I think I screwed up...
White&Nerdy
Senior Wagonist
Yesterday I decided to attack the task of installing my Hella 530 fog lights in the OEM location. I had it all figure out - a couple of angle iron brackets bolted to some holes in the bumper steel, the light sitting perfectly in the stock location - everything. So did it, cut the holes in the bumper, put it back on the car... and there wasn't enough clearance where the fog light sat to even put the bumper back on. :evil:
So I improvised. Ended up drilling holes in the bumper itself and bolting it on that way.
Even as far back as it'll go, they stick out too much for my liking. If I was still autocrossing the wagon I'd remove them in a heartbeat - I'd be hitting cones with the lights instead of the bumper!
And on top of everything else, even though I reused the existing functional wiring, the lights don't work.
I have to take the bumper off again anyway. I'm pondering the following options:
1. Fix the wiring, make the fogs work in their current location, and leave it alone.
2. Remove the fogs, and leave the big gaping holes I've already cut for them.
3. Replace the bumper and forget about fogs completely.
I'm leaving out lots of the story here. It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong did, plus a few things that couldn't. I was soooo angry by the time I was done, putting the bumper back on in partial darkness since the job had taken so long and I had to take the wagon to work this morning.
Anyway... What do you guys think?
So I improvised. Ended up drilling holes in the bumper itself and bolting it on that way.
Even as far back as it'll go, they stick out too much for my liking. If I was still autocrossing the wagon I'd remove them in a heartbeat - I'd be hitting cones with the lights instead of the bumper!
And on top of everything else, even though I reused the existing functional wiring, the lights don't work.
I have to take the bumper off again anyway. I'm pondering the following options:
1. Fix the wiring, make the fogs work in their current location, and leave it alone.
2. Remove the fogs, and leave the big gaping holes I've already cut for them.
3. Replace the bumper and forget about fogs completely.
I'm leaving out lots of the story here. It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong did, plus a few things that couldn't. I was soooo angry by the time I was done, putting the bumper back on in partial darkness since the job had taken so long and I had to take the wagon to work this morning.
Anyway... What do you guys think?
Comments
I would just drive it with the holes in it for now, and when you have time to modify your front bumper/support to actually accept them.
Yeah, I don't like them sticking out so much. I'm so mad that already cut the bumper to fit them - the holes are going to look like crap with nothing in them. Anyone know where I can get a bumper for cheap, preferably pre-painted for a gold RT4WD? :roll:
I would scrap all those ideas and add a little bit of time to that which you've already invested and make them suckers work! As for the wiring, I am not sure what you mean "existing"... Are these prewired? Did you find some OEM switch? I would definitely run my own wiring if it were me. There are 3 blank slots on our 88-89's to put a nice $2 switch that you run with a 10amp fuse and some 14 gauge wiring yourself; super easy. That way they can be on there own circuit.
Got any more pics?
The plastic I bolted them to, despite using large washers, is cracking. One of them started flopping around a bit, so I had to relocate them. The good news is I already ran all the wiring, so it *should* be plug 'n' play in the new location. I suspect I have bad grounds somewhere, since that's the only part of the wiring that's changed in the new setup.
I've got a few pics of them installed on the bumper while off the car. Looking a little more closely, I do have an inch or more of room behind their current "bug-eye" location to move them back a bit. Maybe a small piece of metal bolted into the bumper, sticking out the back, and then bolt the lights into that just behind the bumper. But that's not too different from my original idea, which hit stuff around the bumper supports on the front of the car and didn't have enough clearance.
Done!!!
These are NOT the Hella 530s I've been trying to make work. While at the parts store for tranny fluid, I saw these on the shelf for cheap. They're smaller than the Hellas, and more importantly the mounting point is further forward. I simply unbolted the Hellas, bolted these on, wired them into the existing wiring, and it worked. OK, so I also had to troubleshoot and fix a grounding problem at the relay (which means the Hellas WOULD have worked if I'd found it earlier).
So the holes I cut for the Hellas are a bit too wide for these other lights. Oh well - nothing I can do about that now.
I thought about going for the clear driving lights that were the same size, since I do so much highway driving. But I like the visibility advantage of the wider amber lights in the fog, and my main purpose for this car is bad weather driving, so I went for that.
Yay.