Joey & Sequential turn signal mod

Hey all,

After choosing not to retrofit the FL lights onto my Pre-FL GTI I decided I wanted to check out if the famous Joey mod (coloring the inner parts of the headlight black) would look good. Secondly I am also looking to replace the original LED indicator strip with a sequential one. The headlights are modded, (red strip into R-headlights with double-U LED and LED indicators)

I had a couple of salvaged headlights from previous projects and I sprayed the chrome parts over with a matt black color yesterday..

Here's some pictures (last is with original chrome)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WxTETDyjHzxNefkFNyfhdyXz5hS3inmE/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vLwNhP-iAzq-VmoQWZNm0Pzeuxtk5rb2/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yBepPhEsG3a7hxxLNgISOwfxBOVXeQ0H/view?usp=sharing

What do you guys think? Black or Chrome? Personally I find the matt black color nicer (my GTI is also deep black perleffect). Always looking for inputs though!

Second thing is the sequential LED strips. Here I am hoping someone can pitch in with suggestions for strips that I could use. This is how the original strip looks like:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s8peII7HpF2Qjc-_E51sf9zpmgQkt2tz/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lJRbZahpJxam8HoiB15tJuyUajCLzoIM/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PzV4H-4i10sM1Nr6QdE9GGrNeGJSw1FH/view?usp=sharing

It would need to be some sort of flexible LED, I am open to any suggestions!

why not wire a 555 timer into the original led strip? That's how the RFBs do it as i recall (without cracking my RFBs open). Joey modded shutters look good. Curious to see how they'll look with the lens in place.

I think the black accents in there look amazing. Could you post/link anything you may have used in the removal/painting process?


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@sprinks - see, I do know a bit about wiring, fuses and other electrical stuff, but I am a noob when it comes to the LED modification part. how would I wire this into the circuit? I’ll try to take a better picture of the LED strip.

Once this project is through, I will be doing a “log” about it.

Ok so I took out the led "strip" from one of the salvaged headlights.. Looks like this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TxkuNzqRPBsORMGjEZGceHAfjqXyze2F/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18kyE87IS98gGR8pwtbLZQHoKaKgrr39q/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V3OyVKgmXe9yKilijvaGW5K8sw5bHH5W/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IVpYm_FJYRjzPkkreGcsXXUfRKRWT4GJ/view?usp=sharing

The connector, connects back to the headlight's LED controller.

Whoa in for updates, love the look and would love to make my fronts dynamic if you get it working haha.

So, a little progress has happened. Was busy with doing firmware work on other components but I've had the time to look at the first headlight. Got things pulled apart and then sprayed. I bought new glass for the headlights since there was some damage on the old ones. Below you can see chrome (left) vs Black matt (right).

Had a vote on the german gti facebook group and it looked like that more than 9 out of 10 is in favor of the Black matt.



I have ordered some new butyl rolls so I can close the headlights properly again and I also have wedding stuff going on this month. Sequential indicator is still in the works but I'm working on getting the parts ordered and try it out on a simple PCB. There's a lot of great guides out there, I've found.

Great to hear the progress. It's wild how much the new lens makes the headlights pop (in combination with the joey mod, of course). Great work!

looks great but im wondering what it will do to light output

It for sure won’t be worse, are you thinking of the inner reflector? It’s just there for looks, the small LED does not use it for anything.