[John L]

For those that want/need an underhood light.....

Standard Disclaimer
If you mess up it's not my fault. This install requires drilling and electrical wiring.​

Go to Walmart or your favorite parts store and get one of these. It will set you back about 7.00.

Here's where it will mount, in the stock location on one of the ribs.

Prep the lamp. Drill two new mounting holes as indicated by the top most arrows. Clip the ground lead off, indicated by the bottom arrow. The lamp will ground through the hood.

Using the lamp base as a template, mark and drill the mounting holes. Be careful not to drill through the hood.

Extend the positive lead using your favorite method. The lead must be long enough to flex and reach the battery. Note which hole the wire goes through the lamp base. Use a grommet here if you like, not shown.

Here it is mounted. *CAUTION* The supplied mounting screws are too long. If you do not reduce the length they will dimple the inside surface of the hood. I can't remember if I ran the wire inside the rib or just between the blanket and the hood.

Position the positive lead so that it can be taped to the hood ground strap. Put a fuse somewhere inline, not shown.

Run the lead to the positive battery terminal.

Screw the lense on and you are finished. This lamp has a push button switch on it, so be sure to turn it off when you are finished.

It's been almost a year and a half since I installed this and the lamp lense has not been effected by the underhood temperature extremes. It is VERY bright and works as intended. One of the best and cheapest mods to date.

 

[SDMF]

Very cool John, thanks for the idea.

 

[StubEXrube]

JohnL- What a great and simple write up. This looks to be the cheapest and most reliable way to shed some light under the hood. I have a couple of questions before I do this mod.

#1 What amp fuse are you using?
#2 Does it matter what specific "type" of fuse...in-line, mini, etc...?
#3 The screws to attach light to hood...Are they self tapping screws?

Any additional info regarding these questions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[John L]

JohnL- What a great and simple write up. This looks to be the cheapest and most reliable way to shed some light under the hood. I have a couple of questions before I do this mod.

#1 What amp fuse are you using?
#2 Does it matter what specific "type" of fuse...in-line, mini, etc...?
#3 The screws to attach light to hood...Are they self tapping screws?

Any additional info regarding these questions would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm using a 3 amp mini blade fuse with an inline holder.
It doesn't matter what type, just as long as it's at least 2 amp. The lamp (1156) draws 1.75 amps.
The screws that attach the lamp to the hood are self tapping.

 

[venom]

I'm lookin for one like I had in my YJ.
Chevrolet put an underhood trouble light on a lot of their trucks from 88-99. little deal about 6" square with a removable light on a retractable cord about 20' long with a crank to retract it.
Was super handy cuz you could actually move it where you needed it- even to the rear of the jeep and with an LED conversion bulb was plenty bright.
I snagged it off my dad's chevy before he traded it.
Just gotta make time to hit the salvage yards and scrounge the GM trucks!

found a pic of one on ebay, they go for $12-$20 on there, cant imaging they'd be more than a few bucks in the boneyard

 

[John L]

I'm lookin for one like I had in my YJ.
Chevrolet put an underhood trouble light on a lot of their trucks from 88-99. little deal about 6" square with a removable light on a retractable cord about 20' long with a crank to retract it.
Was super handy cuz you could actually move it where you needed it- even to the rear of the jeep and with an LED conversion bulb was plenty bright.
I snagged it off my dad's chevy before he traded it.
Just gotta make time to hit the salvage yards and scrounge the GM trucks!

found a pic of one on ebay, they go for $12-$20 on there, cant imaging they'd be more than a few bucks in the boneyard

Yeah, those are pretty neat. I had one on my Tahoe. I forgot all about them until now. Wonder if it would fit on the driver side behind the wheel well in the back?

 

[venom]

dunno, I'll try to pick one up this week and find out

 

[Billy_Goat]

I had a retractable unit like that on my Valiant when I bought it. I absolutely loved it but it didn't like getting wet. After a couple dozen under hood washes it quit working. In retrospect I should have protected it because it doesn't look easy to take apart. 8)

:bender:

 

[Dustoff '68]

I have the wiring installed, but no light...haven't gotten around to installing a light yet...looks simple enough.

 

[venom]

Yeah, those are pretty neat. I had one on my Tahoe. I forgot all about them until now. Wonder if it would fit on the driver side behind the wheel well in the back?

got mine today, I was lazy n just ordered one from ebay
If you mean behind the roll bar in the little indentation, it fits but not flat.
You can mount it flush with the top of the carpet and it would look fine if that's where u want it, I'll take a pic and post it in a bit of what I mean

 

[BLAKJAK]

Thanks for the reminder. I loved that retractable light, I had one on my '89 c1500. I gotta go get one.

 

[venom]

got the retractable installed awhile back, already saved my butt a couple of times