Before I sold my Cherokee,
I took out this nifty light under the hood. It has a retractable cable
that's long enough to go around the whole truck. It comes with a protective
lens cover over the bulb in case you drop it. It also has a magnet
on the light, which will basically let you stick it anywhere you need light.
I found it sitting in one of my parts boxes and forgot I even had it.
I'm still trying to figure out
why the 4Runner has no light under the hood,
and why my '89 Cherokee had this cool contraption?
Install wasn't too bad. I had to figure out
where to mount it so it wouldn't rub when the hood was closed. I used some
double stick 3M tape to hold the unit in place, and put some chalk on the
front/back of the unit. I then closed the hood to see if anything rubbed.
It just barely cleared, but did fit. Next I drilled two small
holes to screw the unit in place. When drilling, be very CAREFUL
not to push too hard, or your drill bit could make a ding on the outside
of your hood. You do have about an inch of play after the drill goes
through the middle support on the hood before it will hit. Just take
your time!
Beforehand, I bought some pin switches so
the unit would turn on when the hood was opened and go off when closing
the hood. It turns out, I didn't even need them! The hood light
has a built-in mercury switch! I hooked it up to the battery and
tilted it up and the light came on, and then tilted it down and it went
off. Pretty neat! I guess I can take that pin switch back.
Now, since you don't need a pin switch for
activation/deactivation, you still need to get power to the unit and ground
it. The unit has built-in ground and uses the bottom screw hole for the
ground. I ran the power wire down behind the hood, trying to hide it behind
the metal supports. You can squeeze it in and behind the hood, which
took about 20 min. I brought it out through a factory hole at the bottom
of the hood. I tapped into the hot wire for my driving lights coming out
of the factory grommet. I used a t-tap, so I didn't have to CUT the wire.
This connector lets you connect two wires by splicing into the wire you
want, and keeps everything neat.
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Below you can see the blue T-tap that I used to splice into the 12V
driving light wire. No cutting of wires needed!
Using the retractable cord lets you put the light/magnet anywhere you
need it.
All engine shots were taken after CD-2 engine cleaner was applied.
You can find it at Target for $5.99. It comes in two cans, and does a great
job. I did use tire dressing to clean it up, but have found that it really
attracts the dust. CD-2 really keeps the dust down and forms a protective
clear coat over your entire engine.
site created by Jason
Burtman (WebMaster)
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