Love it.

Looks very nice chap nice placement of the stickys too

Thanks to inspiration from Errnee, I fitted my lit sill plates today.

They came with Protege5 panels, which didn't suit the F, so I made some new light panels, using Errnee's printing technique, but with EL panels instead of LEDs, so the light output is consistent

Took a few pics, although they look more blue in real life, you get the idea

standard rear

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4517.jpg[/img]

new rear

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4516.jpg[/img]

new fronts...

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4523.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4520.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4531.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4533.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4535.jpg[/img]

Looking good Marc Are they connected to the headlight switch so when your lights are on so is the plate?

The white LEDs that illuminate the footwells, the sills themselves, and the door puddle lights are all connected to the interior light, which comes on when you unlock the doors, open the doors, turn off the engine...

they fade out gradually too

Yep sure is nice El strips are the way forward , Are they easy to use?

[quote="errnee"]Yep sure is nice El strips are the way forward , Are they easy to use?[/quote]

super easy, although you have to find space for the invertor etc, so not as 'clean' to wire up as LEDs.

the EL panels can be cut to size, and as they have connectors on every side, you can get more than one strip out of one panel - you just need enough invertors...you could wire two strips from one, but the light output would be down a bit...

I used double sided tape to stick the panel to the sill, exactly the same as the original protege5 one

that looks great mate, although I still think you should have made them say "Door Open" no sense of adventure you, ahaha

I was going to have "Marc" on the drivers side and "ktothebobster" on the other one, but it wouldn't fit

Bit of an update...

I was bored with the "lexus style" rear lights, and wasn't that keen on the fact that they didn't follow the contour of the bootlid, so I decided to modify the standard ones

Started off by masking them up completely

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4682.jpg[/img]


Then started the painstaking task of cutting out the masking tape...

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4683.jpg[/img]


Until I had 2 circles on each lens - the circles are a little larger than the clear parts, otherwise it would be visible from an angle

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4684.jpg[/img]


Then it was into the shed, and out with the savage tint spray

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4690.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4692.jpg[/img]

Left them in the Sunshine for a while after I'd ripped the masking tape off - plenty of adhesive residue, serves me right for using cheap tape...

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4695.jpg[/img]


Cleaned them up, and fitted them to the car, here's a before and after...
see what I mean about the old ones not following the line of the boot

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4701.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/DSCF4709.jpg[/img]


this is how they looked at JAE, after I'd painted the badges graphite to compliment the lights

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/JAE%202010/DSCF4830.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/JAE%202010/max1.jpg[/img]





Speaking of JAE...I would like to thank you all once again for the votes the car has received at JAE...we both got quite emotional...


[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/JAE%202010/DSCF4835.jpg[/img]


but she proudly displays her awards whenever she's at an event

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/JAE%202010/DSCF4879.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/JAE%202010/DSCF4881.jpg[/img]

Realised that I haven't updated the head unit side of things either...

I recently acquired a Kenwood Sat-Nav unit, that means I now have sat-nav built in to the head unit...

So, it now gives me...

A radio/cd player, with full ipod control

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/130820102272.jpg[/img]


a photo viewer

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/DSCF2606.jpg[/img]


a dvd player (not that I'd watch music dvds on the move )

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/SP_A0186a.jpg[/img]


online connection

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/DSCF2605.jpg[/img]


a hands free phone

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/130820102273.jpg[/img]


a rear view monitor

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/010920102293.jpg[/img]


a trip meter

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/130820102271.jpg[/img]


and satellite navigation

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/323/130820102270.jpg[/img]


All I need to do now is teach it to make the tea

Where're you going to put the toaster, microwave and the toilet? You could bloody live in there!

Looking very good buddy, much deserving of all that trophy cabinet filler!

I like this rear lights better

Fancy pants!

Sweet! Side by side I dont like the Lexus lights so much with that bubble. Tinting the white stripe on my rear lights is now another item for my to-do list. How does the tint effect the light getting through? Visible enough yeah?

Wow, This car is amazing, I hope mine come's out the other side looking like this

looks gorgeous mate. whats the rear wiper???

the rear wiper is from a mazda 6 estate, need to file the bottom down a touch, as the spline is a little big otherwise, otherwise it's a great fit


sheepish, I think mine are tinted a little too dark - so I'll probably do them again at some point, but the lights are bright enough still even at this level

Nice rig.

Marc, looks awesome mate, I'm a bit on the fence about the tinting circles too actually - What sort of tinting spray do you use? Tempting to tint stuff myself in the near future actually.

The computer looks like fun too - although I'd probably get too distracted and crash / die.

I used the savage spray, got it from...yep, you guessed it, ebay

I used the foliatec stuff in the past, and didn't find it so easy to use, but that could be just me


In the sunlight, they looked great, and I wanted them black, to match the headlight covers...but now they're on the car I think they look a bit too "solid" if that makes sense, I think I'll make them a bit lighter, so you can see through the lens a bit easier - try and match the rear window tint

Just a little update, I wanted to promote the business a bit, so I made a small web address sticker for the air diversion panel...

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/DSCF5167.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/DSCF5170.jpg[/img]


and I used another EL panel to make an illuminated logo in the windscreen...it looks white, but shines blue with the interior lights

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/DSCF5174.jpg[/img]

I'm liking the website too

Went to Garath's yesterday, and he kindly offered to put his skills to use, and carbon wrap my stainless steel rear bumper protector. I've had it for quite a while, and had struggled to find a finish I was happy to commit myself to...but seeing Garath's sideskirts on the MX5 finally gave me the answer

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/211120102383.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/211120102393.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/marcrs323/211120102394.jpg[/img]

It isn't the 3M Dynoc stuff, as I'm not convinced it really looks anything like carbon fibre...this stuff has a nice sheen level, and looks pretty good - better than in the pics to be fair, but you get the idea
I'm not usually into "fake" carbon fibre and stuff, but this was certainly the best finish for the part - and as the bumper had a small bit of damage (people that use towbars for parking aids should be shot) - it needed to be fitted

Nice Marc. Wish I thought of that before fitting mine!

very nice marc. so you say it isnt the 3m stuff. what stuff is it then and where do you find it. also does it look more like a proper polished carbon fiber?

looks great fitted Marc, the mazda badge thingy looks good in black to.

I have loads of this stuff, so if anyone wants any parts wrapping then feel free to send me a message, it will be cheap

I want to do a bonnet but not mine as it was only recently resprayed so will be looking for a spare one and only if i can get the wrap to look nice and shiny like proper carbon fibre

Looking good Marc, like the added touch with the Mazda badge.

Ayrton, have a chat with Garath, I have no idea what the stuff is called, all I know is when comparing it to the 3M stuff side by side, this does look more 'genuine'

I did paint the badge graphite to match the car badges, but I didn't fit it, as the badge seems to be made of a special material that resists paint Bearing in mind the part is designed to protect the bumper, I didn't want to leave a badge on there that would scratch easily...
I think I'll need some etch primer...and the oven