We're next to lake St. Clare and might have gotten a little lake effect help
MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, sir.

 

I've been searching for a substantial bracket to custom mount my PIAA 540 directly to the bumper beam for a solid lighting platform. With a little help from Chad at Detroit Tuned, I found the right bracket and we are now ready for the night







Each polished stainless steel bracket is mounted to the beam by 3-16mm/20mm bolts and locktited. Need to trim my beloved M7 grill again for the brackets to come through, wire up the second harness (tied to the high beams) and we're set

 

MISFITOY, with your auxillary lighting, I'm sure you brigten-up to darkest of roads! I live in a canyon, and the nearest street light is over 10 miles away. With deer and other critters as neighbors, visibility is quite important...

What are those smaller lights above the PIAA's, and given their size, do you feel they make a difference? If you don't mind, as compared to the PIAA's, how do they differ?

I like how you mounted them so that they don't disrupt or block flow into the radiator (just off to the side). Your MCS is definitely one of the more unique ones I've seen!

 

Thanks TonyB. The smaller ones are PIAA 1100s. The 540s were originally up there but presented too large a aero brick for my taste...not to mention they bounced too much due to their weight and lightness of the brackets. The 1100s are good as DRL and intermediate lighting. They fill in the area between the headlamp's low beam and the OEM's fog beam. The 540s will come on with the high beams making it a total of 10 lamps (2xlow, 2xhigh, 2xfog, 2x1100, 2x540) running simultaneously when the high beams are on Hope my Mini doesn't shut down when I flip the switch

BTW, I envy where you live. If you have lots of critters around at night, you might consider hooking up a "Hornet" XP3 sonic deer repellant as I have.

 

Not really drivetrain related but I bought this....and some gloves.

 

That'll make your Mini look at least 10mph faster

 

Thanks for the fast reply. Actually, that is sort of what i'm looking for - a filler between the low beams and fogs, although I'm contemplating replacement of the factory fog lights with something else...

Ideally, I'd want these lights (PIAA 1100's) to be activated with the fog lights. I would think that it's pretty easy to patch into that wiring to make that happen. Actually, since the fog lights are below, not on the hood (like these), that maybe is not viable... Curious to know how you did this, and if you have a photo of the mounting, I would love to see it! Sorry for taking your thread a little off course here...

 

Especially, if I put my head out of the window while I am driving.

 

LOL...this thread is about Winter Projects...even if it's making snowmans.

There is a power-on lead from the PIAAs harness that would be connected to the power lead of the desired lamp. I connected this line to the high beam's line and this will activitate the driving beams when I turn on the high beam. Same goes for the fog. The XP3 is tapped into my park lamps the same way so they go on when it gets dark.

No sure what you mean about the mounting...which lamp are you referring to?

 

Cool. I'm about to pull the trigger on this XP3 device:

http://www.xp3hornet.com/

Looks like Cabela's has it for 50 bucks (hope the link works):

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...results1.jhtml

My MINI has been spared such an impact, but a previous ride (914) nailed a racoon and took me off the road. It got wedged up under, and was no fun to remove the next day...

I wonder how the pets will react when I approach the house with this thing racking their senses I remember when Randy found feathers in my radiator during the first Bay Area Pulley Party. I surprise a lot of birds around these corners

Thanks for sharing!

Oh, on the PIAA 1100's, what are the brackets mounted to for stability?

 

No prob. The 1100's are mounted to the OEM brackets. They're light enough to not pose vibration problems.

I don't know about small pets but I know it drives Ryephile nuts That's why I have it wired to a internal switch so I can turn it off when in the city (or around Ryan)

The XP3 should be a requisite piece of equipment for the "Dragon Midnight Run" along with the extra lumens

 

MISFITOY- Where did you mount this Hornet unit? Is it in your front bumper? I see that you don't use the front license plate...

 

Mine is mounted to the underside of the beam near the upper/right corner of the grill. I'll try and shoot a picture.

 

Thanks kenchan for asking, and sparing me from being a nuissance

I'm still reading-up on this... and just found some good q&a here:

http://www.safehomeproducts.com/SHP/...r_Repeller.asp

It is directional so I don't expect that this will help me for when flying around the twisties a bit too fast at night... It will bounce though (the reason for the 45 degree downward angle), so maybe the signal will work itself around corners a bit. Either way, I think I will try it...

Front bumper off:

On M7 AGS, PIAA 1100's and this XP3 Hornet device. And maybe a matching M7 top front grill (I have the lower one)...

 

Yeeeaaaahhhh....my N2O line came in so now I can finish the job and put Msfit back down on the ground Peter, if you're reading this, please disregard my email. Thanks much for your help

Ken, here's the picture showing where I mounted the XP3:

 

Aha! Thank you, MISFITOY. I guess I will need to remove the front
bumper. :smile:

Are you on the giggle juice yet?

 

Wow...Are you worried about errant parkers smashing your lights? Those guys wouldn't last a day here in S.F. Okay, maybe, one day.

 

Smashing my lights LOL...not really. They would have to do in front of me. Msfit goes where I go. Otherwise, she's parked in my garage. I do get worried at carshows where every ill-mannered little kid (and adults) will try and see if I my mirror or lamps are bolted on...as if it weren't, they'd take it


Finally got the set up complete short of the purge system. Peter is collecting the necessary lines/fittings/solenoid for me. The bottle bolts up comfortably onto it's uphostered base and looks as if it were unsecured Maybe some idiot at the next carshow will try and pick it up Plenty of room left for tool kit and spare tire (not shown). She's ready to go Weather is 50 F and snow is melting but roads are wet. No test runs today Back to the garage to wire up the 540s

 

MISFITOY- Is that N20 hose by the top of the bottle excess or is that what you are hooking up today? That's quite a bit of excess...


Do you really need a purge system? Are you going to be spraying onto your intercooler too with that solenoid? I've never really needed a purge kit on my Honda (back in the days) since it wasn't used for drag racing off the line...more like a power-assist to scare off Vette's. they were scratching their heads.

 

I like to have the purge to relieve the pressure incase I have a leaky N2O solenoid... less chance to collect in my plenum...that might be bad during a cold start I'm hooking it up to my Alta sprayer for now (later...maybe a proper cryo coil later). The best reason is to be able to use the N2O to cool my intercooler

The excess is just the way Venom provides their line. It's 20'... which is a lot better than the 10' they first gave me That only reached the center of my rear wheel

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

 

Jan 1, 2005. Sunny, 35 F. All set to hit the roads but... the HAI hasn't arrived I ordered it on 12/14/04 Oh well...the lights are ALL ON Except the OEM fogs which shuts off while hi-beam is on That never made sense to me



A little flat red to bring out the diverter.

 

MISFITOY- Looking goood! So you are not going to shut off the main valve on the bottle over night? It's going to leak ever so slowly, I think even on the Venom kits.

 

Yes, I will be shutting off the N2O everytime I stop...don't want to be foolish

 

Back to your lights

After looking a little more carefully, it appears that you might have needed to trim your lower grill for the 540 light brackets to come through, yes?

Looks like the PIAA 1100's can be had on ebay for 180 bucks, and with free shipping:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33709

and while Summit Racing doesn't carry them, they have something quite comparable, and much less ($40):

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...B4925CA39C9%7D

Very tempting...