Afterburner 2.0 Installation Tips and Lessons Learned - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

hesster · 02-21-2016, 09:43 AM

Bought a set of 2.0's in Plasma and got a great price from JDP. Was tempted to puss out and get the round style (easier to install cause they conform and stick to the Lens Better), but felt the 2.0's were better looking. So researched all of the install stuff on the forum and Web, and gotta say, the Oracle Video on cutting open the assembly's to get the lens off looked WAY too easy. Yeah - heat them, and just cut a little and Wha-Laa, the lens will pop right off. Uhhh - no way, at least not for me. After minor butchering of one of the Len's I bought a replacement. Note - it is real easy to cut too close to the inner part of the lens and it will look like crap. I used a Dremmel and thin cutoff wheel, and what a mess. Reference the first picture here!

So fortunately replacements are inexpensive and less than $40 from A1 Auto, and then practiced on my butchered Lens before I started in on the others. I purchased a #543 1.25" Carbide from Home D at $17 figuring this would work better, and it did. I also decided to not even try cutting the housing where the Lens joins it, and instead cut just flush inside of the step in the Black Housing, so the lens is not touched. This made for a clean cut, and minimal gaps in mating the parts back together. A steady hand and eating plastic dust is what it takes. After some light filing to clean up the cut edges I went at adhering the Plasma Afterburner LEDs to the clear lens. I have heard that pressing on them to stick can cause cracking and failure, so I only lightly pressed on them to stick, and used a good grade of 2 part plastic epoxy and dabbed some on the ends of each afterburner, and then at the center (if you look closely at the pic you can see it). Since they DO NOT conform to the Lens profile, they will only marginally stick at the ends and at the center. Do not get any on the outer surface of the Led strips, just at the edges or sides. Don't need much, but they will not fall off if you do this. And drill the holes for the wires large enough to get the small white connector into the housing, and pull ALL of the slack out of the wires inside and tuck them along the side of the Lens - you will need all of the length to orient the Purple Resistors, and you CANNOT lengthen these wires. Then you see the little Purple Resistors that I think are unique to the Plasma's. They can only be mounted as shown or the Lens Assembly will not fit back into the rear end tail light housing! Found this out in a hurry and the first one. In the orientation shown they will just clear a little hump opening in the rear end tail light housing that is in-line with the mounting bolt on the tail light assembly. Note that the OUTBOARD Lens's must have the rib trimmed back to allow it to fit flush on the housing. A little dab more of epoxy secures them. At each step, I tested the lights to ensure they worked, especially before I sealed the housing. Lastly, I centered each Housing on the Lens, epoxied each corner, let it dry, and then used Clear Silicone to final seal them. They look great, and are BRIGHT! Now it is time to install them and wire them - the "Easy" Part.
I hope this detail helps anyone wanting to undertake the installation of these.

chozn4service · 02-21-2016, 10:39 AM

I bought some LED's that I plan to install on some extra tail lamps I have in the garage. I'm hoping to get them cut open, mounted and closed back up nicely and hope they work the way that I want. If my current Technostalgia ever go bad, I'll switch back to these and hope that my LED rings will be on as my park lights and then centers light up as brake lights. We'll see...... Can't wait to see you pics when done.

hesster · 02-21-2016, 01:53 PM

And the finished product.

chozn4service · 02-21-2016, 01:56 PM

Very nice! If you get time, a night shot would be sweet! Curious how that affect looks and I take it the centers come on when brakes applied (all on)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DarkCry956 · 02-21-2016, 09:30 PM

They look amazing. I've had them since they came out with them. Some lights (3-5) on some strips have gone out though. Can't really tell since they're bright and the rest make up for it

DarkCry956 · 02-21-2016, 09:34 PM

Looks like 5 are out from this pic

AllBlackSS · 02-22-2016, 08:42 AM

Looks good. This is on my mod list but I'm scared to cut open the lights in fear of messing them up.

evergrn · 02-22-2016, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingmike

