View Full Version : How To: Fit facelift front indicators
Hi Folks
After reading all the various threads on fitting clear facelift style front indicators, and seeing all the confusion etc, i tried it myself, and decided to document each stage as i went along, taking photographs. I have posted as much info up here as i can remember and some pics to go with it. Hope this helps anyone thinking about doing this.
Its well worth it and IMHO makes the car look a lot better, especially if you go the "extra sidelight" route as i did too.
Stage 1
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You will need the clear front indicators, usually found on ebay where i bought mine, for about £33 plus the postage from the USA.
TWO facelift looms from Toyota Part Number 81515-14390
A Soldering iron and solder
Snips
Black Insulating tape
Black and red wire capable of current draw for 21w and 5w bulbs.
Good tool kit / socket set
Heatshrink in various sizes 3mm-7mm
Dremel multi tool or a small needle file (i used a file)
Two w5w clear sidelight bulbs
The Job itself
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Ok first off you start by removing your headlights, this can be a pain accessing the bottom bolt, (there are 3 in total) but it is possible without removing too much skin from your wrist :p Once they are out, you will see you now have access to the 10mm nuts that hold the original "orange blob" indicators in place. Remove the two or three (depending what bumper you have) nuts and unclip the bulb holder, and the old indicators will come out leaving you with no headlight, and no indicator......with the original loom and bulb hanging there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/one.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/Four.jpg
Next up, i chose to remove the third bolt from the new indicators as this prevents you from having to drill a new hole in your bumper to mount the unit, and to be honest two bolts and the bulb holder are more than enough to hold it in place.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/Six.jpg
Next stage is to take your Toyota Looms, and carefully file out the insides of the new indicator sockets so that the lugs on the bulb holders fit in and allow you to turn them and click into place. *Very small amount of filing from the edges is needed*
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/Nine.jpg
Pop the bulb holders in gently until they go in and turn into place as so......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/Ten.jpg
Next up is chop the 2 new connectors off of the new looms, leaving as much wire as possible on the end of them to solder onto. Chop your old indicator bulb holders off the old looms to leave the two wire ends.
Strip the ends off the wires on the new bulb holders and do the same on the wires with the old bulb holders were on the car. You will notice that on the drivers side you can disconnect the short loom as there is a connector, and solder this onto the new loom bulb holder, but on the passenger side you cant disconnect the old loom so have to solder directly onto this. Dont ask me why its like this.........its the funky Japanese remember :conf:
Out of the two new bulb holders you have its the larger one that you want to be soldering on in place of the old ones. Basically if your a bit confused here......all you are doing is cutting off the old indicator bulb holder and soldering on the new larger one of the two off of your new loom. Dont forget to either put on the heatshrink first so that it will cover the join, or cover the solder joins with black insulating tape. See pics.....
Strip and solder the ends of the wires of the larger bulb holder from the new loom.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/Eleven.jpg
Solder this on in place of the old bulb holders that were on the car.....this pic shows the drivers side where u can remove the wire from the car.....the other side u will have to do on the car.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/Twelve.jpg
Then either heat your heatshrink in place or tape the solder joins with black insulating tape. After this wrap tape round the length of both the wires just for added safety plus it looks neater.
Basically by now, you should have more or less what you started with before you did all the chopping, but the original indicator bulb holder on both sides will now be replaced with the larger of the two from your new looms. You will notice that the new holders are wedge type, wheras the older ones were screw in / bayonet. :thumbs:
If you chose to go the route i did, by making the SMALLER section of the new indicator a second lower sidelight.......then read on. If you do NOT want to do that and would rather have BOTH sections as an indicator, then just follow the instructions as above, but instead of chopping the two new bulb holders apart.....solder them BOTH onto the two original wires on your car.......giving you two sockets joined to your original wiring to be used as indicators.
I CHOSE TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT AND FIT SIDELIGHTS DOWN BELOW MY EXISTING SIDELIGHTS AS I THOUGHT IT LOOKED DIFFERENT AND VERY EYE CATCHING AS YOU WILL SEE IN THE LAST PIC. Read on........
Simply remove the sidelight W5W bulb holder from its socket.........you will then remove a small section of the plastic insulation over the wires and onto this......solder the second smaller bulb holder that came with your new Toyota loom.....but use your new wire you bought and give yourself about 8-10 inches slack so that they reach the new housings down below. Basically you are just taking a 8-10 inch "spur" off of the existing sidelight wiring to give you two sidelight bulbs. As so.........
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/Fifteen.jpg
Then insulate tape over the solder join as neatly as possible, and down the length of the new wires to keep them all neat and tidy.
Now its time to put everything back together..........mount your new indicator units in the two existing holes where your old ones were and tighten up the 10mm nuts so that they are just tight and no more....be careful not to overtighten and crack the bumper !! Very easy !! You may want to add some silicone sealer to the back of the nuts to stop them working free possibly.....although i didnt do this.
