| A few weeks back I had made a post on 300zxclub about some LED's that I had put in my Z and took a bit of flack for it. However, I did get some comments about making a functional hood lamp and replied that when I got my hands on some bright white strips, I would put something together. This is what I did using the same strips as I did before (no music added): I placed an 18" Bright White strip under the hood which you can see in the following photos, then cut a hole on the passengers side of where the strip sets with a dremel (I wouldn't suggest using a drill because you're more likely to dent the hood) to run it's lead inside the hood rather than leaving it noticeable. 

Then, I routed the wire to come out where the windshield washer fluid line runs from the hood to the bay. The nice thing about these strips is that they have quick connects, which worked out perfectly because I had to add an extension which connected right at the opening of the windshield washer line in the hood. This way, if Ash ever needs to take his hood off, you disconnect the quick connect and pull the hood off. I then wire tired the extension to the windshield washer fluid line back behind the battery. 

You will see more wires in the pictures as I added another strip under his plenum cover to illuminate the injector connectors better, but trust me, it is not necessary. The 18" strip on the hood will light up your entire engine bay and then some. At any rate, I ran the positive lead of the strip through an inline fuse to the positive terminal of the battery. 

I then ran the ground of the strip to the hood security pin switch on the driver's side of the bay. A blade connector works well for connecting that ground to either terminal of the security pin switch. Then, using another blade connector, ran the ground from the other terminal of the pin switch back to the negative terminal of the battery. 

Overall, the setup looks very clean. With the hood prop in it's normal position, you can't see the strip or the wiring from the front side of the car. Using the security pin switch to turn the lights on and off rather than using a remote box like I did for my car was much more functional. This way, whenever you open the hood the lights are on, and when you close it the lights turn off. You'd never have to worry about whether or not you had your remote on you for the lights, nor could you accidentally turn them on by pressing the button on the remote inadvertently. You could still use the remote if you'd rather not disconnect the hood security pin switch, but even with this set up the door security switches will still work. The doors would be my concern, not the hood. Let me know any opinions or comments! 




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