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Back To Mods Section Lighted Filler Panel 
Note: More pics on the procedure and installation soon! Also I haven't tried it but from others experience this mod only works on the older filler panels the newer ones that are smoked it doesn't work. (Thanks for the heads up!) As always, do at your own risk. Real simple procedure, just putting it all together takes a little while. Basically, on the rear filler panel it says "BERETTA". Some people paint the word a different color to stand out. Well, instead of painting the letters, if you sand the letters down, they become clear. If you put some type of lighting (bulbs, neon, ccfl tubes, whatever you can fit..) you can make the word "beretta" light up making a pretty nice effect, similar to that of the "Pontiac" on the back of some newer cars. This is another one of those mods that depending on your color choice will probably get you pulled over. So here's a very basic procedure. 1. Remove the lower filler panel from the car by taking off a bunch of wingnuts from inside the trunk. The taillights will also have to be loose in order to get the filler panel off. 2. Once it's off you can start sanding the letters. Sand paper works fine. Just sand all the letters for a while and then hold it up to the light so see what spots you missed and get those. 3. Now that the letters are clear you have to find some type of light to fit in that space behind the letters. Small bulbs would work, but might be a pain because you'd need a couple and they might not light evenly. A basic neon tube would work, but make sure it's long enough to cover the whole word, and isn't too thick. I used a cold cathode flourescent lamp for mine. These lamps will fit much better than a neon tube because their smaller, not to mention brighter. At the same time, they aren't quite as long and it doesn't quite light up the ends as even as the rest, so I had to use two of them. These lamps also have seperate transformers that I also had to mount behind the filler panel, and waterproof. 4. Once you choose the type of light you have to find some way to mount it in there. Velcro, double sided tape, hot glue, whatever you prefer should do just fine. (I used a hot glue gun, not sure how long it'll hold..) Running the wiring is also real simple as you can use the holes that the filler panels attach with to get the wires into the car. 5. Ok so it's all hooked up just test it out. Hook it up to come on with your parking lights, on a seperate switch of it's own, whatever you want. That's about it..Have fun.. |
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