Looks good. This is on my mod list but I'm scared to cut open the lights in fear of messing them up.

cutting the lenses off isnt that bad if you take your time. i used a dremel with diamond cutting wheel to slowly take small amounts of the red lens off. Just work in a well lit area and use safety googles. The little plastic shavings can fly towards your eyes while cutting with the dremel.

heres a link to a diy afterburner write up i did years ago

AllBlackSS · 03-29-2016, 03:45 PM

Well guys I finally got around to installing my afterburners. The install was pretty straight forward with the hardest part being the cutting obviously. Big shout out to the OP for recommending the carbide bit that made it a breeze. I went with the 1.0 instead of the 2.0 because I like the shape better. Here is a pic

davesnever · 03-29-2016, 09:36 PM

Just a quick note, I have not done my tail lights yet but i did my fogs the other day which is basically the same procedure and the housings are built very similarly as well. What I ended up using was a ceramic tile wet saw. It was super easy to use because of the fence it had to hold the lens against and the wet saw blade is thin and of course no dust with the wet saw.

MackMan · 03-30-2016, 07:54 PM

How did you wire these up? I have a set, just never can find a definite answer what wires to tap into..

rwhxk3 · 04-02-2016, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MackMan

How did you wire these up? I have a set, just never can find a definite answer what wires to tap into..

Oracle should send instructions with the halos that tell which wires to splice into. I had Ofer and gen5diy make me a plug and play harness so I didn't have to splice into my factory wires.

davesnever · 04-02-2016, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwhxk3

Oracle should send instructions with the halos that tell which wires to splice into. I had Ofer and gen5diy make me a plug and play harness so I didn't have to splice into my factory wires.

If you mean splicing in the resistors this may help.

rwhxk3 · 04-09-2016, 02:59 PM

No, I just didn't want to tap into my factory harness, so I had a harness built that let my afterburners run off my parking lights.

02-21-2016, 09:43 AM	#1
hesster Drives: '10 C5 SS, '77 Bandit T/A Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Michigan Posts: 635 View My Garage	Afterburner 2.0 Installation Tips and Lessons Learned Bought a set of 2.0's in Plasma and got a great price from JDP. Was tempted to puss out and get the round style (easier to install cause they conform and stick to the Lens Better), but felt the 2.0's were better looking. So researched all of the install stuff on the forum and Web, and gotta say, the Oracle Video on cutting open the assembly's to get the lens off looked WAY too easy. Yeah - heat them, and just cut a little and Wha-Laa, the lens will pop right off. Uhhh - no way, at least not for me. After minor butchering of one of the Len's I bought a replacement. Note - it is real easy to cut too close to the inner part of the lens and it will look like crap. I used a Dremmel and thin cutoff wheel, and what a mess. Reference the first picture here! So fortunately replacements are inexpensive and less than $40 from A1 Auto, and then practiced on my butchered Lens before I started in on the others. I purchased a #543 1.25" Carbide from Home D at $17 figuring this would work better, and it did. I also decided to not even try cutting the housing where the Lens joins it, and instead cut just flush inside of the step in the Black Housing, so the lens is not touched. This made for a clean cut, and minimal gaps in mating the parts back together. A steady hand and eating plastic dust is what it takes. After some light filing to clean up the cut edges I went at adhering the Plasma Afterburner LEDs to the clear lens. I have heard that pressing on them to stick can cause cracking and failure, so I only lightly pressed on them to stick, and used a good grade of 2 part plastic epoxy and dabbed some on the ends of each afterburner, and then at the center (if you look closely at the pic you can see it). Since they DO NOT conform to the Lens profile, they will only marginally stick at the ends and at the center. Do not get any on the outer surface of the Led strips, just at the edges or sides. Don't need much, but they will not fall off if you do this. And drill the holes for the wires large enough to get the small white connector into the housing, and pull ALL of the slack out of the wires inside and tuck them along the side of the Lens - you will need all of the length to orient the Purple Resistors, and you CANNOT lengthen these wires. Then you see the little Purple Resistors that I think are unique to the Plasma's. They can only be mounted as shown or the Lens Assembly will not fit back into the rear end tail light housing! Found this out in a hurry and the first one. In the orientation shown they will just clear a little hump opening in the rear end tail light housing that is in-line with the mounting bolt on the tail light assembly. Note that the OUTBOARD Lens's must have the rib trimmed back to allow it to fit flush on the housing. A little dab more of epoxy secures them. At each step, I tested the lights to ensure they worked, especially before I sealed the housing. Lastly, I centered each Housing on the Lens, epoxied each corner, let it dry, and then used Clear Silicone to final seal them. They look great, and are BRIGHT! Now it is time to install them and wire them - the "Easy" Part. I hope this detail helps anyone wanting to undertake the installation of these. Attached Images Last edited by hesster; 11-22-2018 at 06:34 AM.

