my **** brilliant idea

ok, i have told some of you, but for the others that i havn't told...

some of you know a thing about MR2's such that the engine is in the middle of the car. and that the engine lid has vents...and that the supercharged ones (88-89) have a light in the **** that comes on when the supercharger is being used (aka, when the pedal is past a certain point) so anyway, this is what my brilliant idea was....

one day, while driving at night i noticed something green glaring in my eyes. i looked down at my instrument cluster inside my **** and for some reason the green light was just a lil bit more green. i thought for a second and wondered "how does that light come on?" then i quickly deduced that when applying pressure to the gas pedal the light kicks on automatically. well, as some of you may or may not know, i have been wanting some glow in my engine compartment for some reason. so then i says to myself "hey playa, why not put some red cathodes on the inside of your engine lid and run a relay or w/e off the magic green light and have em kick on the same time as the green light?!" sounds like a brilliant idea to me, but i know nothing about piggy backing off a current system (like which fuse goes to what and more imptly what size fuse i'll need)

well? what do you guys think of my idea?

so the light only comes on when the super charger is past a certian presure. sounds kind of iffy but if it was something like in the grill or headlight that would be cool. but just in the engine bay i dont really think its a good idea.

No No, the idea is kickass imo.

Either way it's stupid, because it would come on while you're driving, aka pointless.

this is what the engine lid lookslike, there are slits in the left side but not on the right.

I would be pointless to have it on in the engine bay while driving but not like a light in the grill i think it would be pretty cool to see a light come on with the boost of the supercharger.

Not pointless, you could have a switch to control the power, and another switch (the fuse or whatever) to make it come on when powered. YOU GUYS JUST GOTTA THINK!!!

I'm thinking, and I think it's stupid.

no one said you had to like it aken...

i dont get how its pointless tho...

sometimes, opinions.... are better kept to yourself

Well, I think your idea is totally feasible if you wanted. The only real issue I can think of is that the cathode may not like the heat or high temperatures inside the engine bay. I know I've had issues with neon tubes I have placed in my engine bay of my Dodge Neon before. Which led me to simply remove them and only use them when Im at shows and the vehicle is off.

However, my experience with cathodes is very limited... so, maybe one of the more cathode -knowledgeable people of the board could say if they think the engine bay temps would cause issues.

L8R,

be a lil open minded aken. if his area is anything like mine. thatd be a bad ass idea. cause if you pass someone with it stomped and youve got red glow comin out of the vents and then you let off and they go out we all glow while drivin and have no problems, but i know some of you think its not worth the risk. even so dont just call his idea stupid just cause you think its too risky to ride with neons on.

So only one side of the vents have the slits cut into them? I would say cut the other sides vents open as well to balence it out.

Do you know how a relay works? If so then you shouldnt have a problem wiring this up.

Mount the relay whereever and run a power and a ground. Run a remote wire from the source of the magical green light to the relays ON position. Run another wire to the cathode or neon ( I would use a neon - cathodes might not like the heat ) When the green light comes on it will trip the relay and thus turning on whatever is on the other side of the relay ( Cathode or Neon ).

Does that make sence?

Well, considering the engine is in the back of the car, what is the big deal if a red light did go on through the deck. Doubtfully it would be confused as a break light while driving because of the angles, but just revving the engine to show it off, it might look good.

I think the idea is **** brilliant.

pOrk wrote:

So only one side of the vents have the slits cut into them? I would say cut the other sides vents open as well to balence it out. Do you know how a relay works? If so then you shouldnt have a problem wiring this up. Mount the relay whereever and run a power and a ground. Run a remote wire from the source of the magical green light to the relays ON position. Run another wire to the cathode or neon ( I would use a neon - cathodes might not like the heat ) When the green light comes on it will trip the relay and thus turning on whatever is on the other side of the relay ( Cathode or Neon ). Does that make sense?

thank you for the helpful post, i actually know nothing about relays so i'll prob IM you later tonite and we can talk further about this. i would cut vents in the other side but thats where the spark plugs are and from what i've noticed on my friends n/a models (the vents are on both sides of the lid) the spark plug covers dont cover to swell some times thus allowing water in the valleys

actually sounds like a pretty cool idea. Get out the multimeter first and make sure this magic light is 12v, that'd be the first step.

gl

gues you have a point there brandon. i bet my uncle has a multimeter

i thinks its a sweet idea, but i would use neons instead of cathodes. do you want a red glow or would you rather have a "pink" glow like that of cathodes?

Neons would be better with the heat as well. Feel free to drop an IM on me.

As far as the plugs being there - how much room do you have from the top of the plug wire to the bottom of the hood ( trunk? ). Can always make something out of sheetmetal...

i actually was wondering the same kind of idea a while ago...before i knew people on SG. what i was thinking was maybe wiring up some neons or a ub kit to my rpms or something so that when i got up to a certain speed, or rpms, the ub would either change color, or just turn on. lol. i think it was phil who posted on that old topic, "i'll sit in your car and you can pay me to turn them on and off." or something like that. lol. it was funny.

varad has something like that I think... except it's really just sound activated. And it doesn't change colors, it just lights up. Kind of cool idea, but they cheated.

I say go for it.

just popped my engine lid, neones would be way to fat to fit under the lid along side the slots w/o being seen

have u tried the mini neons... i have 2 of them under my dash and their just as big at cathodes. thats a cool idea, if i had a supercharger with a maggical green light, then i would probly try somthin like that to. good scott

banned from SG wrote:

just popped my engine lid, neones would be way to fat to fit under the lid along side the slots w/o being seen

Even the mini neon's?

Don't know if you've seen them before or not, but here are some comparison pics... sorry for the poor quality tho .





If those still won't fit, then cathodes or LEDs IMO.

L8R,

here ya go. These may be of help too:

looks like i need to get my hands on some red mini's...

Indeed. Did you save that pic of the Relay I sent you? I hope that diagram helps yah...

cool idea.

just remember neons and especially cold cathodes are very fragile, be careful closing the lid.

it would be sweet if you could make it get brighter as the pressure increases, but I don't think neons or cathodes dim well so you would need LEDs or incandescent type bulbs and some sort of dimmer and sensor.

someone should hook up their underbodies to a blow off valve, that would be **** badass.

Why not just use red LEDs or get a LED Light bar... Phil sells LED light bars on here =)

i would go with the minis they are reliable. i had one mounted rigt to the engine on my bike and it lasted for like three months and now its in my truck and still works

A full 3 months? Lol

I think the best would be LEDs... No breakage, dimmable. Get a red LED light bar or something.

I've always had problems mounting LED's and aiming them. I don't know if it's just b/c I'm doing it wrong or what but I could imagine it being kind of difficult mounting them in the engine bay.

I still vote cathode

I have had the same problem in the past, it's to the point where I HATE leds..... i say cathodes too.

I had 6 LED's under each seat and I couldn't aim them effectively so I took them out and I'm going to get red neons for their replacements... I'll have to put them somewhere where I can aim a lil easier.

aim easier....for me that is....nowhere

You vote cathode but your using neons to light your floor? You bum

pOrk wrote:

You vote cathode but your using neons to light your floor? You bum

red cathode=pink
red neon=red

The nice things about the LEDs is they won't be so sensitive to the heat from the engine, they hardly draw any power and light immediately upon applying power, they are dimable, and they take up a whole lot less space then cathodes. If these vents were in there for a purpose other than looking cool, they won't be functioning properly anymore with big ole cathodes in there blocking the air path. Where as you could have the LEDs in there and they'd hardly take up any space.