[goonturbo]

PLEASE NOTE - THIS WORK WAS CARRIED OUT ON A FACELIFT THREE DOOR CAR - I CANNOT GUARANTEE THESE INSTRUCTIONS WILL WORK ON PRE FACELIFT OR FIVE DOOR CARS.

YOU WILL BE MODIFYING THE LIGHTING ELECTRICAL SYSTEM ON YOU CAR BY CARRYING OUT THIS "HOW TO" THEREFORE IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DISCONNECT THE BATTERY EARTH LEAD BEFORE CARRYING OUT ANY WORK.

IF YOU CHOOSE TO UNDERTAKE THE FOLLOWING "HOW TO" YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MISTAKES MADE BY EITHER PARTY.

IF IN DOUBT EITHER DONT DO IT OR CONSULT A QUALIFIED AUTO ELECTRICIAN

Right o campers, this is my first how to, hopefully you lot can understand my instructions

ITEMS YOU WILL REQUIRE

2 X T10 Bulb holders
2 x 501 Standard 5w bulbs or LED bulbs (I used standard bulbs but its your car so your choice)
4 x 3.5 metres(Approx) single core wire (Thin wire is all you will require as the current required is minimal)
Heatshrink (If you have no access to this you can use electrical tape)
Self amalging tape (If you have no access to this you can use electrical tape)
Electrical insulation tape
Solder (If you have no access to this you can use electrical connectors)
Electrical connectors if required

Locate T10 aka 501 bulb holders. You will require two, one for each footwell.

I used different ones to these, but these will however do the job.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/QTY-1-T10-194-LED-WE...=item2c52aa0eb3

Once you receive these holders (Remember you need two) You need to drill a hole through the plastic of between 3.0mm and 4.8mm between the two wires (The hole size depends on the size of cable ties you use) (I used 4.8mm wide cable ties).

Next you need to extend the wires on the holders as they only come supplied with very short cables.

Each wire needs to be extended by APPROX 3.5 metres.

I soldered the new wires to the existing ones and shielded the joints with heatshrink (You can use connectors to join the wires, you can also shield the joints with self amalging tape or insulating tape - Do not leave the joints unshielded)

You should now have two holders each with a new hole in it, and each with two cables approx 3.5 metres long.

Next you will need to modify the front seats to accept these holders.

Move the drivers front seat all the way forward and tilt the seat back all the way forward.

Look under the seat base at the rear, you will find a black steel cylindrical rod of approx 25mm diameter connecting the two sides of the seat together, the pole is covered in a felt material.

This rod is where the bulb holder will be located,

The felt material covering this rod will require modification to allow installation of the bulb holder.

Cut approx a 50mm wide strip from the centre of the felt material. (I used a razor blade as the stuff is pretty tough)

Now hook a cable tie round the exposed part of the rod, once this is done thread the cable tie through the hole you made in one of the bulb holders, tighten up the cable tie and position the bulb holder at approx 45 degrees to the floor (You can position the holder any way you like to achieve the best lighting)

You will now notice that the felt material drapes down around the bulb holder, this requires modification, if you leave it like this the light output will be greatly reduced.

You need to look right under the seat to where the felt materials terminates, at either side of where the felt material terminates you will find a plastic/rubber trim clip, you need to remove the lower layer of felt material from the two clips (NOTE - lower layer only) I found the best way to do this is to tear the felt off as the plastic/rubber trim clips will break if you try to remove them. (You will be trimming the torn parts of the felt off later,

Now that the felt material is loose, thread the two new cables along the rod towards the side of the seat closest to the centre of the car (Cable tie the cables to the rod as you go).

You will see that the felt material was covering two seat back control cables, thread the felt material behind the control cables, (So that the control cables are now visible)

Pull the felt tight, hold the felt material over the top of the plastic/rubber trim clips, cut a slot of approx 15mm length in the felt material where it meets the trim clip, now feed the felt material round the trim clips. The felt material should now be secure again, cut off any excess felt material you now have.

You will now notice the control cables dangle down, put a cable tie round them and the 25mm rod, tighten the cable tie up to secure the control cables (Do not overtighten the cable ties as the control cables move slightly in operation)

Feed the two new cables under the seat along the same route as the original seat wiring, there are two cable clips that hold the original wiring up, use these two clips to secure the new wiring.

The seat wiring runs from the rear of the seat at the side nearest the centre of the car to the front of the seat at the sill side of the car.

