great white
Retirement countdown!
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2012
- Messages
- 6,266
- Reaction score
- 209
Been getting a few emails about the truck and various things, so I'm just going to post random truck stuff in here.
DRL's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-QaSnwITb0&list=UUSV9KlW5usj5gQ40MogQfdw
The dim/bright cycle at the beginning is the glow plugs doing their "post start glow" emissions thing. They draw a lot of amps when on so everything goes dim.
I built a control box to manage how the DRL's behave. Basically, a relay/capacitor/diode network. These are just a test setup to get the function and timing right. I have new turn lights coming that are amber LED and will be modified to hold the amber and natural white LEDs (no blue tinge to them) for the DRL function.
Law here is everything has to have DRL's. If you car was built prior to - 1990 I think it is - you have to turn your headlights on. CMVSS 108 says "ALL" cars will have DRL:
(44) Every passenger car, multi-purpose passenger vehicle, truck, bus and three-wheeled vehicle shall be equipped with two daytime running lamps or, if the daytime running lamps are optically combined with the upper beams of the headlamps, with two or four daytime running lamps.
Disagree all you want if you're Canadian: it's right there in black and white. To what degree they enforce that law is a whole separate issue....
DRLs have to turn off when the turn signals are on if they are combined with the turn lights (again, statute: A daytime running lamp that is optically combined with a turn signal lamp shall switch off while the turn signal lamp is switched on as a turn signal or as a hazard warning signal.). Mine qualify as is and definitely will once I'm done.
I also want to get rid of the blue tinge LEDs since it's illegal here to have anything but white or amber on the front of your vehicle. There's just a bit too much blue/purple in these and it might attract Johnny law...no thank you.
Those are Genuine Phillips D2S 4300K capsules in Acura TSX projectors (low beams only, Highs a re just cheap "plug and play" throw ins, yeuch). No idea why they have a blue tinge on the video. They're white as white can be in real life....
Also have new LED tail lights, corner lights and fresh chrome headlights coming. The tail lights will be a bolt in, the corners probably won't get used (sticking with the OEM amber) and the headlights will be chopped up for a set of Acura TSX projectors. I'll be taking them out of the black housings that are in there now.
You can also see the aluminum grill I've installed with the smaller GMC emblem. Burn marks on the bumper in the middle is where I had to weld new mounting points for the lower grill pieces. The grill is originally for a 1997-2000-ish F150. Found new in a yard sale (for 5 bucks) in it's original packaging, never installed. I brought it home then cut, bent and altered it to fit. Can't beat 5 bucks!
Truck cap interior lights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWIurX2oOac&feature=youtu.be
Got tired of fumbling around in the dark when getting stuff out of the bed and the little 12V bulb was next to useless (when it did work). Bought a long cut-able LED strip and glued it to either side of the cap. Made some smaller strips that you can't see across the middle. I put a strip down both sides so I wouldn't be able to block the light when I was in there looking for stuff in the side compartments.
Wired it to a door striker switch so it's on/off with the hatch like an OEM courtesy light. The "snap" noise you hear when they go off halfway through the video with the door open is an override switch I added so they can be turned off when hauling something that requires the hatch open (IE: lumber over 8 feet, pipe, etc) or if I don't want them on while sitting on the tailgate, or it's daytime, or the hatch is going to be open a long time, or for whatever other reason I might want them off.
You can also see where I've removed the front slider window from the cap. All it did was block my vision. I sewed a boot out of "exterior grade" vinyl, slipped a nice fat pool noodle in it and then used the window frame to screw it all in place. Seals good, no leaks, no frost on the window, great visibility (compared to before) and no snow piled up between the rear window and cap this winter. It's all up against the glass window, so no worries about paint rubbing through on the cab either.
The music you hear is the ending credits of "Tuskegee Airmen". No, I didn't add it because I think it sounds cool. It was just on the TV in the background. You also hear me "mouth breathing" in the video. Bad cold right now.....
I'll probably post up the other stuff I've been asked about as time goes on and I get 'em done (compressor setup, air horns, dash work, etc).
Time will tell.
DRL's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-QaSnwITb0&list=UUSV9KlW5usj5gQ40MogQfdw
The dim/bright cycle at the beginning is the glow plugs doing their "post start glow" emissions thing. They draw a lot of amps when on so everything goes dim.
I built a control box to manage how the DRL's behave. Basically, a relay/capacitor/diode network. These are just a test setup to get the function and timing right. I have new turn lights coming that are amber LED and will be modified to hold the amber and natural white LEDs (no blue tinge to them) for the DRL function.
Law here is everything has to have DRL's. If you car was built prior to - 1990 I think it is - you have to turn your headlights on. CMVSS 108 says "ALL" cars will have DRL:
(44) Every passenger car, multi-purpose passenger vehicle, truck, bus and three-wheeled vehicle shall be equipped with two daytime running lamps or, if the daytime running lamps are optically combined with the upper beams of the headlamps, with two or four daytime running lamps.
Disagree all you want if you're Canadian: it's right there in black and white. To what degree they enforce that law is a whole separate issue....
DRLs have to turn off when the turn signals are on if they are combined with the turn lights (again, statute: A daytime running lamp that is optically combined with a turn signal lamp shall switch off while the turn signal lamp is switched on as a turn signal or as a hazard warning signal.). Mine qualify as is and definitely will once I'm done.
I also want to get rid of the blue tinge LEDs since it's illegal here to have anything but white or amber on the front of your vehicle. There's just a bit too much blue/purple in these and it might attract Johnny law...no thank you.
Those are Genuine Phillips D2S 4300K capsules in Acura TSX projectors (low beams only, Highs a re just cheap "plug and play" throw ins, yeuch). No idea why they have a blue tinge on the video. They're white as white can be in real life....
Also have new LED tail lights, corner lights and fresh chrome headlights coming. The tail lights will be a bolt in, the corners probably won't get used (sticking with the OEM amber) and the headlights will be chopped up for a set of Acura TSX projectors. I'll be taking them out of the black housings that are in there now.
You can also see the aluminum grill I've installed with the smaller GMC emblem. Burn marks on the bumper in the middle is where I had to weld new mounting points for the lower grill pieces. The grill is originally for a 1997-2000-ish F150. Found new in a yard sale (for 5 bucks) in it's original packaging, never installed. I brought it home then cut, bent and altered it to fit. Can't beat 5 bucks!
Truck cap interior lights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWIurX2oOac&feature=youtu.be
Got tired of fumbling around in the dark when getting stuff out of the bed and the little 12V bulb was next to useless (when it did work). Bought a long cut-able LED strip and glued it to either side of the cap. Made some smaller strips that you can't see across the middle. I put a strip down both sides so I wouldn't be able to block the light when I was in there looking for stuff in the side compartments.
Wired it to a door striker switch so it's on/off with the hatch like an OEM courtesy light. The "snap" noise you hear when they go off halfway through the video with the door open is an override switch I added so they can be turned off when hauling something that requires the hatch open (IE: lumber over 8 feet, pipe, etc) or if I don't want them on while sitting on the tailgate, or it's daytime, or the hatch is going to be open a long time, or for whatever other reason I might want them off.
You can also see where I've removed the front slider window from the cap. All it did was block my vision. I sewed a boot out of "exterior grade" vinyl, slipped a nice fat pool noodle in it and then used the window frame to screw it all in place. Seals good, no leaks, no frost on the window, great visibility (compared to before) and no snow piled up between the rear window and cap this winter. It's all up against the glass window, so no worries about paint rubbing through on the cab either.
The music you hear is the ending credits of "Tuskegee Airmen". No, I didn't add it because I think it sounds cool. It was just on the TV in the background. You also hear me "mouth breathing" in the video. Bad cold right now.....
I'll probably post up the other stuff I've been asked about as time goes on and I get 'em done (compressor setup, air horns, dash work, etc).
Time will tell.
Last edited:
