Technical Has anyone fitted a reversing light to their 500

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Technical Has anyone fitted a reversing light to their 500

Haha
It's a quick release boss and makes stealing it that bit harder


..as long as the potential thief is only 4'2" tall...I can see the wheel up on the wall.:D

You've got built in prevention because there isn't an obvious way to get into the car....and I thought my parking slot was narrow!.:eek:
A thief would get distracted by the CDs in any case.:)
 
Haha again

The steering wheel goes with me when I park up after terrorising people flying around Canterbury.
It has a tracker also
Mind you mine has been rather "personalised" making it tricky to sell on if you pinched it.

The 500 was chosen because it was the only car other than a mini that would fit in space available - and I've done a mini before.

Given the space it would be a Citroen DS
 
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I don't have a pic, but did see one ages ago, where someone had welded the light brackets to the rear bumper mount bits... so the lights hung directly under the bumper, no unsightly bits hanging down, wires or holes in the bumper... and could be angled as you wish...

As the bumper mounts are cheap... easy to replicate when they rust away...

I've adapted a couple of bumper-brackets which are now ready for paint. Because I want both a reversing and a fog-light, it hadn't occurred to me until I was trying out the positioning, that one of these is going to be sitting right over the exhaust pipe.:bang:

I'll photograph it when fitted.
 
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, it hadn't occurred to me until I was trying out the positioning, that one of these is going to be sitting right over the exhaust pipe.:bang:......

But that will be sorted with the twin big bore system
 
But that will be sorted with the twin big bore system

..:D it will be sorted by an offcut of aluminium exhaust-heatshield which fell of my Picasso and which I saved for a rainy day.

I've made and now painted the brackets as suggested by you Bigvtwin996 and it looks like they're going to fit quite nicely on the car.
 

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.........y.

I've made and now painted the brackets as suggested by you @Bigvtwin996 and it looks like they're going to fit quite nicely on the car.

If I hadn't seen them else where I would of course be demanding royalties, and a charge per view on the forum....
 
I was hoping to show you a "nice" photo of the lights fitted to the car, but...

one of the bumper-bolt nuts had seized, despite being newly fitted only 15 months ago using a new nut and anti-seize compound.:bang:

I had to remove the rear support panel to get at the nut with a Dremel; two of the four nuts which hold this on the car were also quite troublesome and will be replaced with stainless-steel flange-nuts.

Then I noticed that the area at the back of the panel where the exhaust heat had removed the paint was very rusty. When attacking the rust I realised that a small area had deteriorated to the point where welding is needed. :bang:

Whilst the panel was removed I spotted that a somewhat inflexible earthing cable fitted a couple of years ago was looking a bit dodgy where it attached to the engine; so that was replaced with the proper braided strap.

The oil-filter hadn't been cleaned for at least 13,000 miles, maybe more, so it then seemed an appropriate time to do that. It turned out to be pointless, with only a very minimal film of grey silt which could have been safely ignored.:bang:

So I have a bit of de-rusting, welding and painting to do tomorrow before I can think about getting the lighting project on track; I wouldn't bother fitting fog-lights.....it's too much like hard work.:bang:
 
I was hoping to show you a "nice" photo of the lights fitted to the car, but.................................................................

So I have a bit of de-rusting, welding and painting to do tomorrow before I can think about getting the lighting project on track; I wouldn't bother fitting fog-lights.....it's too much like hard work.:bang:

So just another typical day of 500 ownership then.. :)
 
It's getting a bit more complicated than I would like but only because I want to make a reasonably neat and reliable installation.

After considering several locations where I could fit the relays for the lights I decided to use the inside of the control-box whose innards had been removed when I installed an alternator. I insulated the base with a thick sheet of rubber as a precaution against accidental short-circuits with the original terminals which are still at battery voltage. The relays are quite smart as they incorporate a standard blade fuse to cover the load terminal (not fitted in the images); the signal terminals from the reverse switch and foglight switch will be covered by a separate fuse at the front of the car. Despite their advantages, particularly with regard to insulating the terminals from each other, I binned the terminal block for the relays which came ready-wired with "tails" because the factory connectors were pulling out and I didn't fancy the mess of making so many connections to it from the car wiring. There's been some prejudice on this Forum about using crimp connectors, but I find that when you make the connections with care and crimp properly they are really reliable. The control-box gives handy supply point for the relays and the mounting stud is a useful grounding point. There's a big bunch of wires so I bored a matching hole in the side of the box and used one of those giant grommets at the side of the engine bay.

I was able to drill a hole just behind the bumper brackets to allow the wiring for the lights to be concealed. I cut a piece of heatshield for the back of the crossmember to protect the wiring and to maybe avoid the previous corrosion problem which came about when the paint was burned off by the constant heat.

It's not in operation yet because I need to fit some quick-connectors so that the engine cross-member can be easily detached in the future. I also have a bit of wiring to do up front; as said before, not a quick job to do properly.

