I'm huge into custom electronics. I've been trying to make my car completely overhauled. So far I've put a proximity sensor in it. White LED lights (all hardwired, not just plug in bulbs), DVD player with in dash installation, remote entry that turns off the stereo when locked, true 8 bulb sequential taillights, original Nintendo (modded to 12VDC, not just a power inverter) etc. Anyway, I'm looking for new ideas. The next idea is a thumbprint ignition but the unit itself is quite expensive so I'm looking into it. Any ideas of what I should consider next?

 

Wow, hey, i always thought it would be cool if your windows would go up when you close the door and the car is off. why waste time closing them yourself? hahaha

 

How do an eightbulb sequential taillight work? Did you use the firebird taillights?

You know, if your into electronics in a thirdgen, why not a scanner like on the knight rider, or just build a knight rider.

If you wont build a knight, you could at least use some of the electronics, like the voicebox and connect it to the stereo. Or better yet, make a voice module that gives info on the car and stuff.

Another neat trick, althought hardly electronic, is to mount a second washer fluid bottle, filled with pure water, and some hoses connected to some kind of injector mounted on the exhaust. If you mount in close enough to the engine, you would get big white smoke screens, and you can play with different kind of additives to get the result you want. If you want heavy thick smoke that takes some time to clear, you will need to experient a little.

There are alot of electronic kit makers out there, do a search.

 

For the 8 bulb taillights, I used the stock 89 firebird taillights. Then I just replaced the two (per side) inner taillights with dual filament break light bulbs. So it looks like this:
[1][2][3][4][ ][5][6][7][8]

4,5 light instantly, 3,6 next, 2,7, then 1,8. Draws a ton of attention and hopefully keeps people from rear ending me.

I'm working on reverse high beams for the rude tailgaters as well.

Building a Knight is such a waste of money and it looks hideous. I want an original car, not a clone. And the scanner has been done sooo much as well.

Remote window rollup wouldn't be a bad idea.

Making the car talk when it is locked/unlocked could be nice too, but I wouldn't use the stereo to amplify the sound, I'd need separate speakers/amp, etc.

I'm basically into doing custom stuff, not just buying a kit.

 

You asked for ridiculous so here it is....E.C.M. Electronic Counter Measures. No laser or radar lock.

 

FCC compliant would be nice too.... . Wouldn't want planes falling out of the sky.

Also, I'm looking into the reverse high beams this week, here's my question/observation.
The reverse lights are about 32cd from what I've read (being 1156 bulbs). How many cd (or what wattage) should high beams be? Also, what are the wattage of low beams? Thanks.

 

Low beams are 55 watts I think and I'm pretty sure anything that bright facing the rear would be illegal in pretty much every state.
If you want to give tail gaters a real thrill...hook your reverse lights to a push button switch, you should see how fast they lock em up when those lights come on.
When stationed in Germany my little TOY-ota's reverse lights stopped working in reverse, so I rigged them to a momentary toggle switch (had to have reverse lights for inspection). One night at about 2am while driving to my apartment some German punks were tailgating me at 100mph, when I'd speed up they would too....soooooo I just reached down and hit the toggle...they took about 10,000 miles of life off their tires

 

Well tailgating is illegal too so if they obey the law then I will... .

 

since you asked, here's something I've thought of recently: click here

 

The thing is I'm not an mechanical person. I could pull it off I bet but I don't really know much about how to physically do something like that.

 

something simple that i'd like to do aswell: have the dome light slowly fade out instead of right off.

the thumbprint ignition would be cool, that stuff is getting cheaper

 

That is/was in several Gm cars already, should be able to find a schematic for it easily.

 

ya, the first time i saw one was in my g/fs ford focus, subtle but cool!

 

Yeah, are you guys talking about the touch-screen module, like in the late 80's riviera (?), and then the caddies?
I always thought that was cool.
Or what about the HUD from a corvette?

 

Is there a way to make a firebird with pop up headlights, while they are on, lower one and bring it back up? like it was winking at you. I have a camaro tho, i dont know how the pop up lights work.

