Blazer Light Bar "How to"
#1
06-21-2009, 01:20 AM
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 3,286
Blazer Light Bar "How to"
BLAZER LIGHT BAR - “HOW TO”
________________________________________
I’ve been pm’d many times about my light bar so I’ve decided to try a “How To”, or more accurately “How I Did”.
“About time!” I hear keyboards tapping!
Part 1.
Unfortunately I had not taken many pics of work as it progressed but the pics in my album may be self explanatory anyway.
I chose to do this, this way because I did not want to lose the use of the roof rack completely.
I had a set of roof racks & decided to use one of them to fit the lights on as a separate unit. I also wanted to bring them as far forward on the roof as possible but without having to drill them into the roof. So, I decided to mount the light bar on the “front feet” of the roof rack.
I needed to keep the light bar within the frame of the roof rack as I did not want the lamps extending past the roof rails - less chance of damage when driving in the bush, also, I wanted to keep it within the roof rack system, or else it would look kinda odd “hanging” off the front of the rack.
I fabbed up a bracket from ¼” aluminium plate that screws down on the existing roof rack’s “front feet” using the existing screw holes. (I first made a plastic example to be sure it fitted/looked good). The shape was determined by the shape of the new roof rail & the opening in the existing roof rail foot & also to align this with the front of the existing setup I had to replace the screws with slightly longer ones & I used stainless steel screws all round.
I cut the rail to length so that with the brackets attached the complete light bar fitted within the roof rails. In my case this was 820mm. Now that the light bar fitted neatly between the roof rails, I needed to determine the overall measurement from the end of the 1st lamp to the end of the last one. Again, in my case I used the distance of 820mm.
Then I deducted the width of all 4 lamps from the overall length & divide by 3. This gives the spacing between lamps. Then I determined the centreline of the light bar & marked the spot. From this spot, I used half the width of a lamp + half the gap between the lamps & make a mark each side of the centreline. This set me up for the 2 inner lights. The holes for the 2 outer lights will be the width of one light & one space. (My lamps are 160mm wide & spacing is 55mm).
NOTE: I was careful to mark before drilling, then laid the lights out in a row with the required gaps between them & checked against the marks made on the light bar. This way I was able to confirm if the spacing was right.
Once fitted, I checked that the light bar fits neatly on the new mounts between the rails.
Next, I drilled ¼” holes right through the light bar then drilled the top hole suitable for the lamps bolt. On the underside I drilled the hole to ¾” (big enough to get a socket through). This way the nuts got concealed within the light bar. I then covered the holes under the roof rail with black duct (cloth) tape to seal against water & wind.
Next to each top hole I drilled another for the wiring to go through allowing for a grommet to protect the wires from damage.
Once all the lights were wired up & fed through to the driver’s side I mounted a junction box with a chocolate block connector inside. This box was screwed to the roof rail & fitted flush with the top. (I mounted the junction box on the roof in case I wanted to remove the lights for whatever reason later on).
The wires the were fed through the plastic strip on the side of the roof rack’s foot & down through a hole in the roof (using a grommet) & covered with lots of sealer to prevent leaks.
The wires then went down to the pillar & into the dash to two toggle switches (one for the 2 inner lights & the other for the 2 outer ones) with a relay for each pair of lights. The main power feed was directly from the battery & was protected by an online fuse (40amp).
My switches were mounted in the light switch panel on the dash - which is possible on RHD trucks without factory front fog lights. (My lights are on a stalk on the steering column so I’m not how this would work on LHD trucks). - I have since revised the switch configuration.
Not being an auto electrician (or any type of electrician for that matter) I’ll leave the electrics for others to explain.
Last thing was to align the lights to dazzle the world. 400watts of light!
Hope this helps.
Part 2.
This involves an update to the light switching arrangement.
Having found a switch panel for the LT with factory front fogs, I decided to do this upgrade.
This panel now had 2 fog light switches at the bottom leaving nowhere to fit the light bar switches – so, the only option was to remove the clear plastic thing inside the switch panel that directs light to the dome & dimmer switches & fit the new switches there.
In order to accommodate the 2 new switches, the face plate had to be cut to go around the switches as the thread was not long enough to go through the panel & the frame. Also, the switches would have looked odd sitting on top of the face plate. The frame had various cut outs in it so a piece of plastic was required on the inside to allow for a firm base to screw the switches to.
Next I needed to fix the LED’s. The dimmer LED was glued just above & directly in line with the dimmer symbol. The override LED was mounted to the back of the unit directly in line with the dimmer indicator. This was a tight fit but .. success!
The switches were fitted & wired with about 6” of 25amp wires & a male connector at the end. The unit was then re-assembled & tested to ensure it worked. I then fitted the female connector to the wiring in the dash & re assembled the dash bezel.
ALL DONE!
Even GM would be proud of the outcome of this job, I’m sure!!!!
________________________________________
I’ve been pm’d many times about my light bar so I’ve decided to try a “How To”, or more accurately “How I Did”.
“About time!” I hear keyboards tapping!
Part 1.
