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Custom fog lights... input needed!!!

4K views 43 replies 21 participants last post by  MommysLittleMonster 
#1 ·
Alright, this is a project that i've been eyeballing for a while now- custom fogs for those of us too poor to afford JDM or USDM fogs. :)

I have three ideas...

1. LED's.
Take three strips of surface-mount LED's, and mount them between the two "ribs" of the fog light plug, as shown:

I would cut the slits out and mount the LED's accordingly. My question is, where would i get such LED's, and what would stand up to the elements the best?

2. Cut & Fab.
Cut out all of the material between the two ribs entirely, and place a yellow foglight behind it that's slightly larger than the hole- allowing the light to shine out, while being hidden behind the plug.

3. Retrofit some projectors.
Take a set of S14 240SX, a pair of Civic fog lights, or something of the sort and literally cut out a hole for them. (This has been done before, but my installation would be considerably cleaner) My question for this is, if i get an entire kit for a Civic, will the harness be usable at all? I want to keep it as clean as possible... i can get a full Civic yellow fog kit for ~ $30.


Also, does anyone know HOW to wire up fog lights to the low beams, or if it's even a good idea to? I plan on getting an HID conversion in the near future... i don't wanna stress out the wiring harness too badly! I can always go the different route altogether, and make a separate switch/wiring harness.

Another thing is, does anyone have a picture of their Prelude with the foglight switch? I can't picture where i would put it. :plain:


Thanks to all in advance who contribute anything! :colgate: I'm willing to do a DIY writeup on this if it works out!!!!
 
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#2 ·
oznium.com is a good source for accent lighting projects..they sell led strips that are completely waterproof. BUT im not sure it'd look good as a fog light or even function like one. just my opinion.

I would personally go with option 2, ive been toying with that idea in my head as well; but with a little variation: flush-mounting the light to the hole in the garnish like the usdm fogs. The beauty of this approach is: if you mess up on the fitment, you can just buy another $10 garnish rather than f***ing up on the alignment in the bumper or later becoming dissatisfied with it.

lots of ppl are mounting their switch where their dimmer currently is since it's a pretty useless feature and it provides a clean look.

best of luck, happy modding.
 
#4 ·
hrmm to run with the low beam i would run it thru a relay. for me i have a set of fogs running hid and it isnt oem foglights, i went with an aftermarket set up but then i ran it to a jdm fog light switch to keep the cleanest look in the interior. only if my plates didnt cover my foglight cover lol.

vtec: the blinker as foglights doesnt look as nice, i made mine stay on just for looks but using another set of blinkers under the blinker to me would look ghetto. no offence =[
 
#16 ·
It seems like if you do this the only thing different from OEM fogs would be that they're essentially, not OEM, and the overall shape and form of your lamp assemblies would be different. If you decide to pick up a JDM fog harness, switch, and relay, you can just hook up your custom fogs to them as long as you use H3C bulbs. As far as the dimmer switch goes you'd just open up the button holder, take out the dimmer and put it within the dash console..then replace it with the OEM fog switch.
 
#13 ·
I have a good camera i'll use for the DIY part. I just used my cell phone for a quick reference.

To not stress the wiring harness you could wire the fogs power to the battery and use the low beams as a turn on wire. I think thats how they are suppossed to be done but don't quote me on that.

Don't fifth gens have a wiring harness for the stock fogs? I saw an extra harness when I had my bumper off, if that is in fact the stock fogs you could try to use those but you would have to wire it yourself because I don't think the plugs would match up.
1st bold- That's exactly what i meant- not use the low beams for power... but as a switch.

2nd bold- I thought that too actually, i know exactly what plug you're talking about.:plain: Thats what i was thinking, but i'm not sure...

i was at wal mart, and bought some 12V leds with inline resistor already attached. it looks like it got a heat shrink seal, and leds themselves aren't in much need of any waterproofing. all they're in need of is some real lumens. they wont put out really good light. [aka - spread out, and bright]. are you looking for functionality or just looks?

the orange wire coming alongside the blinker's plug is the foglight's harness. it's 12V when your dimmer circuit is on.
You saw the same LED's i saw then, you know what i mean. I wasn't sure that would be a good source of light- as i'm lucking for more function than form. The whole use of fog lights is just that- LIGHT! :smile:

Option 2 sounds the best.

