Stikle's Build

AdvanceAutoParts.com had a $40 off > $100 purchase, so it ended up costing me $120.

 

Ok so where did you hook up the led's under the hood? I know youve got the pin switch but where is it hooked up to get power? Everything looks awsome man!!!

 

Thanks!

I ran the wires down the driver's side through some split loom, then continued on with the the positive going to battery positive and the negative to the pin switch. The pin switch grounds to the body so make sure the surface is clean above and below. You might even have to remove a little paint around the hole to get to bare metal. I used an existing hole for the pin switch and it worked out perfectly

Here's a picture of the wiring with quick disconnect at the bottom. If you look closely at the hood bolt, you'll see a little bit of blue. I used a ring connector on the bolt, and then zip tied the split loom to the blue plastic part to hold it in place. Could have even ran a little wire around the loom and crimped both ends into the ring connector. I just thought of that. Might go back and do that just so it looks a little cleaner.

 

And for today's mod...it was more of a fix. I had a dent in the rear side bed where someone hit and ran me, and the one on the fender where I dropped a 3/4" piece of plywood on edge. Oops.

So today I had a Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) guy show up and he fixed both for a whole $300. Amazing job, the dents are completely gone!

Fender before:



Fender after:



Bed before:



Bed after:



I'm a PDR believer!

In the Portland area:

The Ding Bat
Paintless Dent Removal
Mobile Service – they come to you
www.thedingbat.net
503.554.0241
503.519.7823 cell

1400 E. 1st Street
Newberg, OR 97132

 

I'm going to do something very similar to this, with the exception of the switch style (I'm going to use an on/off 2 terminal switch), and was wondering how you fastened the LED strip to your hood. I'm starting with a 72" LED strip with 3M adhesive backing on it, but I just don't see the adhesive holding for that long, especially with the engine heating it up.

Thanks in advance!

 

I briefly thought about that, but didn't see a need to be able to permanently turn them off. If the hood's open then there's a reason and let there be light.

This strip had the 3M backing too. It seems to be mostly holding ok so far (I'm monitoring). Where it wasn't was the two bends in the upper corners. The strip doesn't lay exactly flat there so kinda pulled up. What I did for that was squirt some silicone under it. I used the kind that goes on white and dries clear. I also went back and did that down on the split loom where the wires go into it. Much cleaner looking to have it flush to the hood rather than sagging.

 

Brilliant! Thanks man!

 

You bet! I'd also test fit your LED strip and make sure you clean the crap out of the metal where it's going to go. I had 16 years of engine gunk caked up there and no way would the 3M have stuck.

 

Hood lights are awesome! I did something similar but only use 2 little square pod leds like what I have under the truck for rock lights.. Looks Good!

 

Thanks stikle! Im not very handy with electrical stuff haha im suprised my subwoofer hasnt blown up yet

 

<Old coupon codes removed>

 

I discovered that all four CV boots were leaking. The rubber felt pretty stiff, so it was probably just time to replace them anyway. 16 years...seems reasonable to me.

Before:


Ordered new Empis from Amazon and had them put on yesterday:



I don't remember which ones were outer and inner, but here they are:

Two of these:

EMPI CV Boot Kit

Empi boots

and two of these:

EMPI CV Boot Kit

Empi Boots

Parts - $77
Labor - $200
Not getting all greasy and frustrated: Priceless

 

How are the hood lights holding up so far now that you have had them up for a while?

 

I just went and looked...no problem! I think cleaning the surface where they were going to stick to made the difference between success and failure. Also the two corners where the strip had to bend are still sticking just fine after I siliconed them.

 

Slow going mod-wise these days. Not sure what else I want to do. Well, I have a couple things in the works, but for now I just added a couple more decals:

 

Did you wire a fuse Inline with the + on the led strip? Just curious how to wire them up I just ordered all the parts I was inspired its a cool mod!!

So the + off the strip goes to battery, do you think I could just jump it off the + wire for my driving lights or led bar, then the ground goes to the switch. Seems pretty straight forward I'm always afraid of electrical fires, and my positive terminal on my battery can't possibly take any more wires haha.

Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry...been a long weekend away from the computer.

And yes, there's a fuse up by the battery. That's all starting to get kludgy so I'll probably have to clean that up at some point. So many individual wires and fuses now. I foresee a fuse block in my future.

Mine's probably a fire waiting to happen, but so far it all works. I guess as long as each + line is fused then it should be ok...I hope.

If you want to jump off an existing +, you're probably going to be ok.

*DISCLAIMER: I'm not an electrician. If your truck burns down I'll cry with you but won't pay for it.

 

This weekend's activities:

• Installed new rotors
• Installed new ceramic brake pads
• Installed and wired my rear light switch to the ignition accessory so the text lights up
• Used split loom to clean up the wiring all the way to the back end - PITA
• Conscripted a buddy to help me make rear light mounting brackets
• Painted the brackets and mounted the lights to the tow hitch frame.
• Washed her

Rear Light switch by OTRATTW.

I intentionally made the bracket extend slightly past the end of the lights just to add a little more protection.

Here are the lights that I used:

18w LED Spot Work Light

18w 6 LED 1360 Lumen 6000K

 

Haha it ended up working out good, I'm in the same boat I need a fuse block badly.

Those back up lights are nice!

 

Just put the hood lights on. They look awesome and really light things up. Thanks for posting it for every one to see.