DIY: Headlight leveling dial for BRZ (and maybe GT86) headlights on FRS

[Chaetagnath]

I have BRZ headlights on my FRS, and added the leveling dial so that I can utilize the motors which are part of the headlight assembly which is standard on the BRZ limited. I think you might be able to do this as well if you installed the JDM/GT86/10 series/Monogram headlights on a standard FRS, but I am not sure since I have only seen a few pictures of the back of those, but it looks like the mechanism and connector are the same.

Parts needed
Headlight leveling dial: 83002AG000
2 Connectors: 90980-11016
4-6 female pins (depending on how you wire it, see below): 82998-12440 (you want to get them with wires and plugs already attached)
Extra wire, Soldering iron, shrink tubing, wire stripper etc…


Here is the switch:


And here is the back:


I don’t know the part number of the connector that plugs into it. IF you can find that connector (it’s the same one as the dashboard dimmer), then it will make life much easier. For me, I had to solder wires to the pins, and cover them with shrink tubing. I dremeled off the plastic around the pins to make it easier. As below:



Then I got a cheap 6 pin connector so that it can be unplugged when the lower dash molding is removed like so:




And cleaned it up a bit:



It will fit right in the slot next to the dimmer. Just remove the "blank dial" which is in place



So, the general concept is in the diagram below:



As you can see, wires need to be passed through the firewall, which is somewhat tricky, but not too bad.

To power the switch, you can use a fusetap on the TAIL fuse in the drivers side footwell. Instead, I actually ended up splicing the purple wire (pin 2) from the dash board dimmer (connector D2). If you want the light on the switch to dim with the rest of your dash, tap the black and white wire (pin 3) from the dimmer dial for the ground. Then you will need to ground pin 5 somewhere else. If you use that dimmer dial black and white wire to ground pin 5, it will only work when the dash dimmer switch is turned all the way up.

At the headlights, you need to tap the Parking + wire somehow. For my setup, that pin wasn’t being used at all (see here:http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=19) So, I simply unpinned it from the main headlight harness, and plugged it into the motor harness. To do so, use a metal probe to push the white piece out of the connector




Then, use the same metal probe to unpin the connector and pull it out. Then just slide it into the number 3 slot of the leveling motor connector.


The remaining pins in the leveling motor harness were then added from part 82998-12440. To slide the pins in, you need to first remove the white middle piece like so:







For the ground, I used a grounding point in the engine bay near the oil cap here:



There is an equivalent one on the other side as well.

Connect everything as shown in the diagram, zip tie any loose wires out of the way, and you are done!

[joe strummer]

I'm don't know if I am ever going to perform this mod, but thank you for posting it. I am always amazed at the kindness of people who take the time to document in detail and post, with pictures even, what they do to their cars, bikes, etc.

Thanks, Chaetagnath.

Cheers

[m.box.design]

thanks for this write up! i will have to do this in the summer.