LED's might not be so good looking. Let alone produce any kind of usable light as a fog light. Not too sure about that though.

Might be able to shop up an example of your LED option.
link me decent pic of your car or something like it if you wanna photoshop'd preview. Night and day would be nice.

As for wiring and switches, Ebay should do you well. If not there, local parts/junk/scrap yard. If all else fails I have extra. PM for buy.


Good Luck :upside:
Thanks for the offer for the photoshop, but i have it figured out. I just need to go out and do it... i'll PM you for the harness.

or you can just join my group buy :)
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Or, i could save myself $260 and do it my way. :|
I saw the thread for it, i just can't justify spending $300 for just fog lights...

I've been toying with the idea of using Nissan Maxima fog projectors custom retrofit into an enclosure I'd build behind the OEM fog light blank and protrude them through. If I did this I'd probably use lexan to make a lense cover to protect the projector though. For those who have never seen the Nissan fog projectors, they have amazing output for their size...I think the lense is just over 1.2" diameter.
Exactly! You know what i was looking at when i mentioned the 240SX lights then. I'll kick around for some more lights on eBay... i found a set from a VW MK4, they look like they might work. I think i'm gonna hold out for the Maxima or S14 lights though...
 
#7 ·
Alright, this is a project that i've been eyeballing for a while now- custom fogs for those of us too poor to afford JDM or USDM fogs. :)

I have three ideas...

1. LED's.
Take three strips of surface-mount LED's, and mount them between the two "ribs" of the fog light plug, as shown:

I would cut the slits out and mount the LED's accordingly. My question is, where would i get such LED's, and what would stand up to the elements the best?

2. Cut & Fab.
Cut out all of the material between the two ribs entirely, and place a yellow foglight behind it that's slightly larger than the hole- allowing the light to shine out, while being hidden behind the plug.

3. Retrofit some projectors.
Take a set of S14 240SX, a pair of Civic fog lights, or something of the sort and literally cut out a hole for them. (This has been done before, but my installation would be considerably cleaner) My question for this is, if i get an entire kit for a Civic, will the harness be usable at all? I want to keep it as clean as possible... i can get a full Civic yellow fog kit for ~ $30.


Also, does anyone know HOW to wire up fog lights to the low beams, or if it's even a good idea to? I plan on getting an HID conversion in the near future... i don't wanna stress out the wiring harness too badly! I can always go the different route altogether, and make a separate switch/wiring harness.

Another thing is, does anyone have a picture of their Prelude with the foglight switch? I can't picture where i would put it. :plain:


Thanks to all in advance who contribute anything! :colgate: I'm willing to do a DIY writeup on this if it works out!!!!
To not stress the wiring harness you could wire the fogs power to the battery and use the low beams as a turn on wire. I think thats how they are suppossed to be done but don't quote me on that.

Don't fifth gens have a wiring harness for the stock fogs? I saw an extra harness when I had my bumper off, if that is in fact the stock fogs you could try to use those but you would have to wire it yourself because I don't think the plugs would match up.
 
#8 ·
i was at wal mart, and bought some 12V leds with inline resistor already attached. it looks like it got a heat shrink seal, and leds themselves aren't in much need of any waterproofing. all they're in need of is some real lumens. they wont put out really good light. [aka - spread out, and bright]. are you looking for functionality or just looks?

the orange wire coming alongside the blinker's plug is the foglight's harness. it's 12V when your dimmer circuit is on.
 
#9 ·
Option 2

Option 2 sounds the best.

LED's might not be so good looking. Let alone produce any kind of usable light as a fog light. Not too sure about that though.

Might be able to shop up an example of your LED option.
link me decent pic of your car or something like it if you wanna photoshop'd preview. Night and day would be nice.

