Footwell Lighting (Installation)

[originalcyn]

Is there any confirmation that there are lights (courtesy lights?) for the floor pans of the passenger and driver in the front? I've been under there a couple times in the last week and I can't find anything that looks like it. I thought I read that the pre face lift ls or lsi had one, but i couldn't find the thread again. I don't know why it would be different for the post face lift models, but thought i'd seek confirmation on that.

[Legacy777]

This is the thread you were probably thinking of.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=51738

[originalcyn]

Thanks Josh, but i think that thread is referring to the lights in the doors themselves. I'm taking about lighting that would shine out from under the dash. I'm not really sure what lights like that are referred to.

[cj91legss]

If you wanted to do something like that, It would probably be pretty easy to tap into the fuse box light. It comes on whenever the driver's door is opened.

[originalcyn]

Yeah, i was thinking of something like that. But i was under the impression that some lighting already existed down there, at least on some of our cars.

[Legacy777]

On my 90 Legacy there is only one light just above the fuse box to shine in the footwell area. This is only on the driver's side.

[Alphius]

I have never seen "Floor lighting" on any firstgen Legacy. It would be easy to add though. I would recommend it.
Both of my GM vehicles have interior floor lighting and it is just tied into the domelight circuit. All stock wiring.

[originalcyn]

Ok, sounds good everyone. Thanks for the information!

[originalcyn]

Ordered two of these for footwell lighting. We'll see how it goes.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo ... s-x3/1465/

[Legacy777]

Cool, let us know how they work, and take pics

[originalcyn]

Alright, here we go.

The hardest parts of this install were trying to figure out where to actually mount the strips and then finding the fuse that I blew putting them in.

Basically, pull off the door sills (at some point i was retarded and put the driver side door sill square clips in with the pry hole in sideways instead of up. This ruins everything forever, don't do it.)

Once the sill is up, you can pull off the little trim piece that's like a wing. It's on two metal clips.



In the LS there's door lights/step lights that only come on when that specific door is open. This was perfect for what I was trying to do so I tapped into them. The blue wires with the pink plug are for the door light.



Here's the dinky vampiric taps I used. Relatively inexpensive, relatively low quality. There's probably a better method to use, but this was pretty simple for what I had immediately available to me.



Once in, the LED strips can be trimmed to size. In my case, the strips were about 21 LEDs long, but needed to be about 15 LEDs, so trimming was needed. There's a metal bar behind the bottom of the glove box that I was able to double stick tape the strip to on the passenger side. Word of caution, the top of the strips are circuitry. I managed to short all of the interior lighting and the radio circuit by trying to position the strip and coming in contact with a screw. You have been warned.

Also of note is the plastic wing shaped piece of trim mentioned earlier which is sitting at the bottom of the picture.



Once in, and the trim is back in place, simple mount somewhere and clean up the wire with some zip ties.



Action shot!



The sides operate independently of each other, which is kind of nice.



Night shot.



It's kind of red.

[kimokalihi]

Looks a bit bright, is it too bright? I think I'd probably prefer both sides to light up if a door was opened in the front. That way if I need to see something (maybe something fell off passenger seat) on the passenger side I could just open my door a bit. Looks cool though. I wonder if my 91 has the wiring for the door panel lights.

[originalcyn]

It's not as bad as it looks. The pictures, especially the last picture, make it brighter than it really is. That being said, i do like it pretty bright. So it's possible that what's bright for you is not too obnoxious for me. But, a less bright strip in a white could easily be gotten instead, or you could cut the strip even shorter so there were less leds.

I would say go to the wire for the dome light if you want them to all light up whenever a door is opened.

[Legacy777]

Yeah, I agree, that does look cool!

[originalcyn]

Josh, can I get some clarification real quickly?

Today I got a seatbelt light and the passenger side seatbelt doesn't retract when the door is open. The driver's side seatbelt, and perhaps the passenger side, make a noise like they're readjusting or moving slightly. When I did these lights I tapped into what i thought was the door light wire. Is it possible that the door lights and the seatbelts are on the same fuse or circuit? It seems very coincidental that the seatbelts are acting up now.

Thanks!

[originalcyn]

And now it's fine....

[Legacy777]

I would try and verify that what you tapped into is 100% the correct wire. I guess if you've done that and still have issues, you seat belts may have just had a hiccup.

[originalcyn]

Thanks Josh. Yeah, after it went away it came back for like 5 minutes, and only the issue with the passenger belt making a clicking noise, no warning on the dash for the belts. But then it just went away again, and I haven't had an issue since. Kind of weird and disconcerting. If it happens again i'll have to pull it all apart.