So a while ago I posted about doing reservoir tank lights and a bay light for the car. Things came up and I put the idea in the back of my mind. Well I was bored a few days ago and decided to give it a try and these are the results...
I haven't done the bay lighting yet as it will take a little more time, but the tanks are done and I like the look. It serves absolutely no purpose other than to look neat and be an eye catcher at shows, I guess I can justify it by saying no need to pull out the flashlight to check levels at night haha.
What do you guys think? Try to look past the crammed and not very beautiful engine bay and focus on the lights

Stock without lights



With the lights on


My water pump decided it would blow up on me a week after this project and so I lost all the coolant and when I refilled it I had red coolant, which I think actually looks pretty neat.

 

Thats actually pretty cool good way to improve the looks of them.

Did you use led strips?

 

Thanks!
Yes it's strips, originally I was going to buy new tanks as mine are, as you can tell, yellowed and greased. With the new tanks I was going to make a water proof housing that would hold a bulb to light it up and would be wired to a mercury or pressure switch. It was cheaper, and significantly easier to just do a rocker switch and led strips and soak the tanks for a few hours in a boiling water and de-greaser solution. My tanks were a beautiful shade of black before the clean

Total cost was about $20, would have been cheaper but I ran out of splicers and had to get more.

 

What are your plans for the bay light?

 

Unless another idea comes up, I was just going to do maybe a 12" LED strip up on the hood near the latch mechanism and run the wires through the hood to the same rocker switch. Hard to explain the position but give it a few weeks when I find some time to do it and I will share pics.

 

I was doing that as well i ripped it all out didnt like all the wires hanging an spliced together

 

Those look pretty cool man!

 

I'm not a fan of the lights around the border of the bay, just MHO

 

yea neither was I after it was wired up like I said I ripped it out

 

well it was a good idea to try haha, I just hope I don't end up hating mine once it's done. Most of my lighting projects seem to still be keeping happy though.

 

Here's what I did on my LS1. Maybe you can get some brighter LEDs or neon or something else and try it yourself. Just an idea for you to build off of. BTW - your tank lights are very cool. Something I'll be borrowing myself in the future.

 

fozzi58, I'll be honest, I can't fully tell what the pic shows. Kinda looks like you have the lights on with the hood closed.

It's a neat idea, but I am not big on the idea of having visible light from the hood while driving, or even neon under glow. Sorry I just find some types of lights trashy haha. Makes me think too much of the high school punks with their Honda or Subaru that has a giant wing, hood scoop, fake body scoops, under glow, and lowered way way way too much.

But to each his own!

 

You have washer fluid and puke tanks glowing and my lights are "trashy". I'll let you have first dibs on whether you want to be the pot or the kettle.

They are low light LEDs that are mounted in what are drain holes on the UNDERSIDE of the hood (see pics). The toggle switch is also under the hood so there is no chance of my 8 y.o. daughter or a high school punk turning it on while driving. It provides a non-too-overpowering glow over the engine bay when I prop up the hood and turn them on at nite shows. Even if I left them on, they can't be seen once the hood is closed.

The idea was to present you with an option on where to possibly mount a couple of LEDs in white (or any color) to try and illuminate your engine bay for either seeing it after dark for maintenance, or at shows, or whatever.

Unless you plan on using a plexiglass or acrylic hood there's no way to see those lights with the hood closed. Since your existing switch for the puke tanks is under the hood, you can jump the LEDs off that switch so you can avoid the HS punks as I do.

 

Woah woah woah, hold on here haha. I meant that in no offense, as I said, to each his own. I like some lights and don't like others and you have your own idea of what looks good and what doesnt.

I was on my phone when looking at your picture and it looked like it was a closed hood with lights coming our from the sides, which I have seen plenty of cars do. Now that I am on the computer I can see the hood is open and what the purpose is for. I thought you had some constant lights on under the hood while driving , that could, in turn look like under glow ( seen a third gen with under glow before and I have never wanted to burn a car so badly in my life).

I like your idea now that I can see what it is, granted I can't see the engine bay all to well If I had time to I would much rather put high intensity LEDs mounted in the hood like you did but time is not a luxury I have ATM. My apologies on not seeing what the picture is showing.

My reasons are the same though, mainly for the shows and the occasional maintenance not done in the garage. I do plan to run it on the same switch as the washer fluid and "puke"

 

How did you get those in there and wired up???

 

LMAO - np Dab. Don't worry - I was laughing while typing. Added emoticons so you didn't think I was sitting at a keyboard looking to break something in your name.

I like the underglow - I think its very slick...but not on my cars. I think 2 high intensity LEDs in white would be fine to view or show your bay - but its your car and you do what you want to. I went with low int because I didn't want the lights to blind people when they walk up to the car. Engine bay pics attached now so you can see finished product (sans strut tower brace).


@86: PITA would be agentle way of saying it. Lets just say TGO doesn't allow the language I used. In the close up of the LED pic above you can see the metal flake in the paint. I had the hood off so the underside of it (trunk lid, valve covers, clear air lid and more) could be painted so it wasn't just the GM over-spray job. I had a very light coat of purple metal flake added to the paint so it can only been seen in high light situations (sun, camera flash) just enough to set it apart without it being ridiculous.

So with the hood painted and back on the car, I took some metal wire about 6 foot long, wrapped it in electrical tape so it wouldnt scratch the car, and taped the end of the LED wires to the wire I covered and proceeded to feed the wire through the hood. to the corners where I could snake out the end of the electrical wire and tie them in together. 4 nights and 9 LEDs later, and I was done...no scratches.

Also added 2, 4 inch neon tubes (subtle but visible - without being ridiculous) inside my air lid (its a clear lid that I used a reversed stencil on for the paint) and inside my front clear license plate cover.

 

I would say, let me explain the under glow was purple, but based off your color choice I think you would enjoy it.
To give you a better idea, it's a Frankenstein, maybe 7-8 different colors because of patch work or a body kit and swapped parts, 5" cowl that is rusty and dented, one door handle completely missing, purple under glow and purple LED lights that ran the length of the tail lights( half falling off), ridding on popped air bags, with 20" wheels. I felt ashamed to see it in such shape, as somebody wasn't giving the TLC that this car needed.

 

Man was I off track.
When I read the title I was expecting to see something on the lines of a nicely done switched hood light that you could turn on to see the bay/ engine . You know like to work on it checking fluids and such.
I had one on my blazer. Worked great.
Carry on Gentlemen

 

Once I have some spare time that's what will be next, just have to free up the schedule a bit

 

I like the idea of them under the cowl as I might try that as i dont hae any lights right now and I need something to do on the car as i have nothing to do on it lol

 

Yea if you come up with a good way of wiring it all post up pics I had 2 led strips also by the drivers side battery tray I need to find a better way to light up the bay or just a way to make it look cleaner