6 inch round drving lights on Volvos

[romantt8]

Considering mounting 6 inch round driving lights (hella 500s) ontop of my front bumper. I have seen a few Volvos with this done already. What are your thoughts/pictures/opinions about this? Thanks.

[marsie85]

i like it

go for it, but make sure they dont compromise your IC airflow

[manbeard]

if you do it, do it like this:

http://www.vabeach-volvos.com/NovNC/DSC_0007.jpg

[NoSi1212ah]

if you do it, do it like this:

http://www.vabeach-volvos.com/NovNC/DSC_0007.jpg



i dont agree, infact i think that looks ugly trying to fit in rounds into square holes... ontop of the bumper looks awesome and i know someone on here has round fog holes in their bumper and that looks awesome... what ever you do just make it realistic.

[manbeard]

i dont agree, infact i think that looks ugly trying to fit in rounds into square holes... ontop of the bumper looks awesome and i know someone on here has round fog holes in their bumper and that looks awesome... what ever you do just make it realistic.

well, it looks alot better in person. so much better, i think I might want to trade my rectangulars for some circles

[jwernerny]

Considering mounting 6 inch round driving lights (hella 500s) ontop of my front bumper. I have seen a few Volvos with this done already. What are your thoughts/pictures/opinions about this? Thanks.

[Forgive me, I am using a reply I already had written to someone else about how I set up what's show below.]

http://www.frontiernet.net/~flybrick/960-Front_End_Lights-640x450.jpg

Although it looks almost like the lights are attached to the front bumper, they are actually attached to a bar attached to the front bumper. I did this for two reasons. First, the bumper is too thick to bolt the lights directly to. Second, the bar can be easily removed to protect the lights when I don't use them. [Of course, i never bother to remove the bar... i just could if I wanted to. :) ]

The fog and driving lights are actually mounted separately.

The fogs are mounted to the underside of the bumper. They actually keep the lower grill (for lack of a better name) in place on the car. I used the holes for the original lower grill attachments as my pilot holes.http://www.frontiernet.net/~flybrick/960-Fog_Light_Underside_Mount-640x480.JPG

The driving beams are attached to a piece of 2" x 2" right-angle-iron. I actually found some in the basement of my house that was left by the previous owner. I drilled two holes on the top of the bar at each end for mounting lights.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~flybrick/Light_Bar-1.JPG
I was originally going to mount the fogs to the bar also. The bar is attached to the front bumper by two axle bolts that go through the bottom part of the bar and the bumper. The nuts are on the back of the bumper. http://www.frontiernet.net/~flybrick/960-Light_Bar_Back_Bumper_Mounting-640x480.JPG On the '960, the bumper is just a bumper. I couldn't do this on my 740 because the vacuum accumulator is mounted in the bumper.

> Also how did you run the wiring? When i had my 240, it wa seasy to do because the fuse were right there on the driver side kick panel. any pictures of the bracket and wiring diagrams are most appreciated.

[I can't get my scanner to work, so I will have to omit the wiring
diagrams for now.]

The wiring was pretty straight forward.

The switches are double pole, double throw (DPDT) switches I got from Radio Shack. One side (pole) of the switch is used for the LEDs. The other is used to control the relays for the lights.

The power for the LEDs comes from a spare fuse in the fuse box. On the 960, it is conveniently located on the side of the driver's side of the dashboard. On the 740 (and 940?) you will have to run a wire to the center console. The LED has a 3.3K ohm resistor. I picked a rather large resistor to keep the LED dim at night. (The larger the resistor, the dimmer the LED. I suggest experimenting until you find the value you like.)

Both the LEDs and relays are switched to ground. In other words, the LEDs and relays always have 12V supplied to them. To turn them on, I simply ground the other side through the switch.

The coil of the relays are supplied power from taps off of the switched power going to the lights I want to use to control them. The fog light relay coil is tapped into a line running to a marker light, and the driving light relay is tapped into the power wire going to the high
beams. Since I switch the other side of the coil to ground through the control switches, I don't have to do anything special to get the logic correct so that they only operate with certain lighting. I simply use the logic already wired to the stock lights in the car.

The relays are mounted to the strut tower just above the battery. (see lower left in photo) http://www.frontiernet.net/~flybrick/960-Wire_Loom-640x480.jpg Power runs from the battery to a fuse block I purchased at a Performance Auto Parts store. The
relay block is mounted to the inner fender.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~flybrick/960-Auxilary_Fuse_Box-640x480.jpg

Running the wires from the switches to the relays was actually pretty simple. On my 960 I found an extra hole for wires / tubes from the engine bay to the car interior. It was right below where the main harness entered the car, and was complete with a sealed rubber plug. I simply cut a hole in the plug (actually an X) and pushed the wires through. I then threaded the wires into the bluish plastic loom (also bought a Performance Auto Parts). The loom then goes along the back of the engine bay to the the passenger's side, and up that side. (See photo of engine bay, above)

The wiring connection to the driving light bar is done with standard 4 position trailer plug (3 power + 1 ground). I currently am only using two positions (just power to each light). The grounding for the lights is actually done through the bar. I ran a separate line from the
grounding junction next to the battery to one of the bolts holding the bar on.

If you want some wiring diagrams, I can try to see if I can get the scanned at work.

