Do you have any pictures from the side where the gap is visible?

 

How would your bar look with only two lights? How much of it would be visible?

 

With only 2 lights it would make a good plate mount.

I had to make a longer bar to accommodate the Hella FF700s the holes were too close together for the bigger lamps.



Today:
<-this is not photoshop looks it but I swear its real

 

So far.... (pardon the wintry mix on the outside of the car - yuck! And the flash makes it look even worse.)

I've rotated the crossbar 90 degrees and flipped it so the lights are closer to the car and higher up. That 1/2" shorter tube would be great, mine are the older longer ones. Only issues I've had so far are
1) The Mini bumper is concave inside, so the tubes are not pointing straight forward. So far that was OK since I was redrilling the crossbar in order to mount the lights on top
2) The Mini aluminum bumper is pretty hard, stripped a few screw heads off until I got the right hole size for my stainless screws.
3) It's winter, so it's cold and the car's messy.

What I'd do differently:
1) Angle the tubes to match the bumper angle (if only I had a large vise...)
2) Shorten the tubes 1/2" (reddrockets is doing this on the newer ones, apparently)







Now I'm working on the wiring of the lightbar itself to the plug, then (once my wife returns from flogging the Mini) get at the car!

 

That looks pretty good if the finished result is nice I might have to do that with mine. The things with the bumper being concave on the back messed me up when I did my install, wasnt fun.

 

Few questions. I have tried to follow this thread for a while.

Are there any pictures or instructions on how the light bar mounts to the bumper? It looks to me that you have to take the bumper off to mount them (and bumper cover).

Does this bar let you mount the lights between the bottom and top grill? I want the lights inbetween this area.

 

this does require removal of the bumper cover and bumper support not a big deal just about 6 or so nuts for the carrier and the 9 fasteners for the cover. if you mean directly in front of the middle grille yes that is entirely possible with this setup you just need the longer tubes and shallow lights.

 

Yes, you have to remove bumper cover and support. No, it's not difficult, just time consuming (about 30 minutes with practice and jacking the car to get at the philips head screws on the bottom).

The concavity of the back of the bumper is a beast to deal with, I was redrilling the crossbar anyway but still could've done it better. Overall I like it though, and they're plenty stable.

Lights are right where I want 'em, and even my WIFE likes them! Now all I've got to do is finish the in-car wiring... right now I'm such a poseur, I've got these 4 gigantic lights that (ahem) don't work! (yet)

And just like I said - 2 stainless steel bolts and a plug, and the lights come off.

How the lightbar mounts to the bumper: I used SS sheet metal screws, plenty sturdy.




...and the almost-finished product (finished on the outside anyway...)

 

Hiya Dixon.. i have 4 hella's on my car now.. and yes they work lol.. where do you get the different light covers.. i have the black covers and would like to change so two are different...

 

I'll trade ya so I can have all 4 the same!

I'm also considering the "stealth" look by getting all-black covers, but that'll come when budget allows. Besides, who has a Mini and wants stealth?

And sheesh, that flash makes my car look even filthier than it is. Yuck.

 

All these light bars are awesome, but what allows the big name companies to charge such a steep price for something we can make at home for thirty bucks? I'm new on here somewhat, just looking for fill in the gaps...

 

stealth? nah



budget? this stuff works great.
I'm planning to paint the logo red.

 

supply and demand Also for me, I haven't a clue when it comes to lighting and taking my car apart.. Ask Dixon.. He can attest to that.. and lol i am being kind with this picture! So when I ordered my light brackets, I wanted the least invasive to my car.. these weren't as bad as they could have been.. they use the holes already in the bumper... they were 99 dollars a piece and I put on two.

 

^^ Hey, that's my back when we were installing your hitch!! ^^
I remember having your trunk apart, glad that hitch and all worked out!
I like your staggered lights. Did you have that silver hood stripe when I was there last? Lookin' good.

