Category: Electrical

I’ve seen footwell lighting in several cars, and decided it was something I wanted. I bought some LED strip lights, and made a wiring harness. I used purple wire to match the car’s lighting wire color, and black for the grounds.

My harness gets power from the glove box light. I also made the harness fit in between the stock wiring, and the glove box light switch, so I didn’t have to cut the car’s harness. My harness can be removed without any issues. The LED strip lights draw less than 1 amp, and the reduced amperage from my interior LED lights insure that I’m in no danger of blowing a fuse, or melting wire.

I needed a new drivers light switch since one was missing. It came with a 3-pronged piece that makes it easy to connect the car’s door lights, and the female connection on my driver’s side footwell lights.

The LED strips are simply glued with contact adhesive to the backs of the kneepads. There are two sections of strip lights on the harness, one for each footwell, and they are grounded separately at each door light switch. They work independently, depending on which door is open.
I was able to install the lighting while I had the interior torn apart a few years ago:

I think they look great at night.

Costs:

I’ve always thought my stereo sounded way to thin, and needed an upgrade. There was practically no bass in the system at all. The previous owner installed a pretty basic head unit and speakers:

While my side panels were off, I decided to replace the speakers:

These speakers got good reviews with the other Delorean owners, and fit the rear location, albeit with better hose clamps and some persuasion:

I also took the time to upgrade the front dash speakers. I’m glad I did since the speakers the previous owner installed were very low quality. I found some Pioneer speakers that fit the location perfectly:

After some searching, I decided to upgrade the head unit as well. The new one features Bluetooth hands-free calling and audio streaming, wired external microphone, voice recognition, Pandora, USB direct control for iPod/iPhone, Android Media access, a remote control, and more.
 

It’s been said the stock wiring might not handle a modern stereo’s electrical needs. I took the time to run a new 12 Gauge yellow wire from the positive post behind the rear wall. A fuse holder is spliced into the wiring. Sorry, I didn’t get any pictures of that.

My upgraded negative battery cable features a smaller wire that was currently being unused. I found a new use for it: dedicated ground for my stereo.

Upgrading the wiring meant I got to remove all the glass fuses behind the dash:

While my A pillar trim is removed, I ran the cable for the microphone up the A pillar:
 

The result: The new features of the head unit are great!

I still think the sound quality isn’t great. It needs more bass. I’m going to have to investigate a subwoofer.

Costs:

By now, the basics of LEDs are well known: longer life, faster light up time, and reduced power consumption. Many Delorean owners are converting their incandescent bulbs to LEDs for all of these benefits. One really well written blog entry on Delorean LED conversion and benefits can be found here:

http://delorean2109.blogspot.com/2011/07/going-100-leds-on-your-car-is-good-idea.html

I saw someone else used these 48 LED SMD Panels as a trunk light. I liked the look, and had a few panels left over. This is a big improvement in brightness over the incandescent festoon bulb, and my later LED festoon bulb:

I should have probably bought bigger brake lights, but after testing, these 42 LED bulbs were deemed just as bright as the incandescent brake lights. I purchased amber colored LEDs for the turn signals, however I was disappointed that the turn signals were dim. I decided to replace them with some bigger white LEDs.

I added a 48 LED SMD Panel to the engine bay light as well:

I reclaimed the LED festoon bulbs from the trunk, engine bay, and interior lights. I used two of them in the rear license plate lights. I like the white color they produce, compared to the dim, yellow-ish light.

The flasher relay I purchased wasn’t set up correctly for what the Delorean needed. Swapping some relay pins with some jumper wires was a quick and easy fix. New flasher (left), old flasher (right):

Using the same 12 volt battery for my testing, I measured the amperage of the lights I removed, and the new LED lights. Here’s the breakdown:

Now all these lights aren’t lit at the same time, so the savings isn’t always over 20 amps. However, I have significantly reduced the load on the electrical system. Maybe my alternator will live a little longer.

Costs: