{"id":1693,"date":"2016-09-29T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T10:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/?p=1693"},"modified":"2016-09-29T06:00:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T10:00:23","slug":"my-car-rewiring-the-foglights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/29\/my-car-rewiring-the-foglights\/","title":{"rendered":"My Car: Rewiring the Foglights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Time to knock off another job on my <a href=\"http:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/2016\/02\/18\/my-car-plans-for-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\">list from the start of the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I installed a cheap pair of foglights during December, and because it was cold I didn&#8217;t have time to find a proper place to route the wires, so I just stuck them out from the hood and through the door, and set the switch on the dash. It&#8217;s time to get that sorted out.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Running the wires<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1707\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_03.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_03.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The main problem I&#8217;d had was not having a place to stick the wires through the firewall. I looked around, but couldn&#8217;t find a spot that I could easily go through. I looked around, and the best spot I could find was under the center console, through the floor. A step drill bit made short work of the sheet metal.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1712\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_04.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_04.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I ran the wires through wire loom and carefully zip tied the wires in place along the bottom of the body, keeping them away from the exhaust and shift linkage.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1713\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_05.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_05\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Because I wanted to do everything as well as I could, I got rubber grommets to stick in the holes and make a good seal around the loom as it entered the car.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Installing the switches<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1719\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_06.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_06.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The switches went in very cleanly after I carefully cut holes in the button blanks with a utility knife.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1720\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_07.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_07\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m wiring two switches just in case I want to add something else later, so I don&#8217;t have to try to run a wires where I already did.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Assembling the fuse box<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1728\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_08.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_08\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With the previous setup the switch had all the power running through it, but with the rewiring I&#8217;m changing it to a proper relay system. Because I&#8217;m wiring an extra relay for future expansion, and for any other things I add later, I assembled a whole box with a mini fuse block inside.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1729\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_09.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_09\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A few holes drilled and a few screws and nuts and it&#8217;s all secure.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1730\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_10.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_10\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The box needs to be mounted in the engine compartment, so I made a bracket out off a piece of 3\/16&#8243; steel. It&#8217;s probably a bit overkill, but I didn&#8217;t want something flimsy. A good bit of heat from an acetylene torch made bending it a piece of cake.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1731\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_11.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_11\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I gave it a quick sanding with 150 grit and a quick spray of black spray paint to help it not rust as quickly.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1732\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_12.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_12\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The fuse box is all ready to go in the car.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1733\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_13.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_13\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The best way I could figure out to mount it was to just slot the bracket between the wheel well and another bracket, without any bolts. It doesn&#8217;t move too much.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1735\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_14.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_14\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With all the wires connected, it was time to put the top on and put the intake tube back.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Rewiring the lights<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1736\" src=\"https:\/\/mechanicalmalarkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016_09_29_15.jpg\" alt=\"2016_09_29_15\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The wiring behind the bumper was a mess, so I redid it all and got it neatly zip tied up. I&#8217;m planning on replacing the lights with something LED later.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>This project was a lot of fun, especially when making the fuse box bracket. So far all the work I&#8217;ve done on my car has just been replacing parts, but this was completely just me figuring out how I wanted to do it, and I got spend the time to do a really clean, neat job. I&#8217;m looking forward to getting more things wired up.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>New blog posts every Monday and Thursday, plus pictures throughout the week on <a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/mechanicalmalarkey\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/mech_malarkey\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/mechanicalmalarkey\">Instagram<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>-Dan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Time to knock off another job on my list from the start of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[31,33,45],"class_list":["post-1693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-at-home","category-my-car","tag-diy","tag-electrical","tag-lights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mechanicalmalarkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}