Grille Mount Lighting: Where to mount lights?

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OurPathfinder
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Grille Mount Lighting: Where to mount lights?

Postby OurPathfinder » Sun Dec 28, 2008 7:50 pm

We don't have the money to spend on a $300 light bar for the front of our Pathfinder. Are there any recommended places behind the grille to mount some long range driving lights?

We've upgraded our stock lamps to Sylvania Ultra's and have been very happy (except when we encounter blinding snow), but are looking to mount some good long range driving lights as we live out in the sticks and need some long range vision.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We're looking at buying some Hella F550's for $65. Thank you!


G35TR
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Re: Grille Mount Lighting: Where to mount lights?

Postby G35TR » Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:21 pm

OurPathfinder wrote:We don't have the money to spend on a $300 light bar for the front of our Pathfinder. Are there any recommended places behind the grille to mount some long range driving lights?

We've upgraded our stock lamps to Sylvania Ultra's and have been very happy (except when we encounter blinding snow), but are looking to mount some good long range driving lights as we live out in the sticks and need some long range vision.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We're looking at buying some Hella F550's for $65. Thank you!
I'd think since the 550's are rectangular, they may fit in the lower grill area, between the fog lights. I have an 05, and It doesn't look like there are too many options as far as the upper grill.

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OurPathfinder
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Postby OurPathfinder » Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:25 pm

I was mistaken. I meant the Hella 500FF. They are $65 at Walmart. I am going to tinker with behind the grille mounting. I'll post pictures once I find a solution. Thank you in advance for all of your input. -D

G35TR
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Postby G35TR » Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:46 pm

I'm guessing thats $65 for the kit (lamps, bulbs, switches, shields, harness, etc.)? If so, that's a pretty good price.

Keep us posted on how this turns out. I'll be interested to see. Thanks

NVRDONE
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Postby NVRDONE » Mon Dec 29, 2008 8:47 am

I played with the idea of mounting 550's behind the grill but the a/c pipes & grill support were in the way.
I fabbed a bracket out of flat bar stock & bolted it to a hole under the bottom of the grill & angled it in to center the light behind the outside grill. It required trimming the bottom edge of the grill for clearance.

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Pappy
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Postby Pappy » Mon Dec 29, 2008 9:33 am

Pictures PLEASE!!!!

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OurPathfinder
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Postby OurPathfinder » Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:02 pm

Yes, the $65 does include mounting hardware, lamps x2, stone guards, switch and wiring. On my budget, it works for what I need for the time being. Home Depot and I have been busy fabricating brackets for the mounts. Pictures when finished.

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00void
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Postby 00void » Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:00 am

Pappy wrote:Pictures PLEASE!!!!
x2!

i always wanted to apply driving lights to the truck but have balked at buying a bar. curious to see alternative mounting.

FWIW... i had Hella 550's (driving lights, not fog) on my first truck and it was the best $70 i ever spent. super bright, compact and worth every cent.

Npath
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Postby Npath » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:11 pm

OurPathfinder wrote:Yes, the $65 does include mounting hardware, lamps x2, stone guards, switch and wiring. On my budget, it works for what I need for the time being. Home Depot and I have been busy fabricating brackets for the mounts. Pictures when finished.
Yeah, pics, please! There doesn't seem to be a really good, hard, solid surface to mount lights on the bumper. I've mounted on fogs on a steel bumper and you can see it wiggling on slightly rough paved road conditions.

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00void
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Postby 00void » Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:04 am

Npath wrote:
OurPathfinder wrote:Yes, the $65 does include mounting hardware, lamps x2, stone guards, switch and wiring. On my budget, it works for what I need for the time being. Home Depot and I have been busy fabricating brackets for the mounts. Pictures when finished.
Yeah, pics, please! There doesn't seem to be a really good, hard, solid surface to mount lights on the bumper. I've mounted on fogs on a steel bumper and you can see it wiggling on slightly rough paved road conditions.
i mounted my Hella's on the bumper of my GMC Jimmy and that happened but i didn't find it to be that big of an issue. i was thinking of installing a set of PIAA's somewhere in the grill/bumper of the Pathy but some suggestions from the forum persuaded me to drop the idea.

LittleStevie
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Postby LittleStevie » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:29 am

Has anyone looked into replacing the stock fog lamps with a Xenon driving light, like the Hella 90mm low beam module? I really have no use for my fog lights, and would rather have a good HID driving light to supplement the headlights (currently Silverstar Ultras). If it's possible, this would keep a clean look. The 90mm might be slightly too large for the fog holes, but they show a 50mm (with ~80mm outer diameter) that may work.

I might look into the fit up and mounting to see if it's possible, but it's tough to get to the back side of the fog lights without taking off paneling. I imagine that the existing wiring could be used, including the stock fog light switch, assuming that power draw is reduced with the HIDs.

I found one 90mm model online for ~ $63 a piece, which I think includes the ballast. Having trouble finding other sources though, any leads are appreciated.

LittleStevie
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Postby LittleStevie » Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:31 am

Scratch that, there's no way that price can include the bulb and ballast...it might just be the housing...more research needed.

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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:16 am

LittleStevie wrote:Has anyone looked into replacing the stock fog lamps with a Xenon driving light, like the Hella 90mm low beam module? I really have no use for my fog lights, and would rather have a good HID driving light to supplement the headlights (currently Silverstar Ultras). If it's possible, this would keep a clean look. The 90mm might be slightly too large for the fog holes, but they show a 50mm (with ~80mm outer diameter) that may work.

I might look into the fit up and mounting to see if it's possible, but it's tough to get to the back side of the fog lights without taking off paneling. I imagine that the existing wiring could be used, including the stock fog light switch, assuming that power draw is reduced with the HIDs.

I found one 90mm model online for ~ $63 a piece, which I think includes the ballast. Having trouble finding other sources though, any leads are appreciated.
projector fog light project writeup a this link:
http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?t=385

unfortunately, all the pics are gone. but at least you know it can be done.

~mike

LittleStevie
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Postby LittleStevie » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:15 pm

Sweet, thanks for the reference. Since my SE came with the stock fog lights, I don't have the covers that ConstantNRG used in his mod. I pulled back the paneling and I think you might be able to use the mounts for the existing fog lamps -- probably need to do some surgery, but I don't know if there's enough meat to securely attach a Hella module.

Too bad its not easier to find decent dimensioned engineering drawings of the Nissan fog mount or the Hella lights. Might just have to buy the light and make it work somehow.

From what I can tell, the Hella 90mm modules are ~$65-75 each, not including the halogen bulb. Probably need to clip and retrofit the wiring with a connector for a H9 bulb, as the fogs currently us a H11, if the bulb or connector can't be easily modified. Total cost, assuming that the fog brackets can be easily modified, would probably be less than $200.

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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:21 am

LittleStevie wrote:Too bad its not easier to find decent dimensioned engineering drawings of the Nissan fog mount or the Hella lights. Might just have to buy the light and make it work somehow.
check out rallylights.com
not the official hella site, but they have some dimensional info that might help you out.
ive been looking at the feasibility of a full headlight rebuild with some hella projectors. would be nice, but i dont have the time for the from-scratch fabrication work.

~mike


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