lol, I like my titles.  I think ill keep them that way.  Well well all know everyone wants neons and LEDs in the grills, and underbody.  But personally there is a place that should be illuminated regardless.  The engine under the hood.  Its inconvienent that when you open the hood, especially at night, you cant see jack.  When im a club meets, people wanna see whats under the hood.  At night, bring a flashlight.  Well no More.  Here is my fix.


What you need

-  A Light, In my case, Pilot motorsports LED liceance plate light, cost $15 from Autozone

-  Extra wire, I used 18 gauge because i was worried that the stock 26 gauge wire that came with the light would  get to hot and burn.

-  Assorted Wire Terminals

-  A crimper

-  Electrical tape

-  A switch

-  Sharpie marker

-  A switch of your choice.  I used 2 different ones in the pics, as one was apparently defective.

-  A drill

-  Drill bits

-  Attachement hardware.  EX:  I used rivits, but screws and bolts should work well, but may become loose over time.

-  Pop Rivit gone if you decide to use rivits

-  Some washers, to help keep light in place



Here is a pic of what im talking about, Below you will see the light im talking about, You will notice its a tad off center. Its done like this because it needs to clear the radiator, radiator cap, stock intake track, and hood latch.    You will also see another set of marks on the next bend of the inner part of the hood.  Light can go there, BUT it does not illuminate the engine compartment as well, You get alot of shadows, on the back and sides of the engine. 



Looks simple right?  Well it is.  Install is a little time consuming my way, but i wont have to worry about the light falling off when i close the hood, and i dont have to worry about random wires all over the place.


Here is a better pic of the light and how it was affixed there.  Im posting it this way, because i dont have pics of every step, So you should be able to infer the proceedure.



Steps

1)  Open your hood

2)  Use prop rod if you still need one.  Cough cough (future how to) cough cough...

3)  Assemble all the tools you need first, less stressful this way.

4)  With tape, place the light under the hood in either of the 2 places shown  in my above pics. 

5)  Mark the spots where your gonna drill holes.   

5)  Choose an appropriate drill bit size.

6)  Drill out those marks you marked.  NOTICE: If you chose the same place i did, you will need to go through 2 metal sheets.  The first one is of coarse the  under side of the hood, but there is a second one behind that, which is the piece for the latch support, Then there is about 2"s of space before you can even damage the top side of your hood.

7)  Install washers and in my case Rivits.  Making sure that you dont damage the hood, or the taps that holds the light in place. 



8)  It should look something like this:



9)  Now to tackle the wiring.   I replaced most of the wiring with the lower diameter wiring, uhh thicker wiring for clarification.  To do this, cut the original wires and strip the insulation off about 0.5 inch. Take new wires, and twist together with the original wires, and tape or in my case solder and heat shrink secure.



10)  Tape the 2 wires together for about 4 feet.  This will make it look like the stock wiring, as well as organize and protect the wires.  Its just easer to work with it like this.



11)  As seen again with above pic, i drilled 2 more holes to route the wiring across and down the hood, as clean as i could within my time alotted (very rarely do i have free time).  I used 2 plastic wire holders.  Ive always had some, as far as i can remember, but if you need them, i believe home depot and lowes carries them in there electrical section. I rivited mine in.  Just easier for me.  Also, if you still have the under hood mat, it will be quite difficult to route the wiring straight down the middle of the hood.  I tried that way first, no go.  Where i ended up was the easiest way i could route it.

12)  Here is the switch and location i was gonna originally use.  The switchs spring on the inside broke after the first time i tried to use it, So later i just used a toggle switch that i had around.  I will make that part of the installation better, later this week.







13)  You need to bring the wire from the hood to the side of the fender.  Make sure you have enough slack so when you open and close the hood, the wires wont be strained. 

14) Take the black wire from the light to connect to a ground point, i used a strut tower bolt.  It was near by, and i used the same ground for my battery at the time.



15) The red wire needs to connect to the ACC section of the switch you chose.  If its a lighted switch, it will be the middle prong.

16)  You will also need to ground the switch.  Mine is connected to the black grounded wire for the light, Just out of ease of install.

17)  Now you will need power from the battery, through an inline fuse, to the switch.    DO NOT WIRE THE BATTERY DIRECTLY TO THE SWITCH WITHOUT A FUSE, BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN!!!!  Such as a burned out switch, or a fried light.  I used a bolt on the terminal to tap for power using a hooked crimpable terminal.





18)  Test to see if light now works.  If it does GREAT,  if it doesnt, check all your connections again.  Make sure the power wire is not gonna loosen up.  Make sure you wired your perticular switch correctly.  Make sure you choose a good Ground.   If it still doesnt turn on, Check the fuse.  The inline fuse came with this light in the packaging, But i blew the fuse 3 times because of problems with the original switch i was using. 

19)  Hide the wires, making it look clean and fancy.  Put the switch you chose where ever it will serve you best.  That part is up to you.

Update:

After being asked, here are a couple of Night pics.  BTW, my camera sucks at night.






If you have and Questions or Comments, feel free to post them here or my Inbox.

Last edited by Djtorello (2008-08-22 00:09:28)