Route the new wiring around the main seat wiring cable connector at the front of the seat, feed the new wires along side the seat wiring conduit that goes from the seat to the carpet (cable tie the wiring to the seat/conduit etc as you go, ensure wiring does not foul seat mechanisms etc)

Now take the trim panel off the front section of the inner sill (The trim panel starts at the seat belt mechanism and terminates at the dash/kickplate area), The trim panel is held in with plastic trim clips, use a flat blunt implement between the trim panel and the inner sill to prise the trim panel off (NOTE - if your too aggressive you will break the trim clips)

Push the seat all the way back, look under the seat where the cunduit goes into the the carpet, place your hand under the carpet at the inner sill, feel for the two new wires that you have fed under the carpet where the conduit goes in, now pull the two new wires under the carpet and out into the inner sill area. (At this point ensure that the new wiring does not foul anything when moving the seat back and forth etc)

Route the two new wires along the inner sill, up the kickplate, round the electrical connectors in the kickplate, up behind the lower dash area, along between the lower dash heater vents and the steel rod that runs along the bottom of the dash area (cable tie in place as required) terminate the routing of the two new wires at the front footwell bulb holders.

Refit the inner sill trim panel.

Now lay on your back in the front footwell, locate the front footwell bulb holders, remove them from there bracket by rotating them approx 90 degrees and pulling them out from behind the brackets that hold them.

Now pull them into the kickwell area, trim and connect the two new wires to the two wires at the rear of the bulb holders (Dont worry about polarity as standard bulbs do not require a certain direction of polarity to work). I connected the two wires using solder and self amalging tape, if you do not have access to this you can use electrical connectors.

Refit the front bulb holders,

Push the seat all the way forward, fit a bulb into the new rear holder, reconnect the battery, check the front and rear footwell lights for correct operation (If you are using LED bulbs and they dont work, take the bulbs out rotate them 180 degrees and refit, LED bulbs require certain direction of polarity to work)

Now disconnect the battery, repeat the above steps on the other side of the vehicle.

If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to PM me and i will do my best to assist you.

Cheers

Dave.

P.S. Please dont moan about my bad spelling, punctuation and grammer.

 

[WarrenST]

good write up Dave.
i'll give this a go at some point,
cheers fruit.

 

[kaijack]

Cheers for that

pics would be good

 

[focus149]

Cool ... Will see what this looks like when you get the pics up

 

[goonturbo]

Pics added, hope you can understand them ok

 

[focus149]

Looks ace . Will be adding this to my to do list

 

[Mogsy.uk]

Wasn't sure whether this would be worth it but wow! That does look the business.

Might have to have a couple of test runs 1st. Think I've got an old Potato powered clock kit somewhere. That should do for warming up

.

Nice work bud.

R

 

[panther black]

Excellent tip cheers, just fitted two to Freddie. Would never have known the bulb holders were there without you guys. Thanks again

 

[pondy]

Thanks for the guide/tip, sorted mine this weekend. BUT I did do it slightly differently.

Instead of cutting the existing connectors in the foot well to wire into, I just created a connection that I can just plug into that connection.

Made life a little easier, and I didn't have to worry about cutting any wires in the car.

Matt

 

[stehaworth]

Thanks for the guide/tip, sorted mine this weekend. BUT I did do it slightly differently.

Instead of cutting the existing connectors in the footwell to wire into, I just created a connection that I can just plug into that connection, please see the pictures below...

​

Made life a little easier, and I didn't have to worry about cutting any wires in the car.

PS. If anyone needs any thin wall cable please drop me a message, I have about 80M of oranage and 80M of black!!!

Matt

where did you get the plastic 501 wedge without bulb bits on it mate, ?

 

[pondy]

In the end I just removed the LED's from some bulbs I already had spare, but I was going to get some off eBay from the following link...

T10 Wedge, Minus the LED's

 

[stehaworth]

cheers for the reply matt, good old ebay, seems you can buy anything you can imagin on there lol

 

[dbettosi]

Matt,

A quick question if you don't mind?

With the extension you made the longer one runs to the back but is the shorter length to replace the front bulb which is lost by plugging the extension in?

Cheers

Dan

 

[pondy]

Matt,

A quick question if you don't mind?

With the extension you made the longer one runs to the back but is the shorter length to replace the front bulb which is lost by plugging the extension in?

Cheers

Dan

Hi Dan,

Yes you are correct, the shorted length is the replacement for the front.

I didn't like how the existing lights were off centre nearer the centre console. So it now means I can centre them in each footwell.

M

 

[dbettosi]

Cheers Matt,

much obliged!

Dan