Originally Posted by jbing

PIAA 5430 MINI Kit Install
By Jason Bingham (jbing on NAM, MINI2, and WMS)

The following pictures will help with the routing and connections of the wires in the PIAA 5430 MINI Driving Light Kit. Use this How-To in combination with the instructions supplied with the PIAA Kit.

The PIAA instructions have all of the bit sizes.

Here is a close-up of the wiring and metal brackets crossing through the grille of the MCS. You can also see two of the three mounting locations for the bolts, washers, and nuts. One bolt on each side of the bracket.



Here is a view looking up under the bonnet at one of the mounting brackets. I STRONGLY recommend using tape, wrapped sticky side out, around your finger for placing the nut on the single bolt on the bracket which goes between the two heat dissipation holes in the hood. You will need to do it totally by feel and if you drop the nut don’t count on getting it back. I use a small amount of 3M spray adhesive on the tip of my finger to keep the nut from falling off.

(!!!THIS PART TAKES A LOT OF PATIENCE, SO PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME!!!)



This picture shows both brackets in place and you can also so the wires being routed into the hood. The location of my lights is centered in the middle of my bonnet stripes and VERY close to the measurement dictated in the official MINI installation guide; 192.5mm. The measurement is taken from the center line of the hood to the inside edge of the mounting bracket.



Here I am pointing at the main PIAA wiring harness that I routed under the black heat shield, you can also see it in the above picture. I had to remove three of the plastic scrivet screws to get all of the harness routed underneath. It is not very difficult just be careful not to ruin the scrivet screws when you remove them. Go ahead and plug both of the lamps into the two sockets on the PIAA wiring harness.



Here is a close-up of the PIAA corrugated wire harness exiting from underneath the heat shield right next to the drivers side headlight.



Here is a wide angle shot of the area the wiring harness exits the heat shield and you can also see it routed down the tube that supplies liquid to the xenon headlamp washer, next to the pneumatic bonnet supports. The PIAA kit comes with some zip ties and if you need more any local hardware store will have them.



Here is a close-up of the underside of the headlamp, if you have the standard headlamps instead of the xenon’s it will look a little different. The PIAA wiring harness has a white power lead that needs to be attached to the high-beam wire with the supplied plastic wire tap. The high-beam wire is the yellow/green one which can possibly be seen in the picture, it is very obvious looking at the four wires which one it is. I am pointing at the location the plastic wire tap is located. I made sure to very securely attach it to the harness with lots of electrical tape and zip ties, you can see the white wire exiting the electrical tape section. At approximately the location of the zip tie near my thumb the white wire is routed into the corrugated PIAA harness so it will be protected from getting pinched under the bonnet.



The next picture shows the location where I stopped using zip ties to secure the PIAA harness to the liquid supply line for the headlamps. I used one remaining zip tie to tie the PIAA harness to the grounding strap which comes down from the hood. I did this so the harness would bend out of the way of the hood with the grounding strap and be safe from pinching.



Here you can see the corrugated wiring harness entering the engine bay and going underneath the cowl. You can see two white connectors, to the left of them are two sets of wires with electrical tape around them. Inside each of these I have shortened the overall length of the wires by about two and a half feet and connected by blade style wire connectors.



Here you can see the wires being routed over the steering column area under the cowl looking down through the open cowl vent.



Here you can see where I have stored excess wire next to the area where the main electrical grommet passage is under the cowl. The large red wire goes through this grommet, this is where the switch wire needs to go through to the inside of the car.



Here you can see where I have placed the relay and fuse holder on the screw holding my Alta CAI heat shield, also located in this area is the ground wire and the positive wire lead. You can just see the ground wire at the extreme left of the picture.



Here I have routed the positive wire lead up into the positive battery terminal and secured it under the nut.



And the grounding wire attached to the overflow tank support bracket.



Here is an overall shot of the area the PIAA wiring harness is located. I have removed the cowl vent cover for reference. You can see the Alta CAI foam filter with the PIAA white and black wires going out to the ground and positive wire attachment points.



I swapped out my PIAA factory switch for this red toggle switch from radio shack. I like it better for placing in my parcel shelf blanking plate. You can see it on the left side of the steering wheel. I have seen the factory switch placed under the steering column with the stock American MCS knee bolster. The factory switch has a double sided foam tape to hold it in place.



With all of that you are finished, hope you like your lights like I do. Light Up The Night!!!

Originally Posted by JJ Blue

I believe the lead that would normaly be connected to the high beam circut (it's white) should be connected to the positive battery terminal. In most states it's the law that you have to be connected via the high beam.

Originally Posted by elevatus

If anyone out there has done this install with the added complexity of the black grill (which has to be cut to push the light holder through), please post here as well.
Also, if you have any process tips for the first part of this process, those would be great as well. By first part, I mean the installation of the brackets into the front of the car etc.

Originally Posted by styyy

I ran my wireing harness to the passanger side,and cannot locate the wire to tap into for the highbeam? Thanks.

Originally Posted by LetsMotorR53

By looking at your pictures posted above, it looks as if u and i installed ours basically the same way. However, when i was done with mine, i noticed a severe bounce in the lights on nearly any kind of road. i put a thin strip of plumming rubber betewwn the bracket and the grill, but the bounce is still there(tho not as bad) :( i was just wondering if u had the same problem or any suggestions on how i can fix this.