If I repeat some information bare with me
Background:
I drive almost 100 miles a day on my commute through the mountains of western PA.
Work starts at 6:00 AM so I do a lot of deer dodging.
We work four tens so my home drive is also in the dark
for much of the winter.
My 94GT wagon came with the blanks for the fog lights.
Auxiliary lights defined:
I am aware of the fact that fog lights mounted down low with a sharp cut off
are what the factory intended to be put there.
Fog lights spread the light incorporating a sharp cut off point as to not reflect light back into the driver's eyes.
Where as driving lights point the beam down the road. Sharp and focused pencil light if you will.
I wanted driving lights.
I found a set at Walmart that fit the bill:
1) round glass lens for scratch resistance
2) driving light reflectors for the pencil light beam
3) metal, non melting, housings as I was going to run high wattage lamps
I bought them and a set of 100 watt H4 replacement lamps.
Cost ~ 30 dollars US
Installation:
I pulled the blanks by pealing back the inner fender and removing the screws. I then fastened 0.25 thick aluminum plates across the openings.
To this plate I mounted the new lamps.
I wired the lamps via relay to come on with my high beams.
When adjusted properly they throw a narrow beam that also lights the side
of the road well enough to see my white tail friends.
Mr. MaGoo syndrome:
This was still not enough, you see, I am a bit of a Mr. MaGoo
I had a set of rectangular driving lights (NAPA brand) with 100 w lamps in them. I wanted them mounted higher than the under bumper lights.
I do not like the look of lights mounted on the bumper in front of the grill on our cars – sorry it just ain’t factory.
So I pulled the grill and took a peek. Yep they would fit fine. Two small angle brackets mounted to the existing holes in the rad core support and there they were. Be sure to rotate the lens and reflectors if mounting lamps down side up as is the case here.
Before you get excited, I tested on the road with and with out the grill.
I could detect no difference (I am sure there must be some) as the grill is so close to the lights it acts like a stone guard found on some aftermarket lights.
As for blocking air through the rad.
The temperature gauge showed no difference.
I believe this is due to a large quantity of air is supplied by the opening under the bumper. The bumper it self acts as a splitter and may be designed to cause a laminar air flow over the hood, thus by passing the grill opening.
I also wired these via relay to the high beam switch.
Wiring:
The wiring of both sets and my factory head lamps (equipped with Osram Ultra Vision lamps) has been modified.
I use 12 AWG feed wire to the four relays (two for the factory lamps and one each for the auxiliary lights).
The feed wires for the lamp housings is 14 AWG.
Note: The factory wiring is used only for relay control and does not feed any power to the lamps directly.
Control unit:
I drive quite a few “twisties” on my commute and like two keep two hands
properly positioned on the wheel.
This made it hard for me to keep a finger on the trigger, so to speak, for the big guns I was running up front.
They are a bit blinding to on coming drivers, imagine that?
So I bought a foot control high low beam switch from a 1990 Ford truck.
Ed. Note: for those of you too young…
These were common back in the sixties and seventies for hi/low beam control and are still found on some trucks.
I mounted this via the bolt conveniently provided under the dead pedal, then cut a small circular hole in the carpet.
I angled the switch using a small Plexiglas shim so my foot would push the control inline with it’s intended path.
I wired the new switch so that the “flash to pass” operation of the turn stalk still provided it’s normal function.
Not Happy:
Still not happy. I needed a way to turn on just my under bumper fog position lights.
I flash these at those “geeks” that insist on constantly running their poorly aimed fog lights, thus blinding us on coming drivers.
(pet peeve I know but they need shown they are giving us grief)
I wanted a convenient switch.
My car is an automatic – the “manual” switch fit this bill.
I rewired it to a small toggle on the dash and wired the relay for the lower auxiliary lights to the "manual" switch.
I isolatied this wiring from the other relays via a small signal diode.
Note:
These also work well in some snow storms when the big guns are relected by the fat flakes.
Addendum:
There you have it – one man’s way of lighting his path through the darkness.
Thanks for reading my novelette.
Any questions, comments, or other additions are very welcome,
and........
Be careful – it’s a jungle out there.
