Dr Bonz

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Here is yet another in the classic Dr. Bonz how-to’s and reviews series!


I ordered, received and installed the light-up door sills from Unlimited Tuning

www.unlimitedtuning.com .


Please refrain from posting until I have everything up for continuity.
Here we go:

Here is a pic of the product and the shipping material. Nice well padded packing and packaging. The product was in excellent condition. Everything is included. All you’ll need is some wire cutters, a Phillips screwdriver, electrical tape, and a wire stripper.

Dr Bonz

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You must first remove the stock kick plate and sill cover. Remember that these light up sills are only for Z’s with the aluminum Z kick plates. They can’t be used with the all black ones. Be careful popping these out. You first remove the plastic pin toward the back (red circle), and carefully lift upward. As I have done in just about every installation in this car that requires removing interior trim, I broke two of the pop pin things. In order to reinstall the kick plate later, I used some Velcro strips to re-stick it back down. Worked great!

Dr Bonz

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I cleaned the kick plate with some alcohol to remove any 303 Aerospace Protectant and any Zaino I might have applied at one time. You then paint the adhesive primer on with a brush. This is supplied in a small tube from Unlimited Tuning. You are supposed to let it dry for about 10 minutes. You then line up the new plate after removing the red backing on the adhesive and stick it onto the OEM one. It’s easiest to just line up the clear plastic “Z” on the new one over top of the aluminum OEM one before you plant it on there. You then apply some pressure and allow it to dry.

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Make sure you clear the wires from underneath before you stick in on. Try to point them in the direction you will ultimately want them to go (i.e. toward the inside of the car).

Dr Bonz

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You then lift up the rubber edging and pop off the interior trim (no rivets to break this time!). You then reinstall the door sill with the new light up kick plate stuck to it. Again, you have to make sure the wires are exiting from under the new plate at the front and rear corners and aimed toward the inside of the car. You then run your wires along the white plastic clips that hold the trim in place.

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This pic is from the passenger side install

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You then replace the rubber edging and the inside trim. On the driver’s side of the car the black wire runs toward the rear of the car and the red wire toward the front of the car. You will be running the red toward the fuse box just to the left of the clutch pedal under the dash.

On the passenger side you’ll run both the red and the black toward the rear of the car. The black will go to the door switch and the red will go into and through your glove box and then to your rear cig. lighter for power. Mine actually goes to my PC power line that is already in my glove box but it gets its juice from the lighter.

Dr Bonz

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Just an interesting finding here. When I removed my passenger side kick plate, I noticed it was VERY hard to remove. That is because instead of the pop pins holding it in, there was this black adhesive putty holding it down. I had to very carefully peel it up so as to not break it! Low and behold, it looks like the pop pins had been broken (red circles) and whoever did it, reinstalled it with adhesive.

Dr Bonz

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Now comes the wiring. You have to remove the door switch. It’s as easy as taking out the Phillips head screw and popping it out. Here is what it looks like after it’s out. There is a white plastic plug that can be detached but you don’t have to do this if you wire it the way I did.

I instead tapped directly into the wire going into the plastic plug. For some reason this wire is white on the driver’s side and pink on the passenger side.

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I simply bared a small portion of the wire with a knife (taking care to NOT CUT IT COMPLETELY). I then fed the BLACK wire behind the trim and out the hole where to door switch goes. You ten just create a “T” by connecting the bared end of the black wire to the bared part of the door switch wire. I then taped it securely with electrical tape

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You then reinstall the door switch. On the passenger side I ran my red wire back under the trim and into the glove box. I then hooked it up to the power wire to my computer. Obviously most of you don’t have computers so just continue on to the cig. lighter. It pops out easily and you then just tap your red wire into the red wire on the back of the lighter.

Here is the path of the red wire indicated by the red line:

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On the driver’s side, you run your red wire up under the trim and into the fuse box area. I hooked into the 10 amp dome light fuse.

Here are some final pics:

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