JDM Foglight install help

[Pwise2326]

Alright, all of you JDM foglight owners, I finally got me-self a set, now how do I put them on? Whats the best way to physically get them on (i.e. tips on hanging them and what bumper modification needs to be done), as well as tips for wiring. The setup I'm looking to run is having the projector lamps hooked up to the parking lamps - turning on and off with the parking lamps - and the stock foglight switch to turn on and off the secondary (cornering) lamps. Any ideas as the best way to hook it up, relays to use (if necessary...shouldn't be since I'm tying into already switched systems), and where to hook into it? Thanks in advance for your help, I'd rather learn from those who have been successful then spend a day m/fing my bumper accomplishing nothing!

Ryan

[Pwise2326]

Come on! I know theres a good handful of you!

[shazapple]

Id like the same info.

So far I figure I have to take off the bumper, and cut away most of the plastic surrounding the foglight holes. I took a look at Legacy4life's bumper and it was missing a lot. These dont fit the curve of our bumper exactly either.

As for mounting them, I have no idea. I dont even know how the stock ones are mounted. Whenever I can afford to have the bumper off for a while Ill have to make some brackets that attach to the frame or bumper beam

Im going to use two relays, one for the projectors and one for the cornering bulbs. I already have one relay setup from my previous system (hooked up to the parking lights). Ill just do the same setup for the second system

Also, Im going to get some Rockblocker for these to keep them in good contition.

[Pwise2326]

Yeah thats what I figured, I saw a picture of the stock bracket once, but most of the time they don't come with the lights on ebay, so there has to be some other way that everyone is mounting these on securely.

[Legacy4Life]

It can be done... I've done it and so have a few others. But it's not easy and since I'm not a body work person myself I didn't do a perfect job. But the only way you'd know is if you were to get down and look at it closely... like hands and knees closely I mean! Then you'd notice that the edges aren't perfect and that there is a gap along the top. But I'm having the car repainted this summer and I'll get them to do any "finessing" needed.

I didn't use the old brackets at all. I had a set that came with the fog lamps... the ones that "clamp" on around the housing and are secured with 3 or 4 screws. I sent off a lot of emails to Asia and Japan dealers looking for "proper" brackets, but there is only the one set. The difference is in the JDM bumpers. They are not the same as our USDM ones and they have holes inside to bolt the lamps on. I looked into getting a bumper assembly, but it would have been a LOT of $$. I figured I could mess up several bumpers here for the same price!

You have to cut away a lot more of the hole in the outer bumper shell than what your stock lamps require. I just worked at it slowly, removing a bit and then working the light up from behind to see. A marker, a knife, a dremel, and some files were all I had to work with. I didn't take the bumper off myself. Once I got the hole the right size then I tried to figure out a way to anchor it. For this I had to modify the brackets that came with the lamps by removing some of it and I cut out a notch on the inside bumper piece to get a snug fit. I drilled and tapped new holes in the bumper (inside plastic piece) and made new holes in the brackets to attach them too. In the end I have 2 good solid bolts holding the bracket to the bumper, and then I slid the fog lamps in and still had 3 of those original bolts to work with to attach the bracket to the housing. I lost one bolt in the part of the bracket that had to be cut away to make it fit. They're pretty solid.

Then came the final adjusting to get both lights aimed at the right place, but that worked out pretty good the first time because I bolted them both to the same place on the bumper.

It took about 6 hours I think for the passenger side and then about 2 hours for the drivers (experience helped). I have each set of lights (projector fogs and side floods) on an individual circuit.

I'd love to do a DIY on the job, but I tried to get them off a while ago and couldn't. They are really in there now!! I did the job before I found the SLi forum and new about this wealth of information on the net! I ought to have taken pictures as I went.

[shazapple]

ahh, so theyre bolted to the bumper. id think that would be too flimsy but they must rest on a bit of plastic on the bottom

Is this the bracket you speak of?
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/8180/img12263fl.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img12263fl.jpg)

[Pwise2326]

Thats the one that is on each of my fogs. So trial and error, sounds excellent! I have a good 4 days off from school coming up soon so between shifts on the ambulance I'll be slicing away at my bumper it seems. Was the dremel too harsh on the plastic? --meaning, did the paint spiderweb a bit from the vibration?

[Legacy4Life]

That's the same bracket as I had Lee. But it's not attached to the outer plastic shell bumper at all. Inside of the shell there is the actual bumper, a hard plastic bumper of sorts. That's what it's attached too. Same as the bracket of the original fog lamp.

Here's a picture of my lamp before I installed it. It's the drivers side unit.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c397/michael_thomson/FogLampModified.jpg

Going from memory (and what I can see at the moment) I've drawn in where I cut off part of the bracket to make it fit. It won't fit in the way it is because it can't get around the inside bumper. Unless you moved your lamp way to the outside of the bumper, which would be ridiculous, but to make it fit in the same spot (approx) you have to remove some of the bracket. Also the little tab on the top has to go or it can't sit flush up inside.

I ended up making new holes (indicated) to attach the bracket to the inside bumper. I drilled and tapped new holes for 1/4 inch bolts (in the inside bumper). Two in total. I know it's plastic but with a 1 inch bolt there is lots of thread to hold it securely. I also had to square out a notch in the inside bumper because there is a spot where it is somewhat of a rounded inside corner and it actually comes in the way of the lamp housing itself.

I'd try to get under the car and take some pictures, but with the rust proofing undercoat gel on for the winter it's a MESS under there and so would I be if I tried to get in there right now.

