My Transformer and LED light obsessed build

[nicave13@gmail.com]

Living in Vegas and driving through Casino security check points with my lights on I kept hearing, "But does it talk?" I decided to make my Bumble Bee talk by installing speakers behind the grille. They are little outdoor bookshelf speakers powered by a little motorcycle amp mounted under driver side dash. It is on a switch and has a 3.5mm input for my MP3 player and it is attached to my full car stereo through the adapter I installed for the subs. It is actually my front channel for those stereo people out there I made a quick 3 minute play list of Transformer sounds and songs to play when the need arises. The unintended side effect is I can now listen to music with the doors and windows closed, like when I'm washing the car. Yes, I listen to stereo while spraying her down!!!

My girlfriend said it wasn't loud enough... So I also installed 2 marine 6X9's in the front wheel wells. Yes, I'm crazy but they work perfect. I am using the front bumper as an enclosure and they even have decent bass!!! The real limiting factor is the amp, doesn't quite have enough power. It is wired perfect with all for speakers running a 4 ohm load, the amp's max. Worked from day one, and no issues to date. You can hear them in the first video, but is better in person.

Pic of speakers in place, and not visible when bumper is re-installed. Pic's of wheel well speakers.

Video's

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=...e=2&permPage=1

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=...e=2&permPage=1

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=...e=2&permPage=1

[nicave13@gmail.com]

It happened at home, on a Friday before 7 pm. Obviously I was in my apartment, but I can't see my car over the railing. We did have an unlocked gate that faces a Wal-Mart parking lot and there was always trouble coming our way. I feel it was a neighbor who always parked next to me, and when I washed my car got hers got wet, but it was never clean anyway. Either way, those that don't have hate those that do and I got keyed.

I had numerous rock chips and other issues I wanted taken care of so I got the car painted. The major rock chips came from driving down a gravel road once before I got the mud flaps. I had a local "shop" do the job who was recommended by my upholsterer. They did not do a great job. Paint buildup in places, swirl marks and even some burns from poor buffing and the rear bumper itself doesn't match the rear fenders. Keep in mind I wanted factory good, and I'm a perfectionist. They did basically paint the entire rear of the car and repaired a couple dings for less than $1500, which my Apt. Complex covered $800 of because of unlocked gate and my ability to negotiate While they were at it I had them paint the lower black exhaust area. One year later and it still looks great.

[nicave13@gmail.com]

These are minor things that make the car better. Recently I saw a young guy's Camaro who had painted his mufflers. I thought black would look better than the shiny silver they have been. I think it makes them kinda disappear

Oh, best mod ever, Transformers License Plate frame :-0 lol

[nicave13@gmail.com]

Being me I was browsing you tube for cool stuff one day and found video's of Bimmers in Europe that had white glowing wheels. So I started to research. I found a US company that made them, $500 plus for kits any single color. Found some guys on e-bay that had a kit for $150 that did white or red but were super sketchy... So I said to myself, self, I can do better. I will beat the cost, and do all the colors with RGB.

So I set about making a prototype bracket on a rear wheel and driving around with it on for a couple days with no issues. Then a front wheel, still waiting for my parts anyway. No issues again Finally got the lights and wired one side of the car up, than the other. Mind you their is a 4 wire set running from wheel to wheel on each side then through the firewall and to below driver and the controller box. While I was at it, I figured might as well make the front fog lights and grilles match right? Than I added lights to the footwells, mostly to keep an eye on what was going on outside, but are very cool as well. Oh, did I mention I got them to flash in time with the music? Well why wouldn't I? I mean I have outdoor speakers and all.

So finally I think I'm done. I have crazy wheel lights, fog's, grilles lite up, and footwell lighting that all match!!! So my friend Melanie says, what about the back? Ugh!!! Really? She wanted one of those big strips like trucks have below their bed, I said no, not classy I came up with my idea on the spot, light up the back up lights to match!!! Well, easier said than done. I had to order individual 3 watt RGB led's. Got two kinds just in case. One was an easy four wire soldier job, the other had separate powers for each color and the grounds, yup 6 soldiers total! Attached them to metal brackets with a metal type adhesive to conduct heat, silicon-ed the faces for water resistance, b/c they are outside after all. Oh, did I mention I had to compute the correct ohms, voltage, and resistors they would need to not blow up or cause a fire? Than I had to take off and remove the bumper, anyone that has done this knows it's a two man job, not me, by myself!!! And without scratching it, with my painted lower panel intact :P Plus I had to run one more 18' wire up to the controller for them. Went through trunk this time, not the rocker panels outside like last time. Oh, it worked the first time and still does!!!

The pic's don't give away all my secrets, as it is the only one in the world I know of like it. You can see the prototype bracket, behind the wheel, installed, me working on it in the winter, and a bunch of the finished product. Than the LED's I used for the rear, the brackets, and finally a shot of them lit up. I lost all the pic's of the wiring in the back bumper. From outside when they are off you would never see them, but there are two per light. I mounted them at an angle facing opposite ways to get a better spread. Didn't realize how low they are, and they face directly out. Much brighter when you are low, or far away. Still...

