McGherkin's 1.2 Ph.1 Lighting upgrades

[McGherkin]

Alright, got the LED bug at the moment, and my Clio is the unfortunate recipient of this :rasp:

Yes, I know it's as high as a monster truck, and has standard bumpers e.t.c., but that's just me. I like my car to look like a slow old 1.2 because it is

However, that doesn't mean you can't modernise it.

So here it is when I bought it...

First thing to do was change out the interior light for LED - couldn't see very much with the standard one. So I got a pair of 16SMD LEDs and went to put one in the interior light. I soon found out that the power flows in opposite directions depending on how the light is turned on. So there was nothing for it but to get the soldering iron out, solder a second set in parallel (and opposite polarity), and replace in the car. Not perfect, but the slight aesthetic loss is made up for by the better qualities of the LEDs.

Next up were new headlight bulbs, Halfrauds (I needed them quick) Xenon 60/55w, whiter, 120% brighter light. Which is a good thing because the old bulbs were every type of s**t imaginable. May go try some osram nightbreakers, but my bulbs are fine at the moment.

Then the latest mod was some LED sidelights - again not expensive but an easy way to make a car look better. These pics are as of this morning

Things left to do:

Get rid of what's left of the front splitter - it was a stupid thing anyway.
LED Rear Number Plate Light
LED Boot Interior Light
*possibly* LED reversing lights.

Oh, and

Clean the car.

 

[_Logie]

Dual optics, deck it, color code and a dynamique spoiler.

Looking nice and clean the way it is. Same as my project (except yours is a lot cleaner).

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Someone with some common sense at last:

Yes, I know it's as high as a monster truck, and has standard bumpers e.t.c., but that's just me. I like my car to look like a slow old 1.2 because it is

Brian should send you some Haribo or some Bounty chocs...

Dual optics make the front end look 100x better. Ph2 rear lights also much nicer IMO.

Aside from that, nice work.

 

[marinemackay2003]

Not bad looking needs monster stickers and green bits LOL

Ph2 lights smarten up the rear quite a fair bit, guide on here too

Well worth doing IMO

Make sure to pop it along to the next meet

 

[McGherkin]

Thanks. I did consider the dual optics, but now I've splashed out on H4 headlight bulbs, it's a bit of a waste to put in headlight blocks that don't take them

If I get the money, and time, I'll probably do it. (Although I'm considering 100w in the full beam, if I do get dual optics)


Also can anyone tell me what my rims are? Mine are a bit wrecked.

EDIT: Mackay, it has an M on the parcel shelf, that count?

Not too keen on the Mk.2 lights, mine do the job fine...

I'll be at the KTEC rolling road day, not doing runs though

 

[marinemackay2003]

May see you there then, may head down in the 106

100w LOL bright much

Next meet is paintball

Cheers

Chris

 

[McGherkin]

Yeah, well I'm looking at maybe doing 12 car (if I can find a codriver), and it's neater than having spotlights

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Will 100W melt the wiring or the casing of the light cluster itself ?!

Seems mega high !

 

[McGherkin]

Yeah, it would be a complicated thing to do, probably require quite a bit of modification to the cluster and special wiring, but if it plays out right, it'd be awesome. Still, that's only really a wish list item...

 

[Gildstar]

Get some Turbines they look the best on ph1 non sports.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Turbines look the best on ph1 non sports.

View attachment 69103

:dead:

They look awful on everything IMO.

 

[McGherkin]

I just wanna know what ones I have already

 

[Gildstar]

I just wanna know what ones I have already

Wrecked as in kurbed alot or buckled ? Not too sure what they are called it might be cheaper to just refurb them instead of buying a whole new set.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Ph1 172 Exclusive wheels ?

 

[McGherkin]

Kerbed, but there are some very nasty digs out of them.

EDIT: Can't be Giraffe, mine have exposed bolts, and they seem to be straighter than those.

 

[Gildstar]

Gherkin's are 9 spokes and the 172 ones are 10 , they aren't standard alloys tbh i've got no idea lol.

