Finally got my lights mounted, check em' out!

Mtrhd0024 · May 22, 2010

So after getting four Hella 700ff's for Christmas last year, I never got around to mounting em!

Originally I was going to make a custom tube bumper for my truck, and mount them to that. But after some discussion and debate with my father, plus the expense of building a bumper like that, I opted for something slightly different!

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, but I just finished this up tonight, and this is the best I can do until daytime! I'm only mounting two for now, but let me know what you think!

They're mounted flush in the grille, via mounting brackets I made that bolt to the frame. They're both made out of 1-1/2" by 3/8" thick flat steel stock, and those suckers are STOUT! I didn't want them flexing while I was driving down the road (causing my lights to bob up and down) so I over-engineered em a bit!

The inside of the grille is going to get painted satin black, and the edge of the grille (the chrome bit in the front) will get painted metallic silver, since its dulled a bit in 20 years! I have yet to wire them up, but hopefully that will happen tomorrow night!

And a few extra pictures from during construction:

I've got some more pictures I'll put up later, but I cut the grille so that the plastic "Hella" light covers will still fit on the light!

Opinions? Questions? Its something relatively different, so I want to know what you guys think!

r1hatman · May 22, 2010

Looks good, almost looks stock.

Mtrhd0024 · May 22, 2010

r1hatman said:
Looks good, almost looks stock.

Thanks!

One of the things about them being mounted this way, is that they're going to be pretty difficult to steal... Once I'm done, you'll have to pop the hood and remove a plastic shroud over the top of the grille just to unbolt them. You can't really do it from outside the truck, which is good in my opinion!

r1hatman · May 22, 2010

Just make sure they don't get to hot and start melting that plastic in the grill.

Mtrhd0024 · May 22, 2010

r1hatman said:
Just make sure they don't get to hot and start melting that plastic in the grill.

Yea, they're fine. For one, the light housing itself is plastic, and these are also HID... So they run significantly cooler than even a 55w halogen bulb! :icon_thumby:

I can put the plastic "Hella" covers on em, turn the light on with the truck parked, and the cover barely even gets warm!

The lights that I put on my dads truck however... Those get HOT! I put some 100w bulbs in those things, and they get so you can barely touch the glass lens when they've been on for a few minutes!

doyouquaxu · May 23, 2010

how much of a gap is there between the light and the grill? even if the light wont move, the does flex and the grill will move.

Mtrhd0024 · May 23, 2010

doyouquaxu said:
how much of a gap is there between the light and the grill? even if the light wont move, the does flex and the grill will move.

There's about an 1/8th (1/4" at the most) of an inch between the light and the grille... It takes forever, trimming the grille down to fit, but as of right now, I've trimmed it so that there's just barely enough room for me to fit the plastic covers on the lights if need be. That way I don't have to worry about breaking them when I go offroad! :icon_thumby:

You can't see it in the picture, but you also have to trim the headlight mount slightly... Otherwise the light won't recess back into the grille far enough. I'll get pictures of this later today!

tony314 · May 23, 2010

Looks really really good man. Well done!

02RangerXLT · May 23, 2010

Looks good man, be sure to get some pictures of how they work!

Mtrhd0024 · May 23, 2010

tony314 said:
Looks really really good man. Well done!

Thanks man, appreciate it!

02RangerXLT said:
Looks good man, be sure to get some pictures of how they work!

Thanks, and will do, I just got home there about 15 minutes ago, so i'm going down the basement and they're getting wired up! Hopefully I'll have them done before dark tonight!

The only downside to HID lights, is that you've got to find a place to mount the ballasts! I think I'm going to paint the brackets, and then i'll mount the ballasts to the back of them with the double sided tape provided, and either large hose clamps or zip ties...

I've got a pretty cool switch that'll go in my dash (its a touch switch, and it lights up red, and then turns to blue when you touch it to turn the lights on!) and they'll be wired so they come on with my high beams! I was testing them last night, wiring them in directly with my battery, and they're SO bright! Plus they make my headlights look incredibly yellow, even though the headlights are brand new housings, and they've got 9007 silverstar ultra bulbs in em!

COPPERHEAD85 · May 23, 2010

Looks good!
Nice job.

Mtrhd0024 · May 24, 2010

COPPERHEAD85 said:
Looks good!
Nice job.

Thanks! Hopefully its going to stop raining soon... There's a storm brewing, and its currently pouring down rain.

I have a 4 car basement... And somehow, I still can't get this thing inside to wire the suckers up! :dunno:

My dad parked one of the motorbikes in the way. :annoyed:

So yea, about all I can do at this point, is get the first 2 feet of the car inside. :sad:

Edit: So the rain finally let up, and I managed to get it all done! I worked from about 4:00 this afternoon until about 12:30, turned the key, armed my lights, hit my high beams, and everything worked perfectly! Needless to say, I'm pretty chuffed, as I didn't have to rearrange any wires. :icon_hornsup:

The switch I'm using is special in that it doesn't latch when the power is taken away from it, so I used two relays to fix that problem. Needless to say, it made things a bit more complex, but it all worked out! :icon_thumby:

So anyway! As promised, here are a couple of pictures! They were taken with my cell phone, so sorry about any quality issues!

First off... A before picture, just for reference

Now for the lit up hellas! :icon_thumby:

I'll just let the pictures do the talking! :thefinger:

Mtrhd0024 · May 25, 2010

Well I got the hole cut in my dash for the switch tonight, and went for a two hour drive to mess with them, and get them aimed... All I can say is OMG :icon_surprised:

They actually blind ME when I pass a nice reflective road sign! Going down the highway, I'd flick them on when i got to a nice straightaway, and you could see reflectors and road signs lit up for close to a mile in front of you! :icon_welder:

The other funny thing, is that people who come up behind you in the fast lane, will actually slow down and match your speed, just to sit there and look ahead at your lights! I had that happen to me twice tonight, and found it kinda funny lol.

Here are a couple more pictures during the day, for those of you I promised I'd get pics! :icon_thumby:

02RangerXLT · May 25, 2010

Very nice, need to get me a pair of them.

machine090767 · May 25, 2010

looks great!

Finally got my lights mounted, check em' out!

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