Then pop in your new W21W Orange bulb into the indicator socket and put the socket into the large section at the back of the new indicator unit....do both sides.....and before you do anything else.....check the indicators work !! You should now have clear front indicators flashing orange !!
If not go back and check your wiring etc and joins........if you DO have this......refit your headlights, and with the new "spur" sidelight coming down from your existing headlight, plug this into the smaller section of the new indicator units..........
Make sure there are no wires hanging down the back, and if there are just tape them in a small roll out of the way.
If you have done everything right......put everything back together......3 bolts on each headlight......put all your bulb holders back in place in the headlights......turn on your sidelights and you should now have TWIN sidelights as shown below !!! :nana: If you dont.....you need to go back and check all the wiring etc......make sure no bulbs are blown. You should also have flashing indicators !! :p
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/michgellie/profile3.jpg
Hope this was of help to people planning on doing this, any questions are more than welcome.......PM me and i will help you out on anything you get stuck with or need to ask. Comments more than welcome on what you think of the "twin sidelight" ideas too. :thumbs:
I did it for individuality, but seeing as theres not too many of you here in Aberdeen i dont think it should be copied locally too much :p
Hope this helps.........if anyone isnt brave enough to do all this, i can easily do it for you for a small fee, if you send me your headlight looms boxed and the new indicators and looms.
Michael
Terminator
18-01-05, 22:54
Very helpful post, well done.
As an alternative - wire both bulbs in the new clears to flash as indicators. This serves two purposes; 1 you get a much more visible indicator and; 2 You have a backup indicator if one bulb fails.
If you use amber head lamp paint on clear bulbs, 4 coats give a good MOT friendly amber/yellow very bright and highly visible indicators without the poached egg look. (Three years and still no flaking) A cheaper option than the silvered bulbs.
thanks for that mate, thats really helpfull. i have a pair of em sat in a box in my house since april last year, i might actually get round to fitting em one day :p along with the facelift bumper i have sat in my shed :banghead:
SupraStar 3000
30-08-05, 21:01
Great thread Michael.
And thanks to Burna and Smarty for linking to it ;)
About a year ago I fitted some clear front Indicators which work fine however, I didn’t connect the white small side lamps which I want to work with the main side light.
Got all 6 bolts off no problem but both lights rock forward about 20mm then stop.
Seems so be fouling underneath on something and refusing to budge :(
Any ideas.
Have you removed the headlights, so easy to see what's happening?
The sideways stud that points towards the radiator is located in a slot in the bumper.
SupraStar 3000
30-08-05, 22:19
sideways stud pointing towards the radiator!
Didn't find that sucker ;)
can this be pushed out the way.
the inside edge rubs on the bumper and outside edge fouls on the side panel.
Just doesn't want to pop out in either direction and I don't facy busting the lights.
In which direction should I pull?
Snarfed for the FAQ section, cracking writeup and apologies for missing it the first time around!
-Ian
sideways stud pointing towards the radiator!
Didn't find that sucker ;)
can this be pushed out the way.
the inside edge rubs on the bumper and outside edge fouls on the side panel.
Just doesn't want to pop out in either direction and I don't facy busting the lights.
In which direction should I pull?
You need to remove the headlight if you haven't, it's easy.
SupraStar 3000
03-09-05, 10:49
found out what the problem is :)
A bolt bracket had bent back locking the light against the side panel.
Both lights out and wires ready to go after I've watched the F1 race on TV.
Cheers for the info gang ;)
SupraStar 3000
03-09-05, 20:42
Done it!
Looks cool. Very Happy
That was a nice easy mod for a saturday afternoon that cost nothin.
I have the small spot lights come on with the side lights now.
Another great thread!!
sooper-supra
04-09-05, 12:21
Thanks very helpful
This thread desparately needs its images back again...
Can the author perhaps donate the images to the BBS to host?
supra_mike
12-01-06, 03:07
would a aero top from a 89 mk3 Ma70 MkIII supra fit a 94 supra
would a aero top from a 89 mk3 Ma70 MkIII supra fit a 94 supra
Er, no.
Sorry.
Completely different body shape.
Thanks MichaelG..
Because of this post i managed to fit mine on saturday (also followed his route of new "double sides"... only had them in a box since about april last year!... ooops..
Ps if you follow this route.. the indicator bulbs i needed for the new looms from toyota i got from halfords.. light number 580 wich is diffrent from what halfords say you need... but their code for the side lights were correct..
Any chance of getting the pictures back?
where did the pictures go for this?
Any chance of getting the pictures back?
:yeahthat:
:)
...ermmm...pictures please:D
I just orderd my lights from Nic, so the pics would would be a great help :)
Edd mate, let me know when you fit yours. I too have the same task, and it maybe slightly easier if we stick our heads together.......
sounds like a good plan! Nic said he would send them out to me sometime this week, so i reckon they wont arrive until after easter.
