold, & raining & I lose the keys while packing the car?
How 'bout we replace all the interior lights with super bright LED's so I can see where they went...



What's missing...oh yeah, a place to put the skis.



Now all I have to do is wait for the ski attachment to come in the mail :)

[box-E]

Nice SC nice modes and pics. Keep em coming.

[Slobadon]

Wow, You streamlined the third brake light and made it sooo much cleaner than mine. I like it all except the wiring method, I crimped a tapped mine into the original wiring plug.

I also like the Engine lighting, nice work!

[Tandemduo]

Nice stuff!

I might try that HM brake light idea.

[floydkahue]

Originally Posted by Slobadon

Wow, You streamlined the third brake light and made it sooo much cleaner than mine. I like it all except the wiring method, I crimped a tapped mine into the original wiring plug.

I also like the Engine lighting, nice work!

Yes, I'm familiar with your post:
http://www.elementownersclub.com/for...727&highlight=
This is one of the posts I checked out while planning my brake light. Clever solution for your mounting needs, & I especially like the extra long light.

The tricky part was getting the lights to point the right direction. Your lights required a structure. Mine had sticky tape on the backside, giving me the choice of sticking it on the outside of the car or making this structure. All of this could be avoided by putting some kind of clear adhesive on the other side; the light could be stuck to the interior of the glass, and would shine outside.

I forgot to show this; this is all you see of the cord when the clam shell is closed...about 3" of tube. Here you can see a final view of the trim, too. Sorry it's so dark...I'm using 2 flashlights and a dome light to take this iPad pic this evening :S

[floydkahue]

I finally finished the floor lighting. Wow, that was a lot of work.

I had installed white lighting before, but then decided the car would look better in red...actually, best in both ;)
I decided to get RGB lights and a remote to control the light color. I imagined this to be a simple light swap & module install. No dice. The RGB lights have 4 wires...black, red, green, & blue. The black wire is a positive ground, & the red, green & blue wires control the red, green, & blue colors.

In other words, none of my previous wiring was really going to work for me. I had to rip it all out & start fresh, only this time with double the wires to connect. The good news is, like most things it was easier & faster the second time around. I also made wiring improvements; everything is routed, connected & shielded beautifully; it's a particular pleasure to enjoy the lights knowing it's a quality install that will likely be hassle-free for the life of the car. It'll be a pleasure never to have to go in there again!

The controller I use to change the floor light color cost around $12 @ Superbrightleds. It has a variety of functions my kids will enjoy. I just got it so I can switch it to red when I'm cruising, & white when I drop my keys on the floor :)

[floydkahue]

Oh yeah...I topped off the light mod with a new bronze shifter :)
The the rootbeer metallic & bronze interior accents of the SC work really well with the red lights. I'm not going to get the bronze trim package, however; the piano black is more my style.