Retractable plates in progress

A little update on this mod. I wont be able to do it like a showed in the first video. Since my ls will now have a turbo, the intercooler will be blocked by the plate if I retract it from the bumper like in the first video.

A solution to that will probably have to be to have the plates flip out from below the car. It's simple, flip down when the car is on, flip up and out of sight when the car is off. I used 2 linear actuators, same ones from the first video, and used a switch to turn them off once the bracket is perpendicular to the ground. I will probably need to cut my front plate down for clearance issues. Also, the bracket retracts up more, it wont be visible once flip up, but the piece of paper is just hanging more.

Here is an updated video on the progress. I will be able to make adjustments once I have my ls back next week. If this doesn't work due to clearance, I might have to just ride without plates or find another way of having plates up front without putting holes in my bumper.


‪Flip down plates‬‏ - YouTube
 
This is sick. Is the intercooler going to interfere with this? Are you going to cut out the supports in the lower grille opening?
 
Andrizzle said:
This is sick. Is the intercooler going to interfere with this? Are you going to cut out the supports in the lower grille opening?
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The intercooler would interfere if the plate was to come down from inside the bumper and sit in the bumper's grille opening, right in front of the intercooler.

This second way of doing it, flip down, is going to flip down from the bottom of the car. It will lay flat below the bumper and flip down to be exposed, hopefully having enough room not to hit, but I might just think of a way to make it give a little if it does hit something so nothing breaks.


Tru-Blu said:
Alax, you're fast becoming the MacGuyver of LVC! :D
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Had to find a solution to myh problem some how :D
 
Yeah, I have made some changes to the setup. Since my car is lowered, I was thinking about clearance issues. I didn't want the plate to hit a speed bump and the actuators to get damaged or the plate to get bent. I added springs to helps with this, ill post a video and give more detais on it this weekend
 
Alax,
Can you cut your plate down and get away with it? I know in Ohio, you can possibly get a ticket. On my SC, I had the front plate below my bumper and tipped back at the bottm and got a ticket for that because the plate wasn't vertical enough to be read easily.
 
If I cut the plates down, I would be ok when driving on a flat road and this would be most of the time, but when you hit a speed bump, dip, drive way etc, the plate might hit and if it does, things can get damaged. The actuators are no longer attached to the bracket as they were before, I don't think I showed that, but before the actuators themselves were attached to the plate bracket and would push it out or pull it back. Now. instead of the actuators pushing the plates outs, I installed a spring on each side that will spring out the plate and a wire is attached to the plate that is attached to the actuator. The actuator will now only pull back the plate, when the actuators goes in reverse, it will only give slack to the wire that will allow the spring to flip out the plate.

Since actuator is not attach to the plate, you can push the plate back down, you would just need to overcome the spring tension to do so. This will allow for the plate to retract if an object hit it like a speed bump etc.

School started this week so I've been busy, but I was planning on working on it more and taking a video of it. I got the basic idea down, I just need to track some springs down that are slim enough to work with once the plate is installed.


Also the final position of the plate when it flips out will be controlled by a kill switch. I placed a little lever on the bracket/hinge that will press the switch once it reaches it's vertical position.

Will update with video soon.
 
You won't drill holes in your bumper to install a FACTORY license plate holder but you'll cut a slit in it so this thing can slide up and down? Makes sense. to me.

BTW, if your plate isn't showing at the time you get pulled over the cop won't give a crap that your plate is just "hidden", he'll continue to issue you a ticket and then tell you it needs to visible at ALL TIMES. So... Not really seeing the point other than some mild "wow" factor... Very mild.
 
Even though the license plate bracket is FACTORY, is doesn't make it any less UGLY. Just like I dont like the chrome rear surroundd that is stock, I dont like the stock plate location.

I would cut into the bumper because it will be hidden and not visible unless you are laying on your stomach and looking up at it.

Doing it for several reasons, wow factor, makes my LS even more unique, gives me another mod to do, I'm making my own set up instead of buying an already made license plate retracting kit that I'm not happy with, It's fun for me, and to not have a license plate hang from the middle of my bumper.

