mattski

hi,

I have bought a set of PIAAs and have got bored of looking at them in their lovely box. Fitting sounds pretty straightforward but I have one question.

On the instructions, step 5, it states :

Use the auxiliary one-touch connector to connect the wire to a positive hot lead (cigarette lighter, parking lights etc).

Does this mean that the lights can be switched just from the PIAA switch supplied, i.e. if it is wired to the cigarette lighter?

I would like to wire them to the existing fog-light switch, what would be the best way of doing it? Could I just splice the wire into the positive feed to the 'old' foglights, as I plan to use the supplied loom and relay.

Or, what about main beam? Could I splice the PIAA switch into the positive feed to the headlight bulb (once I've found it ). This still begs the question 'what do I do with the old foglamp wires?' though.

ta,
Matt

Dave T-S

Matt

Don't be reassured by the instructions looking straightforward.....it is a universal loom, not Subaru specific, and if you fit it as it says the loom will not reach anywhere.

I've fitted two of these kits. The first was a pig as it took me ages to figure out how to make everything fit. The second was easy. Here's the best way to do it (using the same numbering instructions as on the box):

1) Don't disconnect the battery until last or you will reset your ECU.

2) The only place the relay fits so the wiring reaches is as follows - remove the screw fitting the relay mounting to the relay body, put the relay mounting clip in a vice and bend it in the middle through 90 degrees away from the relay body. It will now bolt under the nut securing the front battery strap mount and tuck in the space between the battery and the n/s headlamp. DON'T bolt it in yet however as it will be in the way of the following operations.

3) The relay ground wire is the black/red trace one. It will mount to the body on the front slam panel, there is a small predrilled hole on the slam panel you can use immediately above the n/s headlamp bulb. Scrape the paint down to bare metal to get a good earth contact, secure it with a self tapper and a spire nut or an ordinary machine screw and nut. Paint over it again afterwards so there is no bare metal left exposed.

4) This is a misprint of instruction 3 (it's the switch ground wire not the relay ground) and irrelevant anyway. Also ignore (both)instructions 5 - don't yet connect the white wire to the positive battery terminal. Put the switch and wiring back in the box (or the bin). The white wire with a red trace that feeds into the mentioned switch is the trigger for main beam and all you need. Cut this wire off about 12" from where it comes out of the loom.

You mentioned whether to wire the lamps into the fogs or main beam. They must NOT be wired into the fogs - it is an offence to have them on on dip/or as the fogs were switched. They have to be wired into main beam so they go off on dip.

The white/red trace wire has to be wired into the main beam circuit. This is the yellow/greeny blue wire that comes out of the plug on the back of the headlamp bulb. The best way of doing this is to strip the insulation back on the yellow wire just after it comes out of the plug, twist the wires together, solder them and cover the joint with shrinktube. In reality you cannot easily get to this as there is little access, you can't shrinktube it, so the best way is to Scotchlock it. These are abominable things and I will get flamed by others for suggesting it but in this instance purely as a relay trigger, carrying no real current, it is the easiest compromise.

Once you've done this the relay can be mounted to the battery strap bolt.

6) If you connect the black (earth) wire to the negative battery terminal the loom will not reach the lamps. Instead, feed it round and mount it to the power steering pipe mounting clip on the front slam panel about 3" to the left of the n/s radiator mounting bolt.

Now feed the lamp wires from the relay through in front of the radiator to where the fogs are. Tiwrap them to the air intake struts behind the number plate AFTER everything else is wired up.

Remove the fogs (the three Philips screws). There are two ways of fitting the PIAA's. You can either mount the brackets to the foglight brackets, drill a hole large enough right through the lamp mounting hole and the original backing plate and bolt the lamp right through with the fitting nut behind the bumper accessed behind the splash guard underneath the car(fiddly and difficult to adjust), or mount the lamp to the bracket, make a big enough hole through the backplate so the lamp mount nut will go clear through the backplate and be fittable/removable from the front.

The original foglamp wires should have the connectors taped up and tucked back out of the way.

Connect the PIAA's to the loom and tape up the connectors well with insulating tape to keep water out.

Feed the white positive feed wire from the relay round the side and back of of the battery. Disconnect positive battery lead whilst keeping any extra eyed connectors on the battery held together, add lamp feed wire and replace positive battery lead nut. Tiwrap lamp feed wires to existing wiring round battery. Tidy up all wires and tiwrap the ones near any engine belts/fans back out of the way.

Lamps can now be tested and should work on main beam only.

Now spend endless happy hours trying to adjust them to your personal taste...........

Told you it was not that easy!!!!!

mattski

Dave,

What an astounding post! Maybe you should write the instructions for the lamps

I've wimped out and am getting an auto-electrician friend to fit them tomorrow, although I am going to print this for him

thanks chaps!
Matt

Dave T-S

Matt

No probs M8. Happy to share it. Enjoy the daylight feeling at night

SecretAgentMan

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>There are two ways of fitting the PIAA's. You can either mount the brackets to the foglight brackets, drill a hole large enough right through the lamp mounting hole and the original backing plate and bolt the lamp right through with the fitting nut behind the bumper accessed behind the splash guard underneath the car(fiddly and difficult to adjust), or mount the lamp to the bracket, make a big enough hole through the backplate so the lamp mount nut will go clear through the backplate and be fittable/removable from the front.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Great post Dave! One Q tho...why the need to drill that hole if the bracket is used?
Can't the regular mounting "doohickeys" be removed?

I'm going for PIAA's, separate spots methinks - since the harness is generic and not in any way special for the scoob, it'd be better to do it yerself and get it perfect.



Happy new year fellow scoobynuts!

/Jerry - Sweden

Dave T-S

Jerry
From memory only - (the car's locked in the garage and its cold outside, but probably not as cold as there ) the standard foglamp backplate has captive nuts welded into the back of it and the new one has to mount to it with the original screws. You can't remove the original and use the PIAA mount on its own as there is then nothing for the screws to screw into.

I also toyed with the idea of making my own harness - I usually do - but as the lamp kit came with a good heavy duty relay I decided it was better to use and fiddle the supplied harness rather than go to the time/trouble/expense of buying another relay and making up a new loom. The supplied one will fit, it's just a bit of messing around.

[This message has been edited by Dave T-S (edited 31 December 2000).]

rjc

I've just donre this myself. You don't actually need to disconnect the battery at all so long as you connect the positive to the lamps last.

The loom won't fit if you go to the battery negative. They is a very handy threaded hole with a 8mm bolt into the chassis about 9" below the battery and a few inches further forward. I used this as the lamp earth/negative.

I also hate the scotch block things but could get anything else into the gap.

Lots of piccies at:

DRMOTORSPORT

Dave,
The PIAA kit now comes with a far better wiring loom now, and a lot easier to fit.
There is one connection to positive, one to negative, one to the main beam circuit, and a switch to over-ride it. And thats all, there are 2 smaller relays rather than the single large one.

David