Fog light delete, dash switch into oil cooler override

[Showdown]

Howdy,

As I live in Chicago and fog is non existent, and I dislike the look of those “loose teeth” on my ‘77, I deleted them.

While I had the car up I installed a Fender oil cooler and fan. After wiring it all up I decided that I may as well add a manual override switch for the fan because, Chicago traffic.

I contemplated where I wanted to install the switch and I really didn’t like the idea of creating a new hole somewhere in the dash. Then i realized that I had a perfectly good fog light switch in the dash already.

So I decided to repurpose the fog light pull switch into an oil cooler fan manual override.

Simple, right.

First I had to get access to the switch which involved removing all of the blower parts in the trunk. What a convoluted mess and certainly ripe for improvement.

Once I had access to the switch I had to figure out how it worked. Of course from the factory it only works when the lights are on and that’s not really ideal for my needs. So after a bunch of testing I figured out the wiring.

I needed an alternate power source that wasn’t tied to the headlights. So I tapped into the clock’s power supply as it was next door. The fog light switch completes a hot connection to the relay in the fuse panel. I wanted to bypass all of that mess but the oil cooler activates on completion of a ground connection.

Long ago I bought a box of Bosch relays and one came to the rescue. After wiring it all up I now had a switch that works without the headlights and using the relay completes the broken ground that activates the fan. Awesome!

Only problem is that the switch still looks like it’s for fog lights and that bothered me.

So I disassembled the knob and lens and 3D printed a new lens out of high resolution transparent plastic:





I painted it red and painted the raised part white. The raised part is 1/64” so it’s hardly raised at all- just enough to facilitate painting.



I fitted it into the knob, got it all put back together and gave it a test.

Off:



On:



So now I no longer have fog lights, a working thermostat controlled oil cooler with a manual override switch that takes the place of the useless fog light switch and looks totally stock. Oh, it’s all totally reversible too because you know, Porsche.

I’ll probably replace the cigarette lighter with a switch for electric AC next summer.

[austria3]

Looks great

[Larmo63]

That's slick, nice work around!

[eastbay]

Nice, I like the way you matched the "font", looks OEM quality

[Kidasters]

That's pretty neat. Very well done.

[famoroso]

Love it!

I went a different route and bypassed the thermostatic control by building an 8" stock looking jumper harness to connect the right fog light harness in the frunk to the oil cooler fan. I have yet to relocate the fog light circuit fuse box wire to energize the fog light switch whenever the ignition is in, but I'll do that before summer.

I will do the same mod to my recently nacquired 1989. Any chance you're interested in selling a 3D printed lens or two?