DIY part # for ABL (Pictures of Installation included!!!)

[n201mw]

Originally Posted by 2SSRS

Yes 2-3 mm i bend the pipe to get it as close as it will go.

Alright. Yours is drilled correct?

[2SSRS]

Yes, from the side into the instrument compartment, But that is because i sarted this mod the old way.

[TJ91]

Alright, so I finally had some free time and went out and bought weatherstripping.
Took the trim off, put the stripping on and took the trim off a few times to adjust the stripping. In the end, the right side of the panel looks great, then I hit a dead spot right above the radio which is really baffling me because everything is consistent with the right side of the trim.

I just have a few questions, I have quite a large gap though, ill measure it tommorow but its atleast 5mm or more. And I didnt snap in the clips because then it would close the gap or leave a 2mm distance with no light output.
So either, my gap is off, the weather stripping is off, or the way the tube is focused is off. Right now im leaning towards the tube being off.
How exactly did you guys focus the tube?
Is the white strip facing 6 oclock position(straight down) If 3 was facing the seats, and 9 was facing the engine, I would say my white strip is at 7o'clock. Hope you guys understand what I mean in relation to the clock.
And should I be snapping in these clips? It looks very unfinished from outside the car lol
Im going to give it another shot before I just say screw it and sand the panels

[Batman0837]

The intensity of the light is brightest opposite the white stripe due the reflection off of the stripe then the tube acts as a magnifying lens of sorts. So as you describe the seating area at 3 o'clock and straight down at 6. you would want the stripe around 7ish to shine out around 2 o'clock towards the top of the trim. I am in the process of doing this myself but my light pipe isn't here yet. I've been experimenting with the light pipe from the door to figure this out. I have also installed foil tape to help reflect some of the light towards the trim. If you don't want any gaps, there is practically no way to get out of sanding the trim and it appears that you need to go just a bit below the bevel depending on how much light you want. If you decide to sand, do it in increments to be safe.

Here are some pics of mine so far...

Foil tape





Testing at night, again I won't know much else until I get my fiber optics in...The pipe you see here is from the door.





This the driver side with no pipe, top sanded.

[TJ91]

Hey Batman, thanks for the clarification. Im going to tamper with it some more and see what I can get out of it. The foil tape looks like it will help alot

[Gene Culley]

I thought about the weatherstrip idea further. Since the back of the panel is lit up I can see the top of 1/4 part of the panel in a translucent manner. If you add the weatherstrip you're going to be able to see that from the front and it won't look good.

[TJ91]

Originally Posted by Gene Culley

I thought about the weatherstrip idea further. Since the back of the panel is lit up I can see the top of 1/4 part of the panel in a translucent manner. If you add the weatherstrip you're going to be able to see that from the front and it won't look good.

Hey Gene, I taped off the panel so that the only thing glowing is the exposed line. The weatherstripping sits on the taped edge so you cant see it when lit up.
Im just trying to figure out if people clipped in the panel and how big of a gap people have

[Gene Culley]

Originally Posted by TJ91

Hey Gene, I taped off the panel so that the only thing glowing is the exposed line. The weatherstripping sits on the taped edge so you cant see it when lit up.
Im just trying to figure out if people clipped in the panel and how big of a gap people have

I see what you're saying. I didn't tape anything off, so I do believe I would still see it back there.

[TAG UR IT]

God, how I wish I could help you guys on this IN PERSON.

Scott was in my car at the Fest. He took one look at my ABL and said, "Now THAT is how the ambient lighting should have looked! How did you do that? And it's even brighter than how we had it done." I will say I quoted him....and that's the absolute best quote I can do from what I remember.

Yes, the white line edge has to be in the ?? 7 ?? position...if the floor board is 6 and the seats are 3. I used a light source on either side of my light pipe.

THEN...

You want to use the weather stripping (not too thick or OBVIOUSLY the panel is going to sit waaaaay too far out from the dash). Home Depot has a gabillion types of weather stripping in all sizes, thicknesses, widths, etc etc etc. I can measure if you need.

Cut strips of the weather stripping to go between the snap in parts. Line it up so that the weather stripping sits more to the top of the panel. THIS is what is going to hold the light pipe UP and will in effect keep the insert/panel sitting away from the dash about 2 to 3mm. Any more distance than that will surely allow you to see the light pipe when the panel/insert is pushed and snapped back in. If it won't go, you got too thick of weather stripping. If you have too big of a gap in one spot, it might be due to the weather stripping being too high...or the light pipe being too high pushing the panel out too far.

