Today I installed LEDs under the hood and connected them to the mercury switch used in the crappy service light housing. So I found a guy on eBay selling three light strips about 20inches long in an aluminum housing for like $11. Went to Home Depot and bought a small spool of 16 gauge wire and some loc tite gel that's like for all conditions including high heat. The LEDs slid right out of the housings so I discarded those as it was a little difficult to get them to stick. It works good as far as coming on and off with the hood open and closed and they are stuck on there really good too. I think I would need a chisel to get them off. Just a note I wiped the areas of the hood I placed the LEDs with alcohol prior to sticking them up there. Now I'm just waiting for it to get dark so I can see how bright they are. It says there over 500 lumens a piece, so we"ll see. I'll post another pic in the dark and if it looks good I'll post the eBay account info so if anyone else is interested in doing it they can.

 

I like that a lot! I just ordered a replacement stock light to replace my badly corroded original since they're only about $10. Those LED strips look like a great addition, let us know how it looks at night. The only issue might be power draw if you need to leave the hood up for an extended period. A cutoff switch might be a good idea.

 

Here's what they look like!
I couldn't be happier with the way it came out! Here's the link to eBay. http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...d=291378390666
The link just seems to take you to eBay but if you search 291378390666 it pops up.

 

That's pretty amazing, a great upgrade for minimal $$$!

 

Looks good for very little money.

 

Wow! That air filter is dirty!!

I mean, good job on those lights. What a difference. Any reason for them all being grouped closely together? Do you think one further toward the rear would have improved overall lighting?

 

The light strips are so inexpensive that I just went ahead and ordered them though I'm not sure when I'll have time to install.

I was wondering how that Loctite glue would hold up so looked up the specs and it seems like pretty amazing stuff, designed for harsh conditions and OK in a temperature range of -58 to 248 degrees F., resistant to vibration as well.

 

Yeah I guess that filter could use a little cleaning, hell with all the light shining down makes me want to clean up the whole engine bay. But as far as the grouping I just went with what I had seen others do and thought it was a good location. It may have improved the lighting in the back by mounting it towards the firewall but they're so damn bright if it was mounted there it would be closer to eye level and would blind me. So if anyone does this mod with these particular lights I wouldn't recommend it.

 

That's a good idea, but I think if I do that with mine, I'll mount the lights angled down so that they're not shining right in my eyes when I'm trying to work under the hood in the dark.

The timing of this post is funny, because last weekend I spent several hours after dark working on my J4600 with a double row of LEDs clamped to the hood. I played hell getting that work like positioned so that it didn't blind me every time I went to wrenching.

 

Glad to hear you bought them. Definitely post some pics when you get them hooked up.

 

true xj owner. under the hood enough to merit a homemade light installation.