Unfortunately I had not taken many pics of work as it progressed but the pics in my album may be self explanatory anyway.
I chose to do this, this way because I did not want to lose the use of the roof rack completely.
I had a set of roof racks & decided to use one of them to fit the lights on as a separate unit. I also wanted to bring them as far forward on the roof as possible but without having to drill them into the roof. So, I decided to mount the light bar on the “front feet” of the roof rack.
I needed to keep the light bar within the frame of the roof rack as I did not want the lamps extending past the roof rails - less chance of damage when driving in the bush, also, I wanted to keep it within the roof rack system, or else it would look kinda odd “hanging” off the front of the rack.
I fabbed up a bracket from ¼” aluminium plate that screws down on the existing roof rack’s “front feet” using the existing screw holes. (I first made a plastic example to be sure it fitted/looked good). The shape was determined by the shape of the new roof rail & the opening in the existing roof rail foot & also to align this with the front of the existing setup I had to replace the screws with slightly longer ones & I used stainless steel screws all round.
I cut the rail to length so that with the brackets attached the complete light bar fitted within the roof rails. In my case this was 820mm. Now that the light bar fitted neatly between the roof rails, I needed to determine the overall measurement from the end of the 1st lamp to the end of the last one. Again, in my case I used the distance of 820mm.
Then I deducted the width of all 4 lamps from the overall length & divide by 3. This gives the spacing between lamps. Then I determined the centreline of the light bar & marked the spot. From this spot, I used half the width of a lamp + half the gap between the lamps & make a mark each side of the centreline. This set me up for the 2 inner lights. The holes for the 2 outer lights will be the width of one light & one space. (My lamps are 160mm wide & spacing is 55mm).
NOTE: I was careful to mark before drilling, then laid the lights out in a row with the required gaps between them & checked against the marks made on the light bar. This way I was able to confirm if the spacing was right.
Once fitted, I checked that the light bar fits neatly on the new mounts between the rails.
Next, I drilled ¼” holes right through the light bar then drilled the top hole suitable for the lamps bolt. On the underside I drilled the hole to ¾” (big enough to get a socket through). This way the nuts got concealed within the light bar. I then covered the holes under the roof rail with black duct (cloth) tape to seal against water & wind.
Next to each top hole I drilled another for the wiring to go through allowing for a grommet to protect the wires from damage.
Once all the lights were wired up & fed through to the driver’s side I mounted a junction box with a chocolate block connector inside. This box was screwed to the roof rail & fitted flush with the top. (I mounted the junction box on the roof in case I wanted to remove the lights for whatever reason later on).
The wires the were fed through the plastic strip on the side of the roof rack’s foot & down through a hole in the roof (using a grommet) & covered with lots of sealer to prevent leaks.
The wires then went down to the pillar & into the dash to two toggle switches (one for the 2 inner lights & the other for the 2 outer ones) with a relay for each pair of lights. The main power feed was directly from the battery & was protected by an online fuse (40amp).
My switches were mounted in the light switch panel on the dash - which is possible on RHD trucks without factory front fog lights. (My lights are on a stalk on the steering column so I’m not how this would work on LHD trucks). - I have since revised the switch configuration.
Not being an auto electrician (or any type of electrician for that matter) I’ll leave the electrics for others to explain.
Last thing was to align the lights to dazzle the world. 400watts of light!
Hope this helps.
Part 2.
This involves an update to the light switching arrangement.
Having found a switch panel for the LT with factory front fogs, I decided to do this upgrade.
This panel now had 2 fog light switches at the bottom leaving nowhere to fit the light bar switches – so, the only option was to remove the clear plastic thing inside the switch panel that directs light to the dome & dimmer switches & fit the new switches there.
In order to accommodate the 2 new switches, the face plate had to be cut to go around the switches as the thread was not long enough to go through the panel & the frame. Also, the switches would have looked odd sitting on top of the face plate. The frame had various cut outs in it so a piece of plastic was required on the inside to allow for a firm base to screw the switches to.
Next I needed to fix the LED’s. The dimmer LED was glued just above & directly in line with the dimmer symbol. The override LED was mounted to the back of the unit directly in line with the dimmer indicator. This was a tight fit but .. success!
The switches were fitted & wired with about 6” of 25amp wires & a male connector at the end. The unit was then re-assembled & tested to ensure it worked. I then fitted the female connector to the wiring in the dash & re assembled the dash bezel.
ALL DONE!
Even GM would be proud of the outcome of this job, I’m sure!!!!
Last edited by swartlkk; 06-21-2009 at 06:07 PM. Reason: All fixed up!
#2
06-21-2009, 01:43 AM
very nice write up kiwi lol now you can get all those pm'ers off your back.....if you use the image(img) code and copy that from photobucket then paste here the pics will show right up on your thread.
button to view the bbb code.
#8
06-22-2009, 03:06 AM
I wonder how many times hes done the "Here, you drive" joke on Euros and Americans...
#10
10-28-2009, 08:13 PM
I read this awhile back and have been thinking about making one. I was just wondering what was that bar off of? I like how the ends are.