Led hood lights!

Been roughly 9 months. Only issue I have had was when I pressure washed the engine bay, the water caused connection so the lights came on. I disconnected the one wire from the push pin, drove it home, it dried and everything started working fine again.
If attempted by others, I hold no responsibility if you mess this up. Do your own research. Do not solely rely on my post as an accurate method!

I have read a couple of posts on folks putting under hood lighting in. Great idea! However, they ways I've seen it done did not satisfy me. I started thinking of something I could do.

I ended up doing some really nice LED lights for right around $30 with all the wire and connectors. I got everything from my local Autozone store. I bought 24" LED strips (2 12" strips in same pack) for right at $20. I got a door switch for a '79 Caprice. Ran the wires through the inner skeleton of the hood as to hide them as much as possible. Everything works and looks great! If interested in further details please PM.

I have had these installed for 40 days now and have had no issues with heat or anything else. They still work great and the 3M tape that they come with factory is still holding nicely!

Process;

I began by planning on the best location for the lights. In deciding this I factored in exposure to heat and effectiveness of light. I decided on putting them here...


Next, I used a 3ft piece of tie wire and fed it up through a small hole in the lower driver corner of the hood. I fed it in until I saw it pop out somewhere and then guided it up towards the latch of the hood. I then taped the ends of two wire spools, 14 guage but 18 guage should work, to the end of this wire, one black and one red. I pulled the wires down the channel in the skeleton of the hood that ran directly to that corner. Once the wires reached that hole, I had to fish for them a little with needle nose pliars as they would not pull through the hole just by the wire and tape. Once through I pulled and extra 5ft so there was enough to reach the switch and fuse block.


I then connected the two positive(+) wires from the lights to the red wire I had ran using a blue butt connector.


I also did the same with the negative(-) to the black wire I ran. I cut them both to the size I desired before crimping them.

I then ran the wires at the bottom of the hood along the same path as the original loom on that inside fender...


I placed the naturally closed switch, part number SW90 from Autozone, into the existing hole on the core support. All I had to do was drill through the headlight bracket. I also removed the headlight to put the switch in place so I didn't have to drill too big of a hole.


I ran the negative(-) black wire to this switch. Cut to size and with a female connector I attached the wire to one post on the switch.



I fed the positive(+) red wire under the fuse block, up through a void on the motor side, and connected it to an add-a-fuse on a constant circuit and inserted a 10amp fuse. I cut a groove out of the wall on the block so my wires could fit down into it and the lid would fit without pinching.
The wire ran under the block...

The wire tucked into my groove and tied in. The wire coming from the relay is my "fog anytime" mod.


After this the lights will work. Mine shut off once the hood was closed. They also come on when the hood is just popped, note the glow in the crack in the last picture. I had to do no adjusting to the switch what so ever. As it sits in the hole, it works great. I did however take mine a little further. I ended up soldering all of my connections. I also used heat shrink and wire loom to clean up my engine compartment.

I certainely hope this helps anyone who is tired of holding a flashlight in their teeth when working under the hood. The following are more pictures of the mod and after I cleaned everything up.

 

Very nice.

 

thats cool!

 

Last pic when it's totally black out...20 more mins

 

Nice. Very nice. Share your details with us. What holds LED's in place? Maybe this can become a permanent mod.

 

Nice work. It really lights up the dirt on your engine.

 

How Rude!

 

The LED's come with a 3M tape on the back. The only drilling or other "body mod" is just drilling through the headlight bracket. What else?

 

Awesome. About how much did you spend (if you don't mind). Also how many LEDs on each strip.

 

I ended up doing some really nice LED lights for right around $30 with all the wire and connectors.

There are 18 led's per strip

 

awesome man

 

Haha. I ment it as a compliment. Goes to show how bright those LED's are.

 

I know... Thx

 

Wiring up the lights. What's the procedure?

 

bump

 

looks great!

 

Excellent mod! This should go in that mod list sticky post!

 

Just added!

 

red to power, black to ground...

 

DOH! Nice!