Re: more lighting questions

[Michael Spiers <mikes@specnet.com>]

>         1. Where's the best place to find power and a switched circuit?
>         Under the FB? Is it easily removable? Somewhere else?
>
Lee, when I put driving lights on my old (now her) '84 5kS, I got power from
the fuse box under the hood.  I used the slot designated for the rear cigarette
lighters, think it had a 25 amp fuse.  I ran the wires behind the fender and
behind the front bumper, so it looks very clean.  I had for a while a rocker
switch on the dash (easy to do in a non-turbo, plenty of empty dash space) but
one day while I was driving the switch melted into nothingness and shorted out.
 So, I aced the switch altogether and installed a relay off of the low-beams.
 This is actually how they are supposed to be anyways, laws in MD say that
driving lights are supposed to go off when the highbeams are turned on.  Now,
the driving lights turn on automatically with the low-beams, and if Ann forgets
to turn off the lights they turn off with the ignition (becuase so do the low
beams!) so she won't totally kill the battery.  Not as fast, anyways.  BTW, if
you do tap into the Fuse Box, make sure you get the fused side of the box,
which is the side closer to the center of the car.  I had mine hooked to the
outside terminal (near the fender) and when I was replacing the radiator, I
managed to short the wire to the fender.  Since the fuse was accidentally
bypassed, the wire and terminal welded itself to the fender (looks kinda
strange now) untill I got the fuse box cover off and ripped out the wire.

> BTW, I've thought about using the fogs as the DRLs, but they're too low to be
> effective and once my wife cleans a couple off the bumper with curbs, they'll
be
> gone anyway...

This is exactly why I'm so curious about the fit of a V8 front bumper w/ built
in fogs.  I've taken a few off of the '84, never on curbs, I always lose mine
in snow.  Ann took one off the day after I gave her the car...

-Mike
87 5000CS TQ