DRL Mounting

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Major System Category: Body (Hood)
Task: Mount DRL
Parts: DRL aftermarket kit
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $10
Time Requirement: 2 hours
Date Started: October 18, 2012
Date Completed: October 18, 2012
Daytime Running Lights are not part of the basic kit. I understand they are a requirement in Europe and Canada. I really can't imagine building a car like the GTM and not having DRLs. I found my set on Ebay. All they are is a strip of LEDs enclosed in a plastic case with 22 gauge wire leads. I actually purchased the DRL kit before I ordered the GTM.

I taped off the area under the grille opening.

When I started working on the hood, I really did not have a good location for the DRLs. One GEN I builder put his under the headlights, but that doesn't seem to work very well on a GEN II. I had just gotten the front grille installed, and I was raising up the car at the end of a work session, when it occurred to me that I could mount the DRLs inside the hood shell under the grill. This is the fiber glass that encloses the bottom of the hood. There is a shelf to anchor the DRLs to.

Driver's side DRL set in place.

One of the truly odd things about the GEN II hood is its asymmetrical properties. The instructions for the Vraptor front grille contains a caution about attempting to mount the grille on the center line. This is because the grill opening is not centered. Hood symmetry is an issue for endless gripe sessions. Since I knew the grille opening was not centered on the hood, I just took Shane's advice (Vraptor wunderkind), and I centered the grille inside the grille opening.

Passemger side DRL set in place.

The top of the grille opening is approximately 29 inches. the bottom of the grille is 23 inches. This forms a trapezoid. I used the bottom angles as my center points for the DRLs. These were a little more than 6 inches long. I taped and marked the area. Ran my measurements and drew lines, took a deep breath and started cutting.

Front end view of the car with DRLs.

The first thing I used was a Dremel with a cutting disk. This made my first cut all the way through the fiber glass. I was concerned I might get this wrong. Next I used a reciprocating saw to make the horizontal lines. Returned with the Dremel to make the end cuts. Then I put a small drum sander on my right hand drill and started evening everything out. This went well. I have the DRLs screwed into the mounting brackets and I will panel bond the brackets to the inside of the hood shell using 3M's 8115. A little glazing putty around the edges and the DRLs are ready for wiring.