Foil Tape. Been there done that. It's gone...out of the car. There is absolutely no need for foil tape unless you want your dash brighter than your doors. Again, I've tried it. Two lights...one on either side. pointed in the right direction will allow a perfectly matched amount of light (brightness) compared to the doors. Fail tape is not the way to go.

I don't mean to sound like a know it all and you guys are obviously more than welcome to try any way you want. I've spent a good 40(ish) hours perfecting the dash ABL and have done tons of methods...sanding - no sanding, one/two lights, foil/no foil, drill / no drill, El Wire, spacers, velcro, weather stripping....I've done so many different things and spent well over $600 trying to perfect this....and now? Mine is absolutely perfect. Again, I wish I could help y'all out since it only takes about 20min to do a car. Shoot...probably less than that if all the tools are out. But, just my .02cents...

IT WILL WORK!

[TJ91]

lmao Tag, your 40ish hours part killed me. All I could think of was the Dremmel LOL
Thanks Tag for the info, I did exactly what you said. Guess I need to tweak it some more. My fingers are still bruised from the other day but ill give it a shot tomorrow. Thanks for the help Tag. Oh PS ill see you at Oshawa, bring Ice, your fingers will need it haha

[TJ91]

but you are snapping back the clips all the way in? I tried that and had no light output with the tube facing 7 o'clocl and the gap at about 2mm. Ill try it again tommorow, if all else fails, ill take a video of the questions and my car lol

[TAG UR IT]

yep. I pushed it all the way back in. But, it won't go exactly all the way back in simply because of the weather stripping. Smooshing the insert into place but having weather stripping there won't really allow it to go all the way back in. It'll pop into place, but pressure will push it out SLIGHTLY at the top...where the weather stripping (WS) is. The light pipe will sit above the WS. ...it'll kind of be like a triangle at the top with the pipe in the middle. I need to draw a pic for you somehow...hrm...

[TAG UR IT]

here....quick drawing...

[SummoneR]

Like this.

[SummoneR]

Doh I see you beat me to it ha haa.

[irocnroll]

Summon, I think you want the light pipe rotated about 60degrees so the light actually reflects off of the dash pad.

[RSokie]

What diameter of light pipe do I need to get?
Does anyone know a site to get them from?

[TJ91]

WOW YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!
Thanks for the diagrams, it helps alot!

[Batman0837]

Originally Posted by RSokie

What diameter of light pipe do I need to get?
Does anyone know a site to get them from?

You want 5pm pipe if you are using the GM LEDS...

I got my sideglow cable in the other day and while it kind of works, it's not all that I hoped. It's pretty critical that the fiber optics have a white line light the fiber optics from the door lighting. After plugging in the sideglow cable right out of the box I was pretty disappointed. The. I drew a white line on it with a whiteout pen. What a difference! Problem is the whiteout doesn't stick to the fiber optics so now I need to find a more permanent way to get a thin line on there...touch up paint is next thing to try...also you can't make the stripe too wide it seems. It would be so much easier if the other pipe wasn't discontinued :(

[irocnroll]

Originally Posted by RSokie

What diameter of light pipe do I need to get?
Does anyone know a site to get them from?

They have been discontinued, but the diameter is 5mm. 2SS is working on a replacement. He should have new information shortly.

[TonyNo]

For those thinking that normal, 5mm rod will work, it won't. It won't have that special protrusion to bounce the light out correctly.

[SummoneR]

Originally Posted by irocnroll

Summon, I think you want the light pipe rotated about 60degrees so the light actually reflects off of the dash pad.

The angle I drew is the angle my pipe is at and it looks great. Just depends on how far down the pipe is I guess each person has to find that balance. My gap is pretty small too and the panels snapped back into place too I may sand the top and push the pipe further in to get rid of the gap.

[CaniacFan]

I really hate you guys with skill. I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and pay somebody to do my ABL for me (unless of course someone does the install while I'm in Oshawa).. just kiddin... But that means I gotta find a Camaro owner who actually knows what they're doing. Hope to see you all there. Lori

[Batman0837]

Originally Posted by TonyNo

For those thinking that normal, 5mm rod will work, it won't. It won't have that special protrusion to bounce the light out correctly.

Anything that the tube can magnify will work to reflect the light. The trick now is finding or making something with either the white protrusion or a simple stripe will work if you can get it to stick...

[SummoneR]

Originally Posted by Batman0837

Anything that the tube can magnify will work to reflect the light. The trick now is finding or making something with either the white protrusion or a simple stripe will work if you can get it to stick...

You might be able to sand one edge of the pipe/tube to give it a frosted effect which may reflect the light enough.