Finally check out my vids, they are awesome!!! First is showing music matching mode, with Rob Zombie and real audio from camera. Second is with the car in motion.





New video compilation, check out the end of me driving on Las Vegas Blvd past the Las Vegas sign!!!

Finally flashing to the music, but can't hear it.

[nicave13@gmail.com]

Yeah, beauty looks good with more beauty Some are friends and some are/were girlfriends. Enjoy the beauty, and keep the comments clean

The third to last picture is by far my favorite, of the car. It is a girl holding the door handle and it reminds me of the movie Transformers and the line, “Fifty Years from now, when you’re looking back at your life, Don’t you want to be able to say you Had the Guts to Get in The Car?”

Enough said.

[driyac]

I need the numbers of the two girls please..... Haha

Great car btw

[nicave13@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by driyac

I need the numbers of the two girls please..... Haha

Great car btw

The top two? They are Canadian eh And thanks!!!

[nicave13@gmail.com]

I've had the subs in the car for about a year now, and it was finally time to finish the trunk. For the longest time I couldn't think of what to do, to set it apart to be unique. I also wanted to continue the Transformers theme.

My first idea was a Bumble Bee "installation" art type project on the inner trunk lid. The piece itself is very odd in shape, has ridges and valley's and overall impossible to reproduce easily. So I decided to simply hang a picture like thing on the inner lid. To make it unique I wanted it to be Bumble Bee with lit up eyes. It took me forever to find, and only did because they just came on the market, LED rings small enough to make the eyes. Originally I was gonna re-use my original Halo's with RGB LED's. They are huge though, and would not be possible. I made it with infinity edges top and bottom and solid black frames on the left and right edges. I then had to trim it to fit the trunk opening. Honestly it looks better in photos than in person.

My next idea was making the entire floor of the trunk a picture of BB. This one was gonna be hard. I used the mat as a template, traced it on white plastic fiber board for support. Then I was lucky enough to find a 150 DPI photo I liked and had it turned into a laminated vinyl poster. I first tried Office Max, said no because of copyright laws... Whatever, Kinko's never even mentioned it, but did cost twice as much!!! Poster was 68x29" and I cropped it down to around 55x27". I cropped it to really show off what was there, and I think it turned out amazing.

Last phase for the trunk, lighting the woofers. I looked at ton's of video's on Youtube about LED's and lighting subs. Time and time again I saw around the woofer light up, or neons, etc. But nobody, but nobody had the woofers themselves light up. I knew I could do it. Same place with the little rings sold bigger ones that fit perfectly around the pictures I already had mounted on my woofer cone dust covers. Unfortunately they did not sell them in RGB, just single colors. Well, BB's eyes were already blue in the movie so I made all my inside trunk lights blue. All same shade and match. After I figured it all up and thought it through I knew it would work. People said, ohhhh the weight, will they stay on... etc. Well not only do they work, they look awesome!!! I had to remove the speakers, drill holes in the cone and box to allow wires in. I modified the rings and affixed them onto the pictures just in case I needed to make changes.

Now here's the kicker. I planned all this in a couple days and finished the install in 4!!! I have a life and found time here and there to work on it, but it came together very fast!!! Please leave feedback and tell me what you think.

New HD vids!!!!!!!!!!

[Jamie Mac]

I just don't know where to begin but that's probably for the best. Good luck

[IROCanSS]

Wow. Maybe my dad was on to something....

[MudderFinger]

Awesome work man, I really like this stuff.

[Rangore]

Pretty cool!

[nicave13@gmail.com]

Thank you, and thanks to everyone.

Originally Posted by MudderFinger

Awesome work man, I really like this stuff.

[nicave13@gmail.com]

So the obsession continues... I've seen what everyone else was doing with the ABL in our Camaro's. I liked the ideas, but I knew I could do better. No longer ambient, but more of a show!!! I got the idea working on a buddy's car. I wanted something a little more unique.

I researched Dream Color moving LED's for a week! All from China, but I wanted a local distributor. Got the right ones without separate power and all 12V!!! However they do need 12V regulated so the car's system wasn't gonna cut it at over 15V sometimes. Ended up using a AC inverter back into the DC power supply for exactly 12V all the time. Wired it all up inside the center console and mounted the power brick up under the gauge pack. Ran wiring through the factory hoses and modified the plugs to get the controller wires into the doors.

Next I sanded the paint of the top strip of all four pieces to allow the light to shine through. I cut up the strips and wired everything up. You can see my test panel below and the wires laid out connected directly together. Used short wires inside the car to get them all together and working in unison. The wiring was easy, it was the sanding, fitting and making everything look the best I could.

All this is on or off with a switch or controlled with a RF remote that works farther than you can see the car Visible day or night, but yes, to bright at night for driving. When off you can barely tell they are there, just a small white strip at the top of the panels. Please tell me thoughts, and be kind, probably got thirty hours in this project.

Check out pics below, but first the video!!!

New day time HD Vid!!!