 

[McGherkin]

Oh, and they take 185s. Not complaining about that

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Well spotted... just testing

I've no freakin' idea. Nothing on Google comes any closer :S

 

[McGherkin]

Mystery then. I like them though, subtle, and they match the car

 

[Baggaley90]

Get some Turbines they look the best on ph1 non sports.

View attachment 69103

Yes they do

 

[McGherkin]

Sorry, turbines don't really do it for me :/

 

[Whiskerz16v]

the wheels you have are the standard ones off the megane "sport"

id say go 40mm drop all round, dual optics and ph2 rears...

infact just look at my old thread for idea if your stuck

 

[McGherkin]

Can't find a match for those wheels anywhere... Think you may have meant these?

Close, but no cigar.


And no point dropping the car when I live next to a road full of speed bumps.

 

[Dan-]

your pictures look good they look like they are from a late 90s renault brochure lol put turbines on it, lower it and keep it lookin that clean!

 

[McGherkin]

Thanks for the compliment on the pics, but the rest of it has been covered on this page

 

[Whiskerz16v]

nah thats not the ones i meant... im damn sure i saw a few old meganes rocking the wheels you have....

and as for speed bumps... i cleared every single one when I was on coilovers

 

[McGherkin]

Well, I don't want to chance it. Just spent 20 mins pulling the remains of the splitter off, looks much neater but undecided whether to put a skoda one on or just leave it.

 

[Stu.]

Get some Turbines they look the best on ph1 non sports.

View attachment 69103

ahh my old car <3

And yeah there megane wheels, off a 1.4 / 1.6 i think and W reg shape but dont quote me on that! lol

 

[McGherkin]

Last bit of the splitter has been taken off, hopefully by the end of today I'll have a pair of dual optics on the way.

 

[McGherkin]

And they came....

I'll go out and take a proper pic at some other time.

 

[McGherkin]

And this is the result...

Also the interior boot light has been replaced with LEDs. Strangely, however, there seems to be a slight current running through the main interior light at all times when it's set to doors. Therefore the interior light is dimly on at all times unless I set it to off. Any clues?

 

[poriordan]

ha are these the ones from me look niiiice

 

[McGherkin]

Sure are, thanks a million

 

[poriordan]

miiiiint ahahahha i have same again now how funny

 

[McGherkin]

Fitted my HIDs today. Looks better than the pics but I can't see much improvement in illumination. Fairly quick night pictures too, it just started to rain :dapprove:

 

[McGherkin]

New headlight blocks, much better. The driver's side block was broken, meaning that the headlight was pointing down and not doing much lighting. Note in the first two pics of the last post, the driver's headlight lens is visibly lower in the block.

So, out with the old ones and in with the new ones. These are all silver and original rather than the last pair which the previous owner had painted black. However they were caked and yellow and I didn't hold much hope of them polishing out, but they did. Still haven't cleaned the car since then, so apologies for the cack on the front bumper.

With that done, it was time to head down to the photo location I'd been planning for ages. These are the two best versions, can't decide on which I like more.

Currently trying to go halfway with a photoshop.

 

[Michaelfoz]

hi mate. does your interior light come on when you open the dor. if so do you have any advice on how to do this.
cheers

 

[McGherkin]

Yes. Open the spoiler for a guide

Spoiler

Doors Open

Manual

Here's how they're wired up. One's wired opposite polarity to the other (put one in, set to manual on, take out and remember which way it went, then put the other in and do the same with the doors)Solder the wires at the ends of the one that won't be in the holder(mine had a hole in the end of the cone you could thread the wire through, see pic above),

Then trap the wire in the holder at the ends of the other bulb like so:

 

[Phoenix Autosport]

another option if you want to keep a single bulb is to use a bridge rectifier, feed the wires that would go to each side of the bulb into the AC connections of the rectifier the connect the dc output to the bulb holder and fit the bulb, rectifier will then output correct polarity to the leds no matter which direction the feed into the rectifier

 

[McGherkin]

Here's the photoshopped image.