DIY: LED in hood scoop

I'm pretty sure I've seen a similar write up to this before but sense I couldn't find that, figured I'd make a new one.. So here goes:

*excuse the crapy cell shot.. I don't have a digital camera and was workin by myself, but I think the idea still comes across*
*yes my truck is a little busted up right now! I hit a deer and am in the process of fixing that... If you'd like to comment on that, search "f**k deer" and you'll find that thread, please leave those comments out of this one though*


Parts:
LED light that fits, I got one off Amazon
Wire
Extra supplies for spacer parts

Tools:
Drill and drill bits
Paint (high temp engine style is great)
Ratchets for tightening bolts
Dremel
Tape measure


1. Buy and assess the light. Mine was an Amazon buy and the bracket needed to be modified like so in order for it to be properly mounted:



2. Measure and cut out the opening for the light to pass through the scoop. The housing on my light is too big to fit IN the actual scoop, so I made my opening big enough to let light through by just mounting it right behind the scoop, works really well. Measurements here were really just done by eye, I made the opening intentionally a little bigger than the actual LEDs just to make sure I wouldn't get glare back into the engine bay.
This is where the dremel comes in handy...


Notice the line here, I just sharpied it on to give myself a guide for the hole.


3. Size up the light in the scoop itself. Hopefully you've already done an initial test fit just to make sure it fits period.. But from all the measurements of single row small lights (~6" housing) they should all fit for the most part


4. Reinstall the hood scoop with plastic insert for a test fit. Don't bother bolting it down here, the bolt studs and body pieces hold the scoop almost exactly where it will sit once bolted down and bolting and unbolting for test fits is just a PITA..


5. This is where things get a little tricky. I supported my hood with a board to that it was open just slightly to where I could get one arm under it and one on top to hold everything. With the scoop test fit in, slide the light right up to the rear plasticity insert piece as is pictured above. Now, while tightly holding the light with one hand, remove the scoop with the other....havin a buddy here to help would probably make this a lot easier. Once the scoop is removed, mow you measure for the new mounting hole for this light. Luckily there is a center bolt hole for the hood scoop so I used this for reference, measure from its back edge to the face of the light.


Now remove the light and measure from the face of it back to the CENTER of it's mounting bracket hole. Remember: 1. We want the center of the hole, this light is going to be right up against the scoop so if you measure to the front edge of the hole, it'll be about a 16th of an inch too close and things won't reinstall properly and 2. MEASURE TWICE, OR THREE TIMES, CUT ONCE! I did all of step 5 probably three or four times just make sure I knew exactly where to drill my new hole


6. Now, open and prop the hood all the way. Add the distance from the hood mounting hole to the face of the light to the face-to-center mounting hole, for me this came out to and even 4 inches. Now with the hood open, measure back the total distance from that same hood mounting hole *sorry for the really bad pic*


Make your mark here and center it on the metal. I did this by measuring from each side of that center hood support and made a second mark to make a "+" sign that was exactly where my new holes center would be.

Because we're workin with metal here and not wood, when you drill start with a small bit and work up to the size you need, this keeps the hole round and right where you want it.


7. Once the hole is drill shoot a little of the engine paint on there to prevent rust down the road. *no pic cuz my paint is black and almost invisible on my blue hood*

8. Test fit your light back in the hood with all it's hardware. I noticed that after tightening my light down it was pointing up to the sky, so I added a few pieces to act as spacers: a large nut with a larger rubber washer under it


The rubber washer works great because I can fully tighten my light into place without worrying about the large spacer nut scratching the paint of and causing rust. Also, if the light vibrates at all with the engine running, this acts as a buffer and prevents both noise and wear.

9. Refit and tighten in place.



In this pic above, you can see the new mounting bolt for the light (shiny silver dead center of the screen) and it's hard to tell but you can also see that center mounting hole that I used for measuring reference 4 inches in front of the bolt.

10. Wire it all up and try it out!!






NOTES:
I hard wired (soldered) all my connections and have intentionally left wiring out of this DIY. I don't yet have a fuse block and so the way I wired it isn't how I'm going to have it permanently.

In terms of routing the wires for this light. I ran them straight down the center support of the hood and then through the hood to a drain hole near the driver side hood hinge. From there I zip tied them to the hinge itself to make sure they were kept outa the way, then under the air duct at the top of the engine bay through a drainage section and then into where I've tied all my electrical together. (Pictures upon request, just PM me)

This whole process took me probably 4-5 hours but that was because I was making it up as I went. If I had to redo it it'd probably only take about 2 hours.

I didn't bother taking pictures of the output of this light because it's more of a flood style and my iPhone camera just won't capture it well.




I think that's about it, questions and comments welcome!

 

I really like this idea, do you have pics of the output at night, do you think you could have fit a longer light bar in there?