How to: Driving/Fog Lights w/ Remote Switch Install

[STAT350Z]

How to: Driving/Fog Lights w/ Remote Switch Install

Difficulty: Fairly Easy
Time: 1 hour + depending on problems with getting lights mounted properly

For this project we used 3.5 inch driving lights from Optronics which comes with a remote on/off switch, so there is no need to wire through the firewall. We purchased these from JCWhitney for $60, there is 4 types of styles which can be found at this link.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...p-6469/c-10101

1. Removing the front bumper. To do this, you first need to unscrew the 12 bolts along the bottom of the air dam. This is with the front end on jack stands or Rhino drive up ramps (what I used). Next you need to take out the front part of the wheel wells. Start by taking out the 2 screws along the fender edge, then take out the 3 snap clips along the top and rear of the fender liner. To take off the snaps, take a screwdriver with a skinny tip and pop out the center of the snap, then take pry at the base of the snap and pull it out. Now start to pull the fender liner out, but it will not come completely out just yet, go back under the car and u will find 2 more snaps that are holding it in place, remove those snaps and pull the fender liner out. Repeat for the other side. Now with the fender liner out, you can get to the 3 bolts that are holding the bumper to the fender, 2 of them go strait up from the bumper to the fender and the third is connected at the end of a black bracket in that area. Repeat for other side. Now go to the top of the bumper, there is 6 more snaps that need to be taken out. With those snaps removed, you should be able to pull the bumper strait off. Remove the foam bumper padding.

2. Mount the Driving or Fog light brackets. First decide where you wish to mount them. Originally, we wanted to mount ours at the very outside edges of the grille, but in the end the oil cooler lines restricted us from doing this, we even tried making new brackets to clear the lines then we ran into problems with clearing the front bumper. So in the end, we ended up mounting them directly to the aluminum bumper, 9 inches from the center of the bumper. Now remove the mounting brackets from the lights. With the brackets position them strait, and mark 2 the points where to put the screws, we used 2 self tapping screws placed near the back of the aluminum bumper, to allow room for clearing the front bumper. From the points, use a drill to drill a small hole in those spots to allow the self tapping screw to get into the bumper. Now mount the bracket to the bumper. Attach the driving light to the bracket again. Now check your clearances by sliding front bumper again. And if it works, move on to the next side and do the same thing, if not continue to fuss around with the brackets still you make it work.

3. Wiring the Lights. Doing all the wiring for this kit was extremely easy, everything was already shrink rapped together. First thing we did for the wiring was take the ends that attach to the lights and take them under the bracket to the windshield wiper fluid reservoir. We then took that end and fed it down the inside crack of the passenger headlight out to the front bumper. You can then plug the lights wires, onto the wire harness. To hold the wires, we placed the foam bumper back on, and used zip ties to attach the wires to that but making small holes in the foam bumper. Back up to by the coolant reservoir, we took the wires next to the nearby wire loom and zip tied the wires to the wire loom all the way up to the battery casing. Take off the battery cover and outer cover by removing the 5 snaps that hold it in place. Bring the wires into the battery area through the crack where the wire loom goes in. Now attach the remote transmitter on the last plug on the harness. Now attach the power ends of the wire harness to the battery, the one that has the connected fuse box goes to the red power side and the other to the negative. All you need to do is loosen the battery nut and slide the little piece onto the bolt and retighten. now tuck the wires around the battery and place the transmitter in the area next to the battery and zip tie down to the wire loom. Replace the outer battery cover, making sure the wires are out of the way so it will sit properly. Grab the key fob style remote and hit the on button! If they turn on you did everything right! Now follow the instructions that came with the lights on how they should be aimed and tighten them. Now reinstall the front bumper in reverse of above. The snaps are easiest to place back in if you take the center piece completely out first, place the outer part into the hole, then snap the center in.

4. Mounting the key fob style remote on/off switch. The kit includes a little holder which u can use to help mount it. We found a handy place to mount this horizontally on the left side of the steering column just under the blinker and light bar. One thing you need to remember is that these lights WILL remain on even if the car is off because they are directly connected to the battery. The kit includes 2 on/off key fobs so I recommend putting one on your key chain till you remember to always turn them off when u get out of the car.

Pictures from the install. Feel free to use as reference for install.

[STAT350Z]

After Install









Sure hope you guys enjoyed my how-to, and I hope it helps some of you out. My dad and I are pretty happy and excited about the install. If you have any questions or comments, don’t be afraid to share em!
~Kyle

BTW, when are we guna get a how-to forum here???

[STAT350Z]

stupid forum...... i dont know why i bother some times...

[mort]

Originally posted by STAT350Z
stupid forum...... i dont know why i bother some times...

[silverbullet]

i got your back kyle.


BBBBBBBUMP

who bumps their own threads?? honestly????

[STAT350Z]

people who work hard on something and dont feel appreciated for it.....

[Beer Googles]

That wasn't your dad was it? Because I've seen that post somewhere.

Personally, I don't like the look of hiden lights light that. But It's good to see somebody trying to add some driving lights.

[flynnibus]

the DYI forum is already in place.. just not open.. had to do some tweaks and get some things ready.. and I've been on travel. hopefully this week...

[saint]

Nice work! I hope you had the space heater going cuz I know it's been a cold past few days up in MN. I'm originally from Detroit Lakes and this afternoon I talked to a good friend who still lives there. It was ten below (I felt bad because it was 70 here in Arizona today).

Thanks for taking the time to post the tutorial and pics!

- s a i n t -

[STAT350Z]

yea, thats my dad in the background of the pic. all these pics were taken today, by me, in my dads garage.

[STAT350Z]

flynn im glad to hear its in place! feel free to move this when the time comes.

saint yea, it was cold today, my dad has a monster heater in his garage actually, hes a heating and refigeration repair and install guy, we had it up to 64 in there, it was nice. but it was around -12 all day today and near -25 now.....

[tHrEeEe FiDDDy]

thanks for the write up stat!

[STAT350Z]

^^^no problem.

[Peleg]

Nice write up.

[Bluedevil]

very nice write up stat, been thinkin on doin this myself

[STAT350Z]

thanks, yea, i would check out those remote kits that i linked to, its so nice not having to dink around with wiring through the firewall!

[Bluedevil]

yeah well its good to have one 12gauge wire or so go from ur battery through ur firewall to an accessible distributor thats under the invisible glove box, it makes it so much easier when u need to wire things up in the car

[desiz]

Great work stat i wish i had a garage to do stuff... am waiting for my lease to get over... next place i rent better have a garage... thanks for the writeup

[NewVenom]

Nice stat, you do some nice write-ups. I always appreciate pics of installs.

[STAT350Z]

thanks newvenom, i try my best to help out the Z community as much as i can, even if im not a real Z owner....

and yea, i sure hope i can get my teg suspenion done so i can hit up St. Cloud this summer!!!!