I am not doing this to run red lights and hide my plates when I plan to, retracable plates are too slow for that, the systems were you flip a switch and it blurs your plates are almost instant and would be much more effective if thats your purpose for them.

I have wired a relay so that when I turned the car on, the plates will drop. Since you dont drive with the car off, anytime I am on the road driving, the plates will be down. The plates will only be hidden when the car is off and only run the risk of getting a ticket if the cops is checking parking or something close to that.

I have added a new modification to this. Since the plates only flip down and back up, you could still see some of the bracket and plate on retracted, which I didn't like. I have now made the plate slide out from under the car and flip out, then it retracts and flip back up to be completelty hidden when the car is off. No more visible brackets and such. Finishing it up and will post video shortly
 
looks good bro i want something like this but in new york they brake your balls so i have to come up with something
 
Ghaleon64 said:
You won't drill holes in your bumper to install a FACTORY license plate holder but you'll cut a slit in it so this thing can slide up and down? Makes sense. to me.

BTW, if your plate isn't showing at the time you get pulled over the cop won't give a crap that your plate is just "hidden", he'll continue to issue you a ticket and then tell you it needs to visible at ALL TIMES. So... Not really seeing the point other than some mild "wow" factor... Very mild.
Click to expand...

Who asked you.

Alax looks good man, keep up the excellent work.
 
It's cool man, everyone is entitled to their opinion and thanks, I think I have finished how it's suppose to work. I just have to encase all of it, finalize the wiring, make brackets for it to mount on the car and presto.

It works real good now. It has a sliding track on a spring that can be pushed back in case it hits anything( hopefully nothing hits it), the license plate hinge also has a spring for if speed bumps hit it, it can just bend back and not break or damage anything.


This is just the basic idea, I just have to clean everything up and make it look good, now that it works good.


Flip out license plate - YouTube
 
I'm still confused on where this is going... The lower grill insert popping up from bottom?

or underneath the bumper popping up in front?
 
Under the bumper. I was going to do it from the lower grille, but since the plate will block the intercooler, I had to find another place to mount it. Thats why I put the spring on the bracket, since it will be below the bumper and close to the ground, anything that hits it wont damage it.
 
It's basically like this one, but I didn't like how you could see the plate and the rail when it was "hidden" so I made my own. Also, instead of flipping up towards the lower grille, it will just flip down, the opposite of the one shown here.

Hide Away License Plate By EXOTIC CUSTOMS!!! - YouTube
 
Lot of work. Cool mod.

Did the same mod using a power door lock popper on my low rider S-10. Cost me nothing. Just snagged on a power lock popper and switch at the junk yard. Unfortunately, no enough room to do the same set-up on a lowered LS.:(
 
Any pics or video of that?
 
Alax7 said:
Any pics or video of that?
Click to expand...

No video of mine. I might be able to find one of someone elses. It is a common mod witth street rod crowd. I copied it off a guy with a '55 Chevy. He showed me how to do it at show.
 
Ghaleon64 said:
You won't drill holes in your bumper to install a FACTORY license plate holder but you'll cut a slit in it so this thing can slide up and down? Makes sense. to me.

BTW, if your plate isn't showing at the time you get pulled over the cop won't give a crap that your plate is just "hidden", he'll continue to issue you a ticket and then tell you it needs to visible at ALL TIMES. So... Not really seeing the point other than some mild "wow" factor... Very mild.
Click to expand...

dude sounds like he's boring
 
Hmmm,
me thinking this retractable plate thingy is cutting into the McAlex grill development time.

~ bummer
 
Yeah Buddy!!!!!Looks good!
I wanted to do the original video you had on the thread with it coming straight down, but no room. :(
 
BigRigLS said:
Hmmm,
me thinking this retractable plate thingy is cutting into the McAlex grill development time.

~ bummer
Click to expand...

This was started a year ago, look at the dates on my posts. I haven't started on the grille yet but I have all the supplies to start. If I can finish some pending clear part orders this week, I will start the grille in a week.

PMJJ said:
Yeah Buddy!!!!!Looks good!
I wanted to do the original video you had on the thread with it coming straight down, but no room. :(
Click to expand...

Yeah, that would've be ideal I think. With these actuators you might be able to. I would've done it this way, but the intercooler would be blocked.
 
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