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

[TJ91]

Wow that looks great! Hope I can do the same
im still waiting for my light pipe DAMN YOU SHIPPING, DAMNN YOU!

[buzzy56]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

Exactly. It's the 2nd or 3rd insert...connector...whatever...from the left on teh passenger side that keeps "sucking itself in." It's pissing me off. I'll pick up some clear rubber style bumpers if I can find any. You don't have any pix, do you? of the bumpers? I'm going to need to put in one or two right at ...well, at two points if I want perfection...(which I obviously want!!!)

Hey check out "Menard's" I purchased some clear small bumpers there to use on my kitchen cupboards 2 yrs ago after I refaced them . Used for door(bumpers). I will stop and pick some more up for my install this week.Have her all apart waiting for it to warm up a little to finish maybe Wednesday.
The speedo trim was a bear to remove without breaking tabs (whew) but other than that I went slow and everything is going well.Would be nice to see pics of area where additional shims need to be added.Would save a lot of install and removal time and chance of breakage to trim pcs.

[Huggerorange73]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

Exactly. It's the 2nd or 3rd insert...connector...whatever...from the left on teh passenger side that keeps "sucking itself in." It's pissing me off. I'll pick up some clear rubber style bumpers if I can find any. You don't have any pix, do you? of the bumpers? I'm going to need to put in one or two right at ...well, at two points if I want perfection...(which I obviously want!!!)

Originally Posted by buzzy56

Hey check out "Menard's" I purchased some clear small bumpers there to use on my kitchen cupboards 2 yrs ago after I refaced them . Used for door(bumpers). I will stop and pick some more up for my install this week.Have her all apart waiting for it to warm up a little to finish maybe Wednesday.
The speedo trim was a bear to remove without breaking tabs (whew) but other than that I went slow and everything is going well.Would be nice to see pics of area where additional shims need to be added.Would save a lot of install and removal time and chance of breakage to trim pcs.

Let me see what I can do over the next couple of days!

[TAG UR IT]

Sweet deal, man!

I just want to see how you positioned them. I can guess how you did it, but want to make sure. Because, if you don't do it right, you get a shadow and that jacks up the light. So, it has to be below the tube or above it, but clear.

[JCO2185]

yea me too, im having the same exact problem

[TAG UR IT]

Going to pick up some of those clear spacers tomorrow at Home Depot...see what I can do. Hold up...won't be able to mess with it till the weekend. Don't have a car! HA!


Damn...

[chris0834]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

Notice how the ABL is the same brightness as the doors. ...and same width too.



Yes. I had mirrored tape in mine all the way across. It really wasn't necessary to use if you are sanding the top edge of the insert or it's going to be too bright. My suggestion is to get a third GM light and not use the tape. But hey....give it a shot and see what happens. I'm afraid that the far end is going to be too dim. I've done it and well, it was dim, but you might think otherwise. It all depends on YOUR liking. For example, my bud Mike was shown the new install and he decided to go back to the sanded insert and get a thick blue light across the dash. He liked it brighter. I liked it dimmer and matching to the doors. No biggie...whatever you like.

So how did u set it up to match the doors

[Merc]

[buzzy56]

Well almost finished my ABL light install yesterday.Got the passenger side done and funny thing was the dash trim on the passenger side snapped all the way in flush.Picked up some 3/8" ths. diameter clear button vinyl selfstick bumper's from ACE hardware to shim the trim with. The light appeared a little dim but was continuous all the way across.Started on the drivers side and the trim had too much of a gap . So I drilled from the speedo side & tried that & it looked worse.Went back and used the extra hole once again and repositioned the pipe & bingo the light intensity matched the doors perfectly.I then waited to dark and took a look and the passenger looked weaker.Pulled the trim back off and found that passenger door side led had a bad solder joint at the resistor & when I pushed on it it would light and when I flexed it it would go out causing difference in illumination.I did tape off between the led wires well, and around the led a the wires but apparently not enough in the vicinity of the resistor.Called and ordered (2) more LEDs and hopefully they will be here before the weekend so that I can finish it up.The drivers side came out extremely well and I am pleased with the match. Thanks to 2ssrs and Tag and Gene Culley for piloting this mod.Very helpful bunch of people on this site.

[TAG UR IT]

Sucks to hear about the resistor, but it'll all get fixed and will shine as though it should have been stock. Post up some pix once you get it all complete. ...and I STILL need to go and get some clear sticky spacers....lol... I have ONE spot that has now become dark. UGH!

[buzzy56]

Yea, kind of disappointing for sure.Wanted it done and ready for the road.
Funny thing I was just looking at a picture I had saved off the site showing the led uncased.Man the solder connection to the resistor was a big fat ball of solder on both sides of wires in that pic.Mine had a very small amount of solder in comparison.I hope that because of increased demand they are not reducing the amount of solder on the LEDs to save cost's.One thing I forgot to put in the original post was that I notched out the clear bracket's on the driver's side with a dremel to allow for a more uniform gap.It really made a difference on that side.Perfect match to the door. LED's do in Monday a.m. hopefully install and pics Tuesday night. Oh and I placed the plastic clear bumber's on the back of the passenger side trim to even out the gap.Once I get the new led on the right side I will probably have to add more or remove some depending on how intense the light is with both LED's lit.Oh well fun project anyway.

[TJ91]

anyone have tips on how to get the gauges trim out?

[buzzy56]

Originally Posted by TJ91

anyone have tips on how to get the gauges trim out?

Check "search" abl "install in do it yourself section. Gene Culley has step by step with pics on install . Very helpful to me. Hint- very -very carefully or you will break something.Comes out really hard.But if you go really slow and are careful & do not force anything you will be alright.

[TJ91]

Originally Posted by buzzy56

Check "search" abl "install in do it yourself section. Gene Culley has step by step with pics on install . Very helpful to me. Hint- very -very carefully or you will break something.Comes out really hard.But if you go really slow and are careful & do not force anything you will be alright.

Thanks man!
I havnt gotten the light tube yet so I figured i'd get all the lights wired up and tackle the hardest aspect of the install so I can just fit the tube in when I get it.
Well, after about 3 hours, I got all three lights put in place. I think getting the gauges out was the easiest part and I thought it would be the hardest. The damn dash trim took forever to get off. I had a friend help me and a few times we thought we had cracked the trim. My fingers are numb but we got the job done. I found that this piece also has a defect on it as it has a green mark on it which I first mistaked it to be a scratch.
I see multiple posts here of people tweaking the ABL, my question is how are you guys getting the trim pieces off and on? I left my trim pieces off because I just dont want to go through the trouble of having to take it back out when the light pipe gets here. Getting those out was HELL!
Only problem I have now is that gauge trim piece is not snapping into place, so ill have to re tackle that problem later, just one clip didnt go in