My 170S Build

A newbie tries his hand at building a car

Extra Lights

When driving, I usually put on the sidelights which fires up the daylight running strip in my LED headlights. I have also decided to get a high level brake light from Just Add Lightness (JAL). It was a reasonably easy install.

The light is fixed to my roll bar and, because it is effectively upside down (the cable entry is now on the top), I have plugged the hole with some bluetack. JAL recommend Gorilla Tape as the best way to hide the cable.

It needs to go from the light position, into the boot on the driver’s side and then down into the void between the fuel tank and the wheel arch where the connections to the wiring loom are located.

After a bit of trial and error, I ran the Gorilla Tape transversely along the length of the roll bar. It looked a lot neater that way. And a bit of said tape on the PClip improve the look of that too.

I decided to put quite a lot of shrink wrap on the cable as it goes through the bottom of the boot, as the edge of the aluminum boot floor is quite sharp and I can see it wearing out the insulation in no time. I was glad that I hadn’t glued the carpet to the floor of the boot.

JAL high level light
The cable runs down into the space between the fuel tank and the wheel arch
My first attempt. Didnt like the look of the tape fixing the cable
Updated layout with tape fixing the wiring transversely and some tape on the clip to blend in
The hole in the top of the light at the cable gland that needs filling

Shortly after I installed the light, I was out for a drive when it started to rain. I realised that the thickness of the light bracket was sufficient to affect the installation of the hood – I had to loosen off the straps that connect the two hoops in order to get the roof on. The other issue was that the light is completely hidden by the hood (it is significantly higher than the top of the transparent section in the rear of the hood, meaning that it is invisible when the hood is in place).

I might end up getting a second light so that I can have a pair mounted on the two inclined stanchions of the roll bar which will then be visible through the hood. Silly really, but the idea of driving with one that is not symmetrically mounted somehow seems inappropriate.

[Now that I have a half hood, everything is sorted. I can drive, reasonably weather-protected, and the light is clearly visible through the half hood window.]