As for wiring and switches, Ebay should do you well. If not there, local parts/junk/scrap yard. If all else fails I have extra. PM for buy.


Good Luck :upside:
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
I've been toying with the idea of using Nissan Maxima fog projectors custom retrofit into an enclosure I'd build behind the OEM fog light blank and protrude them through. If I did this I'd probably use lexan to make a lense cover to protect the projector though. For those who have never seen the Nissan fog projectors, they have amazing output for their size...I think the lense is just over 1.2" diameter.
 
#20 ·
dont do the leds as they wont work .... trust me ive done it

even if you get the high output leds the light will be everywhere and not aimed at the road

the civic fogs was a good idea but for the cost of jdm ones you could buy the right ones for your car ... ive got them in my civic

the yellow fog light behind the vent cut out sounds nice you wouldnt realy see it untill the light came on

its nice to hook up a relay and its own circit for the fogs ... its easy i can walk you throu it if you like

P.
 
#21 ·
dont do the leds as they wont work .... trust me ive done it

even if you get the high output leds the light will be everywhere and not aimed at the road

the civic fogs was a good idea but for the cost of jdm ones you could buy the right ones for your car ... ive got them in my civic

the yellow fog light behind the vent cut out sounds nice you wouldnt realy see it untill the light came on

its nice to hook up a relay and its own circit for the fogs ... its easy i can walk you throu it if you like

P.
I can get the Civic fogs for like $25 brand new with a harness, that's the only reason i'd go that route. What do you think?

I may take you up on an offer for the wiring, if you can show me how to wire up the fogs so the low beams turn them on that would be sweet! :smilejap:
 
#22 ·
Well, personally I'd like to get some CCFL angel eyes that are small enough to fit around my USDM fogs... Would kinda flow well with my headlights i thinks... Can't seem to find them that small anywhere though..

Good luck with the DIY though, I'd say if you're gonna do anything though, get some Lexus fog lights with the HID projectors... LEDs aren't gonna really do much but make the front of the car look pretty.
 
#32 ·
That's the good thing about getting them local at Walmart or Autozone....if you don't like the output...you can take them back! Don't say I told you to do this.
 
#33 ·
get some like mine.
everyone gets fooled thinking they are usdm lol

they are sirius fog lights.
just search for there website because i forgot what model they were.
 
#38 ·
I'll look into them, thanks man.
That is exactly what I did. I bought some projector foglights from autozone and "retrofitted" them to my car.

Here is the write up:
http://www.preludepower.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268617&highlight=fog
I saw this writeup... pretty close to what i'm looking for. I saw the same fog lights at Autozone, i'll go see what i can dig up.
those look pretty good. 4th gens are basically the same i think. ive heard about using 5th gen fogs on 4th gens before. might have to try this. fog lights are illegal unless u absolutely need them. cops use it as a reason to pull everyone over here.

it might be that way everywhere tho idk.
Fogs are legal here. I have them on my Blazer, never caught shit yet.
projector fog lights would be the best way to go. such better vision with a low-angled, high-output beam.
Word. Projectors ftw.
 
#36 ·
those look pretty good. 4th gens are basically the same i think. ive heard about using 5th gen fogs on 4th gens before. might have to try this. fog lights are illegal unless u absolutely need them. cops use it as a reason to pull everyone over here.

it might be that way everywhere tho idk.
 
#39 ·
I'm not trying to be a dick, but USDM fogs aren't super expensive. Especially if you find them used. LED's aren't gonna be bright enough to really be functional as fogs. I think LED strips there would look cool, but not functional as a fog light. As a matter of fact, I have an extra set of black housing turn signals laying around that I may think of retrofitting some LED strips in (for use as turn signals). Probably amber. I'll update as I go. And thanks for the idea. :)
 
#40 ·
I like the USDM fogs, but even still- i'm gonna see how cheap i can actually get a decent set of them for... my goal: get a good set for less than $50, and have them be just as good. I think it's more than possible...

It's all good my man! :emthup: I think i know what i'm gonna use for my retrofitted fogs... what do you guys think?
 
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