I hope this helps,
- John

[tjts1]

Hella 500s are the **** for the money. Just make sure you put some 100w H3s in there with relays. Beats e-codes high beams by a mile.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/tjts3/960%20headlights/Picture051.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/tjts3/960%20headlights/Picture068.jpg

[dmcgee]

mine is a 240 but i think they turned out good
the wiring was easy, i just ran the wires under the grill...the only problem was the wiring diagram was wrong and i kept blowing fuses, so i just switched the wire for the lights and the ground and they worked. Sorry for the crappy pic, it seems i have only one pic of my car since i put those on. Also, get a set of clear covers and you never worry about them cracking.

[jimjawz]

me toohttp://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/1175000-1175999/1175349_48_full.jpg


I ran my wires through the wiper holes.

[mAydAy]

mine is a 240 but i think they turned out good
the wiring was easy, i just ran the wires under the grill...the only problem was the wiring diagram was wrong and i kept blowing fuses, so i just switched the wire for the lights and the ground and they worked. Sorry for the crappy pic, it seems i have only one pic of my car since i put those on. Also, get a set of clear covers and you never worry about them cracking.
Hella had a production run of Hella 500's that had relays that were installed rotated 90* in the casings. I install LOTS of sets of these lights on peoples trucks around here (Last spring I installed well over a dozen pairs). More than half of those had reversed relays. I got to the point that before I hooked up anythign I opened up the relay and checked if it was the right way or not before wiring it up.

[noz-e8tr]

i know someone on here has round fog holes in their bumper and that looks awesome...
Hmmmm...like this...
It was a ton of work..But I like the results
http://home.stx.rr.com/volvogonewild/hella_4.jpg
http://home.stx.rr.com/volvogonewild/hella_5.jpg
http://home.stx.rr.com/volvogonewild/hella_7.jpg
http://home.stx.rr.com/volvogonewild/drive5a.jpg

[romantt8]

Thanks for all of the input so far. Im getting lots of ideas from all of your pictures. I really love the way Noze8tr set them into the bumper. How did you cut the half round holes into the bumper so cleanly? Im either going to attempt something like that or mount them ontop of the bumper however I do not want to restrict any airflow to the intercooler......

[noz-e8tr]

Thanks for all of the input so far. Im getting lots of ideas from all of your pictures. I really love the way Noze8tr set them into the bumper. How did you cut the half round holes into the bumper so cleanly? Im either going to attempt something like that or mount them ontop of the bumper however I do not want to restrict any airflow to the intercooler......

Oh it was not clean at first...I used 8" pvc sewer pipe...Marked the bumper and started hacking..Hacked through the plastic bumper, took out a big chunck of the Alum. bumper support...Put screws through the top of the bumper to hold the pvc pipe in place.(see image below)..Then used Lord's Plastic Fusor product(used by body shops to repair plasic bumpers) to "mold" the pipe in...

One thing to consider..If you are mounting driving lights..Below the bumper is really too low...Mine are actually fogs..which works great being low.
http://home.stx.rr.com/volvogonewild/hella_2.jpg

[1stRaven]

Mine are squares and are mounted on top of the bumper. Just drilled through and bolted them on.

http://www.ryanniblett.co.uk/images/744/29-08-05/IMAG0065.jpg

http://www.ryanniblett.co.uk/images/744/lights/lights2.jpg

http://www.ryanniblett.co.uk/images/744/lights/lights1.jpg

[Poik]

if you do it, do it like this:

http://www.vabeach-volvos.com/NovNC/DSC_0007.jpg
No offense, but I think the rectangular fogs would look a lot better in those positions. I was actually contemplating doing the exact same thing, because my air dam is missing fogs, but after seeing that picture I am just going to find some rectangular fogs at a junkyard. I think that mounting them above the bumper is the most "authentic." And just for ****s and giggles, here is a Celica that I took a picture of in Sweden in '03:
www.eric-o.com/images/other/DSC00002.JPG
Wow! Looking back at these pictures, I notice things that I didn't before. I took a picture of this Audi A3 because I thought it was neat because they weren't in the US, and this Volvo on the right has fogs/pencil beams:
www.eric-o.com/images/other/DSC00014.JPG

[ZyreX]

Hella 500 = Way to small..

I give you Hella Rallye 3000

http://zyrex.org/gallery/d/10400-2/DSC03328.jpg

haha, just had to post..
Highbeams, not fog lights.. mounted through a relay, wiring through grill..

http://zyrex.org/gallery/d/10510-2/DSC02913.jpg

And yeah, I have enough airflow to my radiator.. hehe..

http://zyrex.org/gallery/d/10627-2/DSC03178.jpg
Me and my friend..

[TheJoyOfSix]

I did this........

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/uselessthings/745GLE.jpg

[isaac]

I just gots to chime in: Noz's light setup is the biz, plain and simple. Nice integration. Where can you get that crazy plastic fuser stuff?

[noz-e8tr]

I just gots to chime in: Noz's light setup is the biz, plain and simple. Nice integration. Where can you get that crazy plastic fuser stuff?

http://www.lord.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1193#1521532
My local 3m auto paintstore carried it in stock..
I tried several different..This is by far the best..I used Fusor153..It's not cheap, the dispenser gun alone was $40...But it kicks ass for plastic repair...