i am starting to get the parts together for doing led tails, front turns, and possibly some drl's.
at this moment, it looks like it will be about a month or 2 before i finish prepping, and painting my tail lights, so everything is in the planning/ordering stages right now.
the car is really only driven on weekends, is not a show car, and i have spare light housings for everything on the car, so the time i take with any particular mod is not important..
also, i am not a fan of pwm-- the pulsing lights bother me, so all led's will be current-limited..
i will have to figure out how many led's each part will have and the current draw, but i do want to use a voltage regulator for reliability, just not decided on using 12v, or 9v yet. opinions?
taillights:
a pic for reference:

these are setup so that the tail/stop feature illuminates the larger inner circle, and the smaller outside circle is for the turn signal. at this point, i don't see any reason to change this..
i am considering positioning led's in the shape of the mitsubishi logo for the tail light feature, and then the brake feature would just fill in the rest of the circle. while i don't believe there is anything legally wrong with this, assuming everything is bright enough, is it better to avoid doing something like this due to the possibility of it distracting other drivers?
i have to find my scrap paper with the exact dimensions, but is there some sort of calculator i can use to determine how many led's i absolutely need to have to meet the same light output of my current filament bulbs? or maybe just a formula i can use to figure it out?
last i figured it out(just by doing sq mm measurements of housings, and the size of the led's), i was going to be doing something like 400 led's, and i fear that it may be too bright..
at the moment, i have settled on these led's for everything on the rear of the car:
http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/...IGHTING2983716
it seems that most here recommend 60 degree viewing angle, and lumiled/cree are the commonly recommended brands for their reliability.
the third brake light should be the easiest(i have a clear housing since the pic), i figure that 2 rows of the same led will be enough..
onto the front end:

front turn signals:
i have updated the turn signals since this pic to some with a clear, smoked lenses, and will be using those for the led upgrade.
for those, i believe these led's should do the trick:
http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/...IGHTING5487814
these are the new housings i'll be using:

the plan is to do 2 panels of led's-- one parallel with the car for side lighting, and the second to be perpendicular to the car to shine forward..
ideas?
the next thing is drl.
i have a couple ideas here, as i really don't want to the the typical straight line of led's..
1. a 1, or 3 watt led mounted on the cutoff, facing in towards the bulb, or possibly on the outside, facing out through the lens? i would only have it on when the headlights are off, but even so, could it take the heat? i currently run some off-brand sonar projectors with a 600 hid kit(i hope to get some 4300's later), but would like to upgrade to something else(need to research more, but i kind of like the TL's)
2. using a piece of clear lexan, possibly using some superflux white led's, over the highbeam? thought about using a mitsubishi symbol design here as well, otherwise, not sure on the design concept..
3. in one of the faux 'vents' below the turn signal, similar to the new mercedes, or ford taurus drl's..
and the last project is some backlit logo's-- pretty easy, just 3 flat-top superflux led's and a thin lexan sheet behind the logos..
thanks for reading my LOOONG post!
at this moment, it looks like it will be about a month or 2 before i finish prepping, and painting my tail lights, so everything is in the planning/ordering stages right now.
the car is really only driven on weekends, is not a show car, and i have spare light housings for everything on the car, so the time i take with any particular mod is not important..
also, i am not a fan of pwm-- the pulsing lights bother me, so all led's will be current-limited..
i will have to figure out how many led's each part will have and the current draw, but i do want to use a voltage regulator for reliability, just not decided on using 12v, or 9v yet. opinions?
taillights:
a pic for reference:

these are setup so that the tail/stop feature illuminates the larger inner circle, and the smaller outside circle is for the turn signal. at this point, i don't see any reason to change this..
i am considering positioning led's in the shape of the mitsubishi logo for the tail light feature, and then the brake feature would just fill in the rest of the circle. while i don't believe there is anything legally wrong with this, assuming everything is bright enough, is it better to avoid doing something like this due to the possibility of it distracting other drivers?
i have to find my scrap paper with the exact dimensions, but is there some sort of calculator i can use to determine how many led's i absolutely need to have to meet the same light output of my current filament bulbs? or maybe just a formula i can use to figure it out?
last i figured it out(just by doing sq mm measurements of housings, and the size of the led's), i was going to be doing something like 400 led's, and i fear that it may be too bright..
at the moment, i have settled on these led's for everything on the rear of the car:
http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/...IGHTING2983716
it seems that most here recommend 60 degree viewing angle, and lumiled/cree are the commonly recommended brands for their reliability.
the third brake light should be the easiest(i have a clear housing since the pic), i figure that 2 rows of the same led will be enough..
onto the front end:

front turn signals:
i have updated the turn signals since this pic to some with a clear, smoked lenses, and will be using those for the led upgrade.
for those, i believe these led's should do the trick:
http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/...IGHTING5487814
these are the new housings i'll be using:

the plan is to do 2 panels of led's-- one parallel with the car for side lighting, and the second to be perpendicular to the car to shine forward..
ideas?
the next thing is drl.
i have a couple ideas here, as i really don't want to the the typical straight line of led's..
1. a 1, or 3 watt led mounted on the cutoff, facing in towards the bulb, or possibly on the outside, facing out through the lens? i would only have it on when the headlights are off, but even so, could it take the heat? i currently run some off-brand sonar projectors with a 600 hid kit(i hope to get some 4300's later), but would like to upgrade to something else(need to research more, but i kind of like the TL's)
2. using a piece of clear lexan, possibly using some superflux white led's, over the highbeam? thought about using a mitsubishi symbol design here as well, otherwise, not sure on the design concept..
3. in one of the faux 'vents' below the turn signal, similar to the new mercedes, or ford taurus drl's..
and the last project is some backlit logo's-- pretty easy, just 3 flat-top superflux led's and a thin lexan sheet behind the logos..
thanks for reading my LOOONG post!
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