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V40 becomes Space hopper

Help, Advice, Owners' Discussion and DIY Tutorials on S40 and V40. In this forum you'll find S40/V40-specific owners asking and answering questions on maintenance, ownership, repairs, tutorials and almost every do-it-yourself thing you can do to save money owning these Volvos.

1996 - 2004 S40
1996 - 2004 V40

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vidzid
Posts: 9
Joined: 19 September 2011
Year and Model: V40 1977
Location: Kent, UK

V40 becomes Space hopper

Post by vidzid »

So I through a few LEDs onto my V40, did this for 2 reasons:
1) Got fed up with replacing bulbs cos they always on.
2) LEDs look better :)

I also persuaded the switch to have the lights off when it is in the off position :) no more wasted bulbs, just have to remember to turn the lights on when it gets dark :)
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Let me know what you think.

vjaneczko
Posts: 1550
Joined: 27 March 2006
Year and Model: 2006 S60R
Location: San Antonio, TX
Been thanked: 6 times

Post by vjaneczko »

Not crazy about the green light myself, but I dig the white! Very nice work. Any chance of posting a How-To for everyone?
"He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which." - Douglas Adams

1997 855 GLT - R.I.P.
2006 S60R - For ME!

vidzid
Posts: 9
Joined: 19 September 2011
Year and Model: V40 1977
Location: Kent, UK

Post by vidzid »

HOW TO :)

First you need to get the LED strips they are very cheap from Ebay, you can coose the colours of your choice, try not to have blue as the rozzers [police] do not like us normals having blue lights, I have 2 in the grill and one in the gap under the grill facing down, open the bonnet, clean the area in front of the radiator and then glue the strips in place, as I said, 2 does the trick, now the tricky bit, in the gap under the grill I glued one strip in the centre at the top, so this had to beld in place while the glue set, I then wired these to the side lights.
The white LED strips are normal stick on ones, they were stuck in place and then extra glue used to make sure they would not fall of or be taken off, these were wired into the side lights and then the side light bulbs removed.
The red ones on the back took a bit more effort, there is a gap where the body panels meet in line with the bottom of the boot, I opened this up a bit with a long screwdriver, inserted the strips and then added the glue to make sure they stayed where they were, I then undid the nuts that hold the back lights in place, ran the LED wire around and behind the housing, then spliced it into the running lights.

I do hope this makes sense :)
please ask if anything is not clear.

vidzid
Posts: 9
Joined: 19 September 2011
Year and Model: V40 1977
Location: Kent, UK

Post by vidzid »

Next project:
To add indicator system that says <<LEFT and RIGHT>> :)

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