 

muhahahahahaha

ok.


a VSS reader that makes it so when your T56 equipped car is going less then 5mph, you can shift into reverse.

a converter lockup function that lets us carbed cars have our converters lockup automaticly... and unlock when needed.

a indash VFD like the C5s have... and let us know when we're about to overheat.. and tell us other useful info... and let it use a menu selection setup instead of 8 billion switches to control things. and let us label the selections... that way i can select "burnout" then select "staging"..


how about a converter to convert your tach and speedo signals by a number.. so you could say, multiply the speedo signal by .75 and then reface the gauge so it reads higher, but is still usable?

do the same for the tach, only keep it accurate.


how about taking a VSS signal from a T56, and using PWM, regulate a DC motor to spin a speedo cable at a matching speed... you know, so you can run the stock speedo with a T56..

i have thousands of ideas..... and even more since i got into PIC microcontrollers.

 

Here are some things I’ve done, may apply or give you some ideas. Do you have any extra channels on the keyless entry? If not you could upgrade.
Do you have fog lights? You could have them come on with the remote. I did this on my truck and it lights up the path to my house. Vary useful when it’s dark out and icy. Could use the high beams as well. Also good for finding the truck in crowded parking lots at Xmas. I also have the cargo light and interior light on remote. The fog lights and cargo lights are latched outputs, the interior light is 30 seconds timed.
Widows get power for one 2 min. after the car is shut off.
Windows on the remote with rollup modules would be cool.
Remote starters are nice in the winter.
Slow dimming interior light.
Radio stays on until the door is open and then closed. (You have close to this).
Liner actuator to open the rear hatch. (Haven’t done this one yet.)
LED strips under the seats and dash, matching the interior color, that replace the stock over head and under dash interior lights.
That’s some.

 

I forgot one that I haven't done yet but plan on. Voltage monitoring circuit that will latch an LED in the dash on and send start pluses to the remote starter if the battery voltage drops below 10.5-9.5V.
The old way; Go out to car on cold morning and try to crank it but you have a dead battery. Get other car, charger/start, booster pack, or anything to get car started and get to work late.
New way; Go out to car on cold morning and have a red LED on in the dash that tells you the car started overnight because of a low battery. Car starts anyway because the battery was helped though the night by the car starting and topping off the battery. Get to work on time and stop at the parts store on the way home.
You could integrate the remote starter a number of ways. Live in sub-freezing temps? Have the car start and run if the coolant get below –10 or something. Store the car over the winter outdoors? Have it start it self and run once a week.

YOU MUST USE CAUTION IF YOU GOING TO PLAY WITH A REMOTE STARTER.
Do not run the car indoors/ in a garage.
Make certain that ALL safety shut-offs are working. (brake, hood, override)
Do NOT use a remote starter on a car with manual transmission. (Yes, you can bypass the neutral safety but the liability if something happens once you do this is unreal. Do you want to pay some mechanic for losing a finger on the car AFTER you sold it? If you defeated a safely device that would have prevented it from happening, you can still be held liable after you sold the car).
Be smart and think of anything that could happen.

 

I've seen a computer system in the past that had various sensors with it, that would like, crack the windows automatically if it got over a certain temperature inside the car. It also had a moisture sensor that would roll up the windows if it started to rain. You could modify that to make the wipers come on and such. Maybe set up a system where if the car gets to a certain inside temp, the A/C or heat comes on automatically. I know some higher end cars already have features like this, but I've never seen one in a 3rd gen.
I also liked the caddy's sensor that would dim the high beams when it detected another vehicle's headlights. No more, clicking the lever on and off all the time.

 

how did you do the slow dimming interior light?

 

Do a search for dimming schematic and it should come up with a few. You can do it with a relay, 10K resistor, and 1000uF cap rather easily as well. My dome light draws 300mA so I'm just using a large cap.

 

Must be a big cap. The relay/resistor/cap will only delay the light. I didn't put it in my car, just put it in for a kid.
http://www.webelectricproducts.com/products.htm
Was the one I put in.
But this should work to.
http://www.mashhadkit.com/circuit/Do...for%20Cars.htm
You may need to play with it to get it right, but it's a start. Looks like it should work anyway.

 

you say you rigged your reverse lights to a toggle switch, how?