02-21-2016, 10:39 AM	#2
chozn4service Drives: 2016 SS w/2SS A8 Blue Velvet Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: 39.793153,-86.238223 Posts: 3,678 View My Garage	I bought some LED's that I plan to install on some extra tail lamps I have in the garage. I'm hoping to get them cut open, mounted and closed back up nicely and hope they work the way that I want. If my current Technostalgia ever go bad, I'll switch back to these and hope that my LED rings will be on as my park lights and then centers light up as brake lights. We'll see...... Can't wait to see you pics when done. __________________ Never grow up, it's a trap!

02-21-2016, 01:56 PM	#4
chozn4service Drives: 2016 SS w/2SS A8 Blue Velvet Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: 39.793153,-86.238223 Posts: 3,678 View My Garage	Very nice! If you get time, a night shot would be sweet! Curious how that affect looks and I take it the centers come on when brakes applied (all on) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk __________________ Never grow up, it's a trap!

02-21-2016, 09:34 PM	#6
DarkCry956 Drives: 2011 Camaro 2SS/RS Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Texas RGV Posts: 794	Looks like 5 are out from this pic Attached Images

03-29-2016, 03:45 PM	#9
AllBlackSS Drives: 2010 SS Join Date: May 2014 Location: Maryland Posts: 418	Well guys I finally got around to installing my afterburners. The install was pretty straight forward with the hardest part being the cutting obviously. Big shout out to the OP for recommending the carbide bit that made it a breeze. I went with the 1.0 instead of the 2.0 because I like the shape better. Here is a pic Attached Images

02-21-2016, 01:53 PM	#3
hesster Drives: '10 C5 SS, '77 Bandit T/A Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Michigan Posts: 635 View My Garage	And the finished product.

02-21-2016, 09:30 PM	#5
DarkCry956 Drives: 2011 Camaro 2SS/RS Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Texas RGV Posts: 794	They look amazing. I've had them since they came out with them. Some lights (3-5) on some strips have gone out though. Can't really tell since they're bright and the rest make up for it

02-22-2016, 08:42 AM	#7
AllBlackSS Drives: 2010 SS Join Date: May 2014 Location: Maryland Posts: 418	Looks good. This is on my mod list but I'm scared to cut open the lights in fear of messing them up.

03-29-2016, 09:36 PM	#10
davesnever Drives: 2010 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Richmond Hill ,Ontario, Canada Posts: 780 View My Garage	Just a quick note, I have not done my tail lights yet but i did my fogs the other day which is basically the same procedure and the housings are built very similarly as well. What I ended up using was a ceramic tile wet saw. It was super easy to use because of the fence it had to hold the lens against and the wet saw blade is thin and of course no dust with the wet saw.

03-30-2016, 07:54 PM	#11
MackMan Camaro CRAZY Drives: 2019 OC 1SS/1LE Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Winchester, KY Posts: 3,202 View My Garage	How did you wire these up? I have a set, just never can find a definite answer what wires to tap into..

04-09-2016, 02:59 PM	#14
rwhxk3 S1N1STR Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 1,091 View My Garage	No, I just didn't want to tap into my factory harness, so I had a harness built that let my afterburners run off my parking lights.