FULLY agreed on being non-invasive where possible, nice thing about these bars is that the holes are on the back of the bumper, fully covered and won't rust or oxidize or harm the car long term. The only "permanent" modifications were the 1" holes in the mesh lower grille, and a replacement grille can't be too hard to find if I need one.

 

Slight correction to my previous post. The spray paint I said was great did not hold up to some more aggressive finish testing. Not that I ever planned using them on the road. I am trying to find clear acrylic stone guards for these monsters.

 

Dixon. Your light bar and lights are awesome. Thats right where I want to have my lights. Is this the Ebay one you used? Also where did you end up getting your lights? This makes me want to go take the Mini apart again!

 

Thanks! That's the eBay bar but I bought it used with the Hella 500 fogs. I bought the driving lights from (ahem) WalMart for about $60. Check my previous post, WalMart seems to get their Hellas from both Asia and Germany, and the German ones looked to have clearer flutes in the glass (looks like the Asian ones were made on older tooling). I think WalMart only carries the driving light version, but the Hella 500 fogs are available on the web for similar pricing. I still don't have my car wiring done yet, so can't report on performance but will do so...

Oh, and www.rallylights.com has the clear acrylic stone shields at $11.84 each...
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/500.asp

ALSO - installation tip for this and the ALTA bar: That concave bumper has to be taken into account either by bending the brackets (so the light mounting bar comes out parallel with direction-of-travel of the car) OR by premounting the front bar on the tubes and then moving the uprights toward the centerline of the car such that the bracket mounts flat with the interior surface of the bumper - meaning the front mounting tubes would be somewhat splayed once mounted.

 

OK, guys, where I tapped into the high beams and parking lights.

I tapped the high beam white wire right at the driver's side headlight assembly (pic) for the driving lights (on only when high beams are on). To tap into the high beam, I used a spade connector, gently inserted it into the headlamp socket from the back, then bent and ziptied it to prevent it coming out. I ran it in through the headlight vent, being sure to reinstall the little foamy thing that keeps too much moisture out.



I tapped into the marker light on the driver's side bumper, the non-brown wire, for the fogs (can be on without headlights, but go off when marker lights go off). I put my switches in the downtube - looks cool, but I won't do it again (pain in the BUTT to install!). Sorry sideways pic, Photobucket's weird today with my mac, if you've got a laptop tip it on end:



Had one of "those days" running wires, though, I'd get both ends on then remember that I had to thread the wiring through a small opening, I'd solder a connection and forget the shrink tubing and have to re-do, I'd leave critical parts in my basement workshop when I'm working in the garage, every time I dropped a socket it went to dead center under the car (or hit my shoe and went skittering across the garage floor - and under a shelving unit), that type of thing. I got a lot of exercise though... and the install is nice and cleeean.

The Hella 500 driving beams are pencil beams - great reach and they're what I was looking for, but not a lot of beam spread. The fogs are nice, at 55W they're good fogs, I'm heading for 100W as cornering lamps. Phew! Now I'm done. Until the next mod... parcel shelf anyone?

 

Dixon I'll have to post up my garage door opener rig pics so you can stash that one out of sight.

 

Very interested! When will you decide if you plan to make these? If not, I may be interested in some drawings and have somebody locally make them...

I like RedRockets but like you I think they stick out too far...haven't seen pictures of his redesign yet.

 

I KNEW someone would comment on that!

 

mine used to pop off the visor in any kind of spirited turn. Almost lost it out the window once . I picked up a momentary push button switch at Home Depot for 4 bucks or so cracked open the opener wired it up and installed it. pics soon. Have to do the wife's car next.

 

jeeze, i need to know what to do with my garage door opener too... sorry for jacking this thread.

on a related note, i was thinking about a light bar too, hence my sig

 

i'll start a new thread for the garage door opener in a couple days


::::end of threadjack, sorry ::::::

 

Where do you find this on ebay?