Are there any better?
Glad to hear you are a hands on gal.

 

Yep. Only problem is there just ain't enough of 'em that like to play cars ........
Take my wife - please ! ( Thanks Henny )
She DESPISES anything to do with a car, ANY car.

 

Get a sprint booster... with the installation guy.. she'll change her mind.. LOL

 

My wife is not an auto enthusiast either but she has interest that do not appeal to me so it works out. Most of my jeep or car mods and accessories come as Christmas, or birthday loot.

 

My wife was actually not interested in cars until we got the Crossfire. Now she loves the car and thinks she's a gearhead

 

Been there, done that.
Max (maxcichon) gave me one about a year ago.
Had to take it off as it garnered more SPM's ( slaps per mile ) and SDD's ( Slow down dammit ) than I could contend with.
Gave it back to Max.

 

Greg: I assume your talking about the "installation guy"you post recently? you rang?? ...my phone isn't working (apparently cause I did not get the request...LOL)...Carl

 

George: My wife isn't a "car" girl also...she, however, enjoys my fanatical obsession with minimal disdain...thank goodness...Carl

 

With 37k on my 04 I did the Sticky Key fix. If everything goes well it is an easy fix but there are lots of places to get bogged down in the process. It is a lot of work just to remove the spring & pin, but necessary. I won't have to do this again.
But what about XF 2 or 3?
Stan

 

XF 1 still sticky key.. for 3 years now.. XF 2 and 3 work smooth as butter...

 

DRL's - Added LED tag lights to the other end.. Still need to recess into the "grating"..

 

You sure are clever.
Whoda thought : use tag lights for front DRL's
Me likey.

 

Looks Great. While I still really like the Needswings set up, if I were to do it again, this would be a great alternative. The needswings intakes are larger and will retain a lot less heat, which is an added benefit, but doing your set up avoids having to reroute the powersteeting lines and to replane to coolant lines behind the grill. That was the biggest pain in the a** on that install. Also, not sure what filters you have in your set up, but they may or may not be easier / harder to change than the K&N's on the Needswings set up.

Anyway, nice job and looks great.

 

How did you mount them, and how do you propose to recess it into the grating? Details, sir!

 

Not a fan of the 'L" shaped Benz ones .. and we know how these hold up and how bright they are..

Just used some stiff cardboard type paper and made a template for the light to fit through - traced to the inside of the grille - and used a dremel to open it up. Took my knife to clean up the dremel cut-melt and fine tuned the opening as required. Made a little notch for the locking tab to clear also. My cut out is snug enough they won't come out, but plan on some silicone on the back to be sure. Now I'll just take a sharp box knife and cut the grate part to where it will sit flush into it. Have billets on my coupe lowers - mesh on the wives and just wanted something different on this one. Recessing these would still allow for overlays though. Plan on wiring to a normally closed relay to a key on - hot lead. Run a lead to a headlight to open the relay as "DRL's" are technically "Illegal" to run with headlights.

 

I put in new LEDs in the reverse lights position for the tail lights. BRIGHT, is an understatement here. Looking at them directly is like staring at the sun.


I see you posted the DRL idea we tossed around Greg hahahah. Yeah guys, Greg and I were discussing what to do for DRLs on facebook, and we ended up on the topic of using the tag LED lights we both have used for quite a while with great success. These things are stupid bright even in daytime, and work just fine as DRLs. I'm not able to do it myself, because I don't posses the skills Greg does in fabricating work lol. I'll wait till he finishes these fully, and then hopefully will have a good idea of what to do. If not, looks like I'll just pay him a visit as a "road trip" LOL

BTW, any pictures of how you attached them to the back of the grill, and where you wired them? Video would work too!

 

These would work great. They are super bright and stupid cheap. They use the new LED COB lamps (Circuit On Board) which makes the panel look like a solid light. I have one as a replacement for my cargo lamp in the back which lights up everything nicely.

cob led strip | eBay

COB LED.JPG

 

Thanx Bud, it don't get much cheaper than this with the same effect as the Needswings. The canisters run about $50 ea, the sl55 "Y" I procured from a salvage yard for $80, 3.00" 70 Degree Aluminum Pipe - 3" & 8" Legs ran around $20 ea., 3" 4-ply 1' long Silicone Hose were around $15 ea, 3" Long 3" 4-ply Silicone Straight Couplers $4 ea., 6 T-bolt clamps $2.50 ea. All told, just under $300, a 3rd the cost of the Needswings. I like the placement of the filters which places them forward away from the mani's heat and they use a K&N like cone filter. Also like the fact that the filters are enclosed and not exposed the the elements like the Needswings are. And the SL55 "Y" simply snaps onto the TB making the whole system very simple to install and remove.
FYI - when looking for the "Y", make sure that the tabs are not broken or missing. Many I came across have one of the tabs broken off. There is a clip tab on the top and bottom of the "Y". 9 times out of 10 the bottom clip is snapped off.



spectre filter.jpgP8090204.jpg

 

Mopar rear diffuser in metallic silver with CTD rear diffuser in Alabaster. I painted the inner most fin on the Mopar diffuser to match the CTD to give a continuous look.

Startech5_zps222406ba.jpg

Diffuser2_zpsc000e8eb.jpg

 

Had a conversation with 155MPH today, very stable at those speeds.