I've been playing around with changing out the lamps and things on my 8. A lot of members have been doing the same and I thought I would post a few pics of some of the mods I have been working on.

The first is of the third brake light. I haven't seen anyone do this on here yet and I might get flamed for being ricey but, rice is in the eye of the beholder. This mod I wanted to do is to have the third brake light display the RX-8 logo when applying the brakes. My first thought was to cut a vinyl to go over the clear lens but I didn't like the result because I ouldn't match the color well enough and it looked a bit home made. I didn't photo it because I didn't even want to keep the image.

So, next I thought about doing it stealth like so that when you look at it without the brake light on, you see nothing more than you normally see. It took some thinking but I came up with the proto type in the pics below. I still want to modify this before I am through.

The third brake light consists of three main parts. One is the outer clear lens. The second is the middle red lens that disperses the light. The last is the rear part that holds the lamp unit and is also red. I'll post pics of this later since I will be taking it apart again for a final change.

Here is the result in a quick and sloppy gif. I'll post stills and close ups after this post.

 

It's hard to photo the lamp as it flashed the RX-8 logo. I worked on it and still couldn't get it to be as clear as it looks in actuality.

 

Herre is a close up of the third brake light. This looks much better in person due to the difficulty of taking the photo of a red light.

 

The logo which is an insert in the red lens piece needs to be a bit smaller since the clear lens is a little smaller than the red lens, that is the change I am planning to do tomorrow.

 

Another thing I have done is to change out the tail/brake lamps to LEDs and to change out the clear and amber lamps to "stealth" type lamps. No color but the red lens and silver bulbs.

 

Here is a photo of the tail light lit along with the reverse light lit and the turn signal flashing.

 

Front lights. I am having a hell of a time reaching the turnsignals on the front. They must have tiny elves put them things together because I cannot even get close to getting my hand in there though I haven't gone through the wheel well yet...

I did manage to change out the running lights with 6 LED 194 lamps. Here are a couple of pics with this showing. I like it because it looks a little bluer than the stock incadescent 194s.

Note, I also put clear side marker lenses on, thanks goes to SIN who no longer has his 8.

 

Here is a shot of the front with the xenons on and the LED running lights. Though the clear corners look yellow, the lamp is the stock until I get the amber LEDs I ordered this weekend.

 

Does anyone know what kind of lamps are on the sides of the tail lights?

 

A nice pic of my 8.

 

I read somewhere that they're not replaceable and the whole tail light assembly needs to be replaced when they go out.

How long does a LED lasts?

 

From what I have read, 100,000 hours. However, that's from the advertisers, though I know they should last a long time and much longer than incadescents.

 

100,000 hrs wow

that would be 22.8 years using the lights 12 hrs per day every day...

By the way, LOVE the pictures!

 

The cut out on the RX-8 Logo needs to be thicker. Too much light still passes through it.

 

Yes, I agree. That is the result of being in front of the red lens instead of behind it. I am working on a piece that will be color matched to the car that will slip in the clear lens. Will post what that looks like soon.

 

Nice job man, looks good. FYI, to get at the front turn signal bulbs, you have to go through the wheel wells.

Also, can you post a more detailed "DIY" type thread on how you did that rear high-mount brake light? That's pretty nice...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Omicron
[B]Nice job man, looks good. FYI, to get at the front turn signal bulbs, you have to go through the wheel wells.

Thanks. I remember reading about that in the manual and figured I would have to go through the front wheel wells but haven't had good enough weather to do a lot of work on it yet, the old hands get cold.

Will do so soon and have a few ideas to try yet. I have to take it apart again so when I do, that's when I will take some photos and put together some instructions.

Thanks for moving this to the proper place, didn't quite know where to put it at since most of it was audio in this section.

 

Hey, not a problem on the move. Now that you know it's here, I'll probably remove the pointer from the other forum too.

Keep us posted on this!

 

Looks great and I don't think it's rice at all. Very stealth. I think of rice as being "over the top" and hey will someone notice me? This has class. If I may ask would you P/M me and let me know how much you would charge to make one up.

 

I installed mine last night and it looks great! The whole thing only took me about 20 min. and it was very simple. Good instructions. I will post some pics as soom as I can take them. Thanks D Manec 7!

 

anyone making a DYI for these? would be good. materials, procedure, everything. id do something myself if it only takes 20 mins n not alotta $$$... not rice at all IMHO...

 

P/M D Manec 7 and ask. I ordered mine from him and it is reasonably priced. I was very happy with it but he cannot discuss price on the forum so the P/M is the best option.

 

yep...i plan on ordering from him within a week... looks very very cool.

 

On saturday I met up with another RX-8 owner and they were really impressed with the brake light mod. This seems like a pretty popular look.

 

Just installed mine yesterday:D What an amazingly quick, easy (about 25 minutes or so), and inexpensive mod! I must say I'm quite pleased with it! Thanks, D Manec 7!