Fitting the spare tyre on the outside of the car meant I have to move the number plate and the number plate lights. Bad move! - it turns out that the wiring at the rear of the car is dreadful. The wiring is domestic mains cable (huge amounts of it with the spare cable coiled inside the rear door) passing through the rear door rubbers into the car. The wires are joined into the loom with spade connectors protected by Duct Tape and cable tied along the bumper. The water/mud has got into the connections and its all a complete mess and completely rotted out.
I have started to strip it all out as the rear lights are intermittent at best. It turns out to be straight forward. The original Suzuki connectors are still under the rear nearside bumper. I pushed these back up inside the rear wing and fitted a blanking grommet over the remaining hole in the back wing. Removing the plastic panel on the inside rear of the car I could then connect new automotive wires into to the Jimny wiring and run the cables in a protective sleeve to the offside inside rear wing and then out into the door through the proper door electrical connector.
The picture above shows the number plate relocated down onto the bumper along with a couple of number plate lights from the local caravan shop.Â
I am suspicious that the position of the rear lights means that technically they are obscured by the spare tyre. As can be just seen in this earlier picture of my car they were orginally on the edges of the bumper and have been moved for some reason.
I have just got hold of some LED rear lights that have been removed from a lorry trailer and I am considering fitting these to the outer edges of the bumper. Andy Whalley has sent me some nice pictures of his smart red Jimny to show a similar light installation.