SMooTHn's DIY 92-95 Civic City Lights

[smoothn]

I've always wanted city lights, but didnt want to buy JDM lights just to have another set of headlights in my garage would be pointless. So I made my own.

What I used:
USDM Head lights
Saab Side markers
Heavy duty Scissors (or something similar)
Dremel
Silicone

First I had to find a way to mount light sockets into the headlight housing. I have some side markers I picked up from the junkyard and found mydonors for this project.


Now as you can see I cut out what I needed from the side marker to mount the light socket in the head light housing.


Time to chop that sucka up


After you chop it up it should look like this


Sand that ***** down smooth so its not so bulky (you can see in the previous pics I already sanded down the first one)


(This step is optional) I made the socket mount shorter to give it more light output inside the head light housing.

Here is the difference of the bulb exposure.
Before:
After:

Then I used my Dremel and drilled holes in each till I could fit the custom socket mount I made into them. (Note: After drilling I had to wash the head light out cause of all the shaving inside the housing.)


Test fitted


After I test fitted it it was time to seal them up


Right now I am letting the sealant dry. Here is a pic of the light socket used for the side markers.


And here is how it will go in once I have it installed.


I am going to wire my city lights up to my high beam switch since my low beam is using a PnP HID kit. Also want to do it this way so I can turn on my parking lights and just flip on my highs if I want to show my city lights, plus whats the point on having the city lights on when I got my HIDs shining thru, Its just a waste of energy and could kill my little 194 bulb.

This is just my experiment and hopefully this will help others wanting city lights. I might show a diagram of how to hook up the city lights differently if i have time, or just ask me and I will try to help you out the best I can.

Time for me to smoke a bowl! :smoke:

[Danronian]

I'm interested to see how they look with the lights on , and how they look from the front of the car.

[4bfox]

Yeah, this looks like a great winter project! That's when I have time to do stuff like this...if you get a chance, post a pic with the lights on...

[smoothn]

I used 2 different pairs of light amber and blue

here are some pics:




No city Lights:


My HIDs:

[Danronian]

Hmm, it looks good, but doesn't really look like city lights to me.

When I was in S. America I saw a lot of cars with city lights, but they weren't really that bright. They looked like they were barely on, maybe kinda like when the light shines into the headlight the right way, and makes it look like it's "on" but it's really not. I might try to achieve the same affect but maybe with an orange LED. I'll have to look at radioshack for a pair of them.

[smoothn]

Originally Posted by Danronian

Hmm, it looks good, but doesn't really look like city lights to me.

When I was in S. America I saw a lot of cars with city lights, but they weren't really that bright. They looked like they were barely on, maybe kinda like when the light shines into the headlight the right way, and makes it look like it's "on" but it's really not. I might try to achieve the same affect but maybe with an orange LED. I'll have to look at radioshack for a pair of them.

The third pic i just posted is amber incandescent bulbs... the first 2 are blue LEDs...

[Danronian]

Originally Posted by smoothn

The third pic i just posted is amber incandescent bulbs... the first 2 are blue LEDs...

Got it.

Maybe if lower wattage bulbs were used it would give more the dull city-light effect? Not sure.

[harry81]

this is simply beautiful. i have a 95 civic which i bought around 7 years back. i have been planning to do some mods on them for a long time but didn't get any time. should be able to do so around winter this year. thanks for the pics looked real great.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Just what the heck are "city lights"?

[theholycow]

Not sure what Danronian was talking about, but city lights are what Europeans call the position on some headlight switches between "Off" and the headlights; more often called parking lights in the US; it turns on the amber lights, corner markers, and tail lights. They apparently use them without the headlights when driving at night in well-lit cities, presumably to reduce glare (and maybe to use less fuel).