Dan's Blueish Black

Finally got a semi dry day on Saturday to wire up the spots on my roof rack, I had been wondering how to get the wires to the roof and what was the best way :huh: as discussed before one of the ways was to get rid of the ariel and run the cable up the inside of pillar and out to the rack but after lots of swearing and gymnastic poses trying to get under the steering wheel and into the footwell to see where the ariel actually went up and the fact that what i thought might be the ariel was wrapped up like a cocooned in black tape with other wires and would have taken until December to unravel i decided to go a different route :silly: i had bought some corrugated plastic tubing and decided to run it externally buy didn't know if my fen-sue side of my brain would like it :woohoo:
First job was to take the battery out so that i could get the switch into the cabin this was quite an easy job for a change as i had already run a power cable into the Jim for my sub so out came the metal kebab skewer i used last time attached the connector with insulating tape and pushed it through the large bung in the bulk head then in the cabin pulled it through so pain number 1 went ok :woohoo: then i took off the centre facia and popped out the blank switch plate luck was on my side as the switch was the same size as the blank so out came the hacksaw and off with the top , inside the blank were some lumps and bumps that needed to come off then the new switch squeezed firmly in............happy days

Then measured the length of wire needed from the rack to the battery and trimmed to size, for the running of the cable i decided to go up the side of the snorkel then onto the ariel and up onto the rack, the problem was the wires going into the engine bay i didn't want them getting caught, pulled or chopped off when opening and closing the bonnet so i cut a bit of the plastic windscreen wiper cover off and the corrugated tube sat nice and low and the bonnet didn't catch on anything as there was space around the hinge for the tube to sit nicely, then i used one of the ariel screw holes to fit a clamp to hold the tube then run up the ariel and onto the rack also used two plastic self adhesive square things that let you put a cable tie through them to stop the tubing rubbing on the pillar.

Last thing for me to do is find a dark place to test them out i did turn them on at about 10:30 the other night outside the house and BLIMEY! they are bright :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Very neat Dan' !

Thanks Dave

Excellent Dan

should have used that redundant a/c "All Candles" switch

Great work, Dan...very ingenious

For future reference if you wanted to replace the aeriel, perhaps after damage, disconnect it under the dash (there's an extra connector, not directly in the back of the radio)...securely fasten to the loose end a length of 30lb fishing line and pull the whole lot out from the outside, making sure you leave plenty of fishing line still in the car so you can pull the new one back in.
Connect end of new aeriel cable to fishing line and pull it back in the opposite direction....simples :whistle:
Apologies if the words granny, suck and eggs spring to mind mate, but sometimes it's the little things that make life easier :whistle:

looking good pal
i personally would paint the P-clip black

Jack

Thanks Jack:
You know what - I thought the same i was twitching when I put it on and kept looking at the silver bit :blink: :woohoo:

Thanks Gus:
I just couldn't see were the ariel was it was probably right in front of me but just didn't register thanks for the info ;

Thanks Halford:
I like the "all candles" I will get round to showing them all on soon think Gus will see me from Yorkshire :woohoo: :woohoo: :laugh: I'm hoping to get the Aircon looked at soonish

Really nice install. Like all the rest you have done, very clean.

Thanks Zukebob

Hi Dan, decided to finally fit my smoked indicators, how do you go about removing them. Cheers mate

just seen you had them ready on your thread :woohoo: the best way i found is to take the inner wings out its a bit of a pain but you can have a clean up and check for metal moth once they are out then you can just get to the back of them and give the two lugs on them a squeeze and then they pop out mine didn't give you much play on the wires so if you don't take the inner arches out make sure when you get your indicators out you secure the wire otherwise if it pops back in you will be taking the inner wings out anyway

I'll say thanks for that one too, Dan, got some to fit myself when I get the clear bulbs to go with them