Two updates on trunk mods

[efesus]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post, and really it's just updates on mods I've seen in the forums.

First, I liked the idea of improved lighting in the truck for my '07 LE V6, but not the idea of fragile CCFL's. I had a set of Ikea LED's in my shop, and after reading their spec's I realized that they are 12V. So here are some pictures of what I did to my Camry with the LED's.


This is the set just lined up to show how the lights shine.


What the wiring looks like. (and, yes, that grey case say's "Pink's All Out", my brother and I were the Lead Sound Recording Engineers on the show for seasons 1&2 and episode 1 of season 3)


The fuse holder, I got it at an electronics store, and I placed a 5 amp fuse in the tube.


A look at the wires inside of the stock bulb holder. I used spade connectors as specified in the original CCFL Trunk Mod post.


I mounted the strips in different positions are space permitted. The strips are hard plastic, so flat surfaces were a must. All pieces were mounted using Gorrilla Super Glue. I still need to make some more time to go in and clean up the wiring.


Here's a picture that has been stopped down for exposure.

Second part of this post deals with the trunk lid. After seeing Kenny's post about using the rubber strap to get the trunk lid to lift higher, I got to thinking about how to make the trunk lid open all the way. So... I went to Home Depot and found some springs. They are 3 1/2 inches long and I mounted them to the main arm of the trunk lid and the top of trunk in a hole just off the side of the arms on both sides. Following is a video and pictures of the work.

VIDEO OF THE TRUNK MOD IN ACTION!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxdiA0hnMKU
As you all can see, I get the truck lid to open all the way.


Here's a picture of the right side arm of the trunk, the left side is the mirror image. (If you want pictures of the left side, leave a comment, and I'll post them)


Here's a close-up of where to mount the springs.

In all the process took about 15 minutes, mainly becuase the left side spring wouldn't stay in the hole. A little tweaking of the loops on the ends of the spring with pliers did the trick.

Please feel free to ask questions. Or if I failed to state something, or more information is needed, PLEASE let me know. Like I said earlier this is my first post in this forum, and I'd like to be as helpful to others as your posts have been to me.

[Don M]

Nice presentation! I know how much trouble it is to take the pix and write it up, thanks for the post.

[LOV]

Looks nice man, good job and welcome to TN.

[Tobeit]

...looks cleaner than the rubber bands. btw, I used blue LED for my trunk.

[efesus]

I thought of using colored LED's as well. After giving it a lot of thought, I realized that since I use my car for work, and I always gear in my trunk, white light was my best option for being able to quickly get the gear I need.

Maybe once I buy an SUV again, I'll make this Camry my project car. At this point, the only other mod I plan on making is, 20's.

[skyxliner]

haha i love how everyones trying to solve this trunk issue lolz. and we have the best creative engineering minds out on here haha =)


this does look more long lasting than the bands but mine still are higher than without it, i'll prob swap springs in later on. thanks!