Headlight rewiring--how to?

[MIK911]

Marcus Sucro was kind enough to personally wire up a relay for my H1's so i could use 100W bulbs. (he lives a couple miles away).
Now that that's done, i want to rewire with 12g wire from the fuse box/relay to the bulbs.
QUESTION: How to run a new 12g wire from fuse box/relay to light bulb? How to physcially get the wire thru grommets/fender, etc?

Upon closer inspection in the headlight bucket, the +wire from the bulb joins a loom of wires, goes thru a grommet, which appearently goes thru the fender, then enters the front trunk near the battery, before connecting with the fuse box.

thanks

[MIK911]

Anyone done this before? tips?

thanks

[HarryD]

when I did my upgrade, I drilled a separate hole for my new wires and used some of the electrical tubing to make a new wire way between the tub and the headlamp bucket.

[derkpitt]

I ran mine thru a grommet in the fenders and up thru the drain holes in the buckets. Use the fender mount bolt in the bucket for the grd wire.

[imcarthur]

It's not hard. Just remove the existing wires & grommets carefully. There is a ridge inside the grommet that can be cut down to increase the wire size allowed. I ran 3 x 12 guage in without trouble. Wrap the wire with electrical tape for the bit that is in between the grommets - the part that is actually in the fender well.

Ian

[Jadams1]

I double wrapped the new 12 guage wires in heat shrink tubing, soaped it up and pulled them through the same path as the existing wiring. Closely resembles the factory wiring. McMaster-Carr sells 4ft long heat shrink tubing.

[MIK911]

Good ideas.
Jadams--with wires shrink wrapped, this makes it STIFF enought to be pulled thru along with existing wires? Cool.

Ian--when you coursed the wire thru, does it run alongside the existing wire, or within the existing wire loom as it goes from trunk to headlight bucket?

thanks guys

[imcarthur]

I undid the existing loom. I used the old headlight wires to feed the relays - so they don't go to the bucket anymore. You need 2 lines + ground + a wire for the citylight if you plan to use it on the H4. I re-used the turn signal & running light wires + their ground. I pulled all of these - 7 wires - into the bucket.

Heatshrink would tidy it up nicely, but electrical tape works if you're a lazy slug like me.

In the bucket, the turn signal & running light wires + their ground just join to their mates & exit the bucket through the other grommet.

Ian

Here's a picture 1/2 way:

[MIK911]

Ian--thanks for info and pic. Will tackle this soon

thanks

[HarryD]

I would suggest you avoid using "standard" electrical tape since, over time, it turns into a sticky mess. A better solution is heat shrink tubing or flexible electrical duct (McMaster-Carr -www.mcmaster.com, lists it as "Slit-Convoluted Sleeving").