After the bracket is fastened, then I worked at getting the lamp in place from the front and attached it to the bracket. The top inside bolt was miserable because there is hardly any room to work your hand in there, but with lots (and lots) of patience I got the bolt on and tightened.

Changing the bulbs is easy after that because they're accessible from the rear by dropping the panel in behind them under the car.

[shazapple]

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/

I think youre talking about the bumper beam (the black thing covered in styrofoam) Thats good to know that its attached to somethign solid. I wonder if you can just bash them out of the way, lol

[jakmobile]

Hmmm, that's interesting. I took my stock OEM's out today and the mouting bracket doesn't look like that whatsoever. I'll take pics of it tomorrow and post them.

[blackgtbeauty]

what kind of bulbs do these foglights take?

[jakmobile]

Hmm, my brackets look strinkingly similiar to these.....


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-SUBA ... 1777QQrdZ1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-SUBARU-94-98-LEGACY-BG5-GT-B-WAGON-FOG-LIGHT-SET_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33716QQitemZ8054501777QQrdZ1)

[shazapple]

Thats what were talking about. The stock brackets wont work, so you have to modify the ones that came with the JDM lights.

a H3 bulb (12V 55W) is in the circular part of the assembly aka the projector, and the rectangular section aka the signal/reflector is a 12V 35W bulb.

Heres a bit of a writeup I did on replacing the bulbs:

Easiest way (I imagine) woudl be to pull back the fender lining and reach in. Both the plastic things covering the bulbs turn counter clockwise.

Heres the back of the passenger side. Projector on left, signal on right
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5371/img13294hf.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img13294hf.jpg)

Turn them both counter clockwise. The signal bulb comes right out, but the H3 requires another few steps
http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/5698/img13301vt.th.jpg (http://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img13301vt.jpg)

Theres two wires, both pull off pretty easily.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9464/img13314fd.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img13314fd.jpg)

Theres a metal clip you have to push in and then down, then the bulb will come out
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3747/img13329eq.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img13329eq.jpg)

To put it back in, you can just pull the entire harness toward you since its completly disconnected from the housing, reattach the white H3 wire, and then clip it, plug in the second H3 wire, and screw the cap on

[SLegacy99]

This would be easier if I knew if I was replacing my bumper or not.

[SLegacy99]

So how did you wire yours? I though for sure it was the same harness when I ordered them but clearly they are different. I ve never messed with wiring like that in a car but Im assuming if I just did some splicing they would all come on together.

[SLegacy99]

$46.00 for the cuts in my bumper. Alot cheaper than I thought and saves me time :lol:

[shazapple]

What did the $46 entail? did a shop cut your bumper and mount them for you?

I already have one set of wires and relay setup, and I need another. One will be for the projector and another will be for the side

[SLegacy99]

Well my bumper is ruined so I went to the shop and ordered a new one. They took the foglights to use as a template for the cuts. The $46 was for an hour of labor, the time to do the cuts. Im moddin the brackets and mounting the bumper myself.

[shazapple]

Im thinking im going to start putting mine on in the next two days. I just picked up another relay and some wire. The only thing I dont have is the male connector for my foglight switch.

[blackgtbeauty]

just got mine, but i think i'll wait a bit. the bumpers coming off this winter anyways so it'll be easier to do a good job.

[shazapple]

I have a whole bunch of pictures and tips and tricks, just need some time to do a writeup.

[SLegacy99]

Yeah, finally got all of my stuff. Gonna start today....this should be interesting. I have come to the conclusion that with the way my cuts were done, I wont be able to replace the foglight bulbs unless I take the bumper off. Guess I will go buy all new ones.

[shazapple]

Incase anyone missed it
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=2766


I think you should be able to replace the bulbs after you get everything together. The brackets dont get in the way, and if you move the splash guards or fender lining you should be able to reach in and change them.

[SLegacy99]

Exactly. When I was poking under the car yesterday I forgot how easy it was to just twist the caps and replace the bulbs. And the splash guards are just clipped on so no big deal.

[SLegacy99]

Well so far so good

Some advice. Disconnect your battery so you dont trigger the airbags. That would be bad. Also remove the wheels on the front. I also used the time to spray paint my calipers red. They look awesome.
Lee thanks for the tip of taping the area around the foglights. Good idea.
Right now I am still modifying the bracket. Contemplating securing the foglights with metal cable and one bolt instead of two. What can I say, I am resourceful. As soon as I figure out how to operate my dads drill press from the early 80s Ill mount, wire and then mount the bumper and were back in business. Wooo hooo.

Anyone else who did this, did you have a broken styrofoam piece in your bumper too. Mine had already been taped on with duck tape...hmmm

[shazapple]

I had that piece in my bumper too (part of it was broken off btw). i set it aside and told myself to remember to put it back on. Well now its sitting in the corner of my garage :lol:

Drill press technology hasnt come too far in 20 years, im sure youll figure it out :lol: I used a cordless drill for the bumper beam though

[SLegacy99]

Hmmm the bracket makes it hang to low to fit in the bumper. Crap.

[SLegacy99]

I realized that I needed to flatten the bracket and remove the mount. Duh. However, theyre in now. YES! So I gots new foglights, a new bumper, painted calipers, and I fixed my wheel wells. :D now I just need to put my headlights back on.

[SLegacy99]

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2006/05/new-3.jpg

[shazapple]

looks good!

[subieyacht]

this is very confusing, it makes me sad...

[SLegacy99]

Well its not supposed to be confusing. What has you hung up?