Absolutely cracking post - hats off mate! would like to see those missing pics tho!
emm so what bulbs do i need for indicator and sidelight from halfords? codes please?
cheers
ok im confused! I bought the toyota facelift indicators from Nic. do I need an extra loom or something to connect them to my old jspec lights? only one of the indicators has long wires sticking out the back of it...
Here is a good link: http://www.i-macca.co.uk/temp/How%20to%20fit%20Facelift%20front%20indicators.doc
Thanks MichaelG..
Ps if you follow this route.. the indicator bulbs i needed for the new looms from toyota i got from halfords.. light number 580 wich is diffrent from what halfords say you need... but their code for the side lights were correct..
Here are the codes for the main light..
sorry cant remember the code for the side lights..
Fitted mine yesterday, and all went smoothly thanks to this thread.
One thing to add though, if you do still have your SMIC, I reccomend you have a little 8mm ring spanner to hand so that you can get at the bolts from the intake.
Thanks Michael (if you're still about) and Macca, heatshrink is now my best friend!
B
Heatshrink is fantastic stuff! :love:
Yes, 8mm ring spanner is very helpful, even more helpful is an 8mm ratchet spanner, gets in there and doesn't need much movement! :d
Thanks for the guide, did this today on mine and went very smoothly. One question..are the sidelights sposed to stay on with dipped headlights??? Also you can get to the passenger indicator without removing the battery, took about 10 minutes for that side!
Depends whats down there, I didn't remove the battery but I had to remove the alarm sounder as that was in the way (UK car).
Yes sidelights should always be on whatever setting your headlights are on.
Someone should replace pics, cuz seems old ones just gone with some deleted account on ftp :P
If you look at the link in post #36 then you will get a how-to that I did with pictures that are still there :)
Supra-Woman
03-09-07, 10:47
Sorry, a rather old post but thought it best to use this than start a new one.
Has anyone ever fitted the facelift indicators in the veilside bumper?? This is my bumper and i have just purchased the indicators but i have no idea how they are going to fit.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/minicooperman/DSC00038.jpg
Looking at that picture they should fit, the air vent looks similar size to a stock bumper, just need to drill an extra hole for the indicator or it will be a bit wobbly.
Anyone know any different?
Supra-Woman
04-09-07, 07:48
I have been told they wont fit as they are longer than the ones i have at the mo and the gap is smaller. Im not having much luck with anything i have bought for my car since i have owned it, think i will give up and just leave it as it is.
Sorry, a rather old post but thought it best to use this than start a new one.
Has anyone ever fitted the facelift indicators in the veilside bumper?? This is my bumper and i have just purchased the indicators but i have no idea how they are going to fit.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/minicooperman/DSC00038.jpg
They will fit the same way as you would attach them to the stock bumper.
Supra-Woman
04-09-07, 09:28
Thanks DamanC, i think i have just found a veilside with the same lights.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Braderz/Image035.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Braderz/Image042.jpg
I have been told they wont fit as they are longer than the ones i have at the mo and the gap is smaller. Im not having much luck with anything i have bought for my car since i have owned it, think i will give up and just leave it as it is.
They are longer, they just sit further forward in the bumper.
Supra-Woman
04-09-07, 09:36
Do i need to do anything to the bracket to bring it forward or is there no need?
Do i need to do anything to the bracket to bring it forward or is there no need?
No Bracket, just a hole :)
Supra-Woman
04-09-07, 10:40
Coolio, now all i need is to find someone nice enough to fit them and my headlights for me, tehe.
Do i need to do anything to the bracket to bring it forward or is there no need?
You will see there is an extra bolt thing on the side of the indicator, you just need to drill an extra hole in the bumper to accomodate it.
Some people don't bother drilling the extra hole, but I also tried fitting the indicators without the third hole but they were far too wobbly.
If you want to have a crack fitting them yourself, here is a very good guide. It's actually quite easy once you get going :)
http://www.i-macca.co.uk/temp/How%20to%20fit%20Facelift%20front%20indicators.doc
Supra-Woman
04-09-07, 11:39
Thank you kindly for the link Elmo, i dont mind fitting the headlights myself but when it comes to erm modifying bits of plastic to make them fit and wiring, i am rather clumpsy, pmsl.
Thank you kindly for the link Elmo, i dont mind fitting the headlights myself but when it comes to erm modifying bits of plastic to make them fit and wiring, i am rather clumpsy, pmsl.
You can ignore the modifying bits of plastic bit as you have the genuine toyota lights, the lights in the guide or the cheaper ebay replica's.
The only thing you need to do is cut the indicator bulb holders off your cars loom, cut the connectors of your new loom and join them togeather then wire up the sidelights.
Job done :D
do you need new looms even if you are not wanting to do the sidelight mod to them.im just after having clear indicators up front
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