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Safety & Race Preparation Roll cages, harnesses, seats, weight reduction, etc. Anything pertaining to taking your car to the highest level of performance. |
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#1
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Been toying with the idea of installing better lighting in place of the stock oem fog lights...
The plan was to make the install using oem mounting points and use the oem wiring harness.... I wanted ti be able to put everything back to stock if I decide to sell my MINI at some point in the future... For clarification, the stock wiring was used to drive higher wattage lights by triggering remote relays that would carry the higher amp without over taxing the stock wiring.... The new lights had the provision to move the oem running lights (5 watt amber bulb that sits in the top half of the oem fog lights) to a spot inside the reflector... IMG_4631.jpg OEM running light socket... IMG_4740.jpg Amber bulb inside reflector... IMG_4736.jpg Powered, Good reflection.... Now I have "City Lights... ![]() IMG_4754.jpg |
#2
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Took a lot of measurements...
And built some brackets that would attach to the stock mounting points on the bumper attachment... IMG_4756.jpg Not very much room to work with... IMG_4769.jpg Mounted to the bumper attachment bolts... IMG_4767.jpg Modified the trim surround for the larger lights... IMG_4772.jpg |
#3
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Wow, nice fabrication! Those brackets look better than a lot of OEM stuff...
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#4
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I've mounted the light frame to the bracket with a small SS gimbal.... I will add two pivot screws at the 6 & 9 o'clock position that will make it easy for me to properly aim the light pattern.... Gimbal pivot... IMG_4687.jpg IMG_4737.jpg |
#5
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if you ever plan on going back to stock look, please PM me!! i'll trade ya and i have the DS JCW bumper too.. awesome mod!!
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2010 Mini Cooper S R56 Dark Silver -Invidia Q300 exhaust (muffler delete) / M7 shift knob/ DOS CAI /BATTLE Tune DNA tune / Helix IC / Defi Boost Gauge/ NM Discharge & Charge Pipe/ GFB / ALTA BOV spring upgrade/ Akrapovic DP/ BSH oil catch can/ JRZ Coilovers/ Volk CE28/ joey mod/ M7 Vertex 2 hood scoop / Delete Rear Seats / H-Control arms / M7 JCW Splitter/ M7 Wing/ M7 RCB & Front Strut tower/ sound system upgrade.... |
#6
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Little update.....
Got both lights installed with the modified plastic light surround.... I still need to make a small metal cover for the upper corner on both lights to cover up the bracket that's still visible.... IMG_4832.jpg I also was able to install my Challenge splitter after sitting on it for about 3 years.... IMG_4830.jpg I'll get the upper grill installed tomorrow and then a nice wash.... |
#7
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This is super cool.
IF you're interested, you may be able to find a plumbing pipe in a diameter just slightly larger than the light made of ABS (a standard option in pipes). It'd be rather easy to cut it and round the edges and then plasti-weld it to the factory grill to give a nice finished ring around the light like the stock setup. ![]() I hadn't gotten to sand the edges to round them, but I used ABS piping for the finishing touch when installing lights behind the grill. ![]() |
#8
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This is a really cool install man, good job!
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#9
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I just saw this write up. How's the project coming along?
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Shadrack - MKVI GTI |
#10
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At this point... Pretty much a failure...
All of the install went well.... My plan was to make it completely reversible back to stock... Which was a success... The OEM switch gear was changed from powering the H8 bulbs to powering the higher amperage remote relays (one for each light). With a fused power lead directly back to the car battery... The H4 bulbs in the new setup came on and were quite a bit brighter than the stock bulbs... With the new setup I would get a loud hum whenever I turned on the new lights.... It sounded like it was coming from either the engine fuse / relay box or the ECU (they sit right next to each other in the engine bay).... This was sort of a winter project and once the weather turned nice I wanted to start driving the MINI.... So back to the OEM setup at least for now... The conclusion I have is: #1) The MINI somehow can sense the difference between the bulb resistance and the relay resistance and doesn't like it... #3) The ECU can somehow sense that a much larger battery draw is occurring outside of the draw that's being monitored by the ECU and doesn't like it... Anyway, the MINI is back on the road being driven, which is nice.... |
#11
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Well, at least the MINI is fulfilling its destiny
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Shadrack - MKVI GTI |
#12
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What car were you installing those on? |
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