I know the rear-end has lost the simplicity and tidy lines it should have, but it's good enough for me and the foglight in particular makes me feel much safer.:)
 

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Nice installation, just like all your work. (y)

Not wishing to be a pain, but you did remember to fit warning lights to show when your reversing and fog lights are on. I believe it's the law :devil:
And is the sort of little mod that catches people out at MOT time (for those who still need an MOT). There's switches available with built-in warning lights (like the fog light switch you've shown in post#11) for those who don't want to drill extra holes in their dashboards etc. There's no need for a reverse light warning light if it's operated by a switch on the gearbox.

Al.
 
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Nice installation, just like all your work. (y)

Not wishing to be a pain, but you did remember to fit warning lights to show when your reversing and fog lights are on.

Thank-you Al.

I'm dithering now because I would like to fit an original Fiat toggle switch, partly because I have one and partly because those fancy rockers are a PITA to mount..

The MOT man is never going to bother me again unless the Law changes, but I can't rely on warning lights (and hand signals(n)) from other drivers to tell me the light is still on, so I'll probably wire in a spare Fiat dashboard warning light to remind me that it's on.

Chances are that I'll be using the fog-light quite frequently when technically it's quite marginal that I should do. The Fiat tail light candles are pretty weak (although lovely) compared with modern razzle-dazzle and I do get worried sometimes on gloomy, but not foggy days.
 
I'm finally up and running with the foglight, although I still need a proper connector at the back because the ones I got from eBay turned out to be of the type which fit into computers and the like...much too frail in a Fiat 500 engine-compartment.

The setup hidden well under the dash is pre-patinated because I re-purposed an old warning light off my other Fiat and already chippped the paint on the bracket I made. I didn't realise the dash-lights were also available in pink/orange (faded?). But it's handy to have a different colour from the blue and the green which are standard on my car. The switch is also an old one, which apart from being nice and original, means it didn't cost me anything.:D
 

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An annoying development post-script to this; I had been aware all along that the fog-light in that neat location was very close to the exhaust tailpipe. I had considered making a heat-guard but it looked very fragile and messy.

But there was a definite change to the exhaust sound which I had to tackle for its own sake; it being one of the best things about the Fiat 500. But the fact that the sound was turbulence caused by the light assembly meant that I needed to check for damage or blackening of the lense. Sure enough, the lense is actually starting to melt.....and this is in winter, so it has to come off for safety reasons. :bang:

I'm stumped at the moment trying to find a new location which looks acceptable to me and doesn't involve drilling any new holes in the car. I might have to look at an alternative type of light....modding on hold for a while.:D
 

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........................................ I might have to look at an alternative type of light....modding on hold for a while.:D

Saw the title post and had a feeling of Deja Vu

Look on Fleabay there are some neat bright LED light units...
(can't provide a link because a mate had some on his 7 lookalike and wanted something that was unobtrusive...)

They are more compact so would be further from the exhaust and smaller but giving out the same light.. probably find a reversing light to match....
 
I'm stumped at the moment trying to find a new location which looks acceptable to me and doesn't involve drilling any new holes in the car. I might have to look at an alternative type of light....modding on hold for a while.:D

You have probably considered this? Could you not reverse both lights so they sit above the bumper? I know it would hinder the engine lid opening but if you need to work on the engine you could just take it off completely. My engine lid has never had a nut securing it to the hinges and it hasn’t falllen off in the last 30 odd years! So it just slips off really easily and to be honest if you are doing any work in the engine bay, I would imagine like me you remove it rather than denting you shins every few minutes. It would be simple to do and if it looks odd just look for another solution.

Or alternatively drill some holes on the bottom lip of the bumper so that you can move both light more centrally, so that they are both equi distance apart from the ends of the bumper. Otherwise it will look a bit odd. The only problem I can see with that is they may flap around a bit whilst driving. But if you fabricated a decent bracket and got the tops of the lights butted up to the bumper it should stop that.:rolleyes:

Anyway looks like you’re going to be snowed in, so you’ll have plenty of time on your hands!!!:D
 
You have probably considered this? Could you not reverse both lights so they sit above the bumper? I know it would hinder the engine lid opening but if you need to work on the engine you could just take it off completely.

Anyway looks like you’re going to be snowed in, so you’ll have plenty of time on your hands!!!:D

I couldn't bear drilling into the bumpers and I inspect that engine bay so frequently that any obstruction would do my nut in.:eek:

The primary thing I started this project for was the reversing light and that's OK, so I will live without the foglight for now; the wiring is all in place and works well so eventually, Mr. Right-Foglight will come along.:D.

Incidentally, I also failed on the rear mudflap mod (they are actually designed for the front). The galvanised brackets don't have enough clearance to fit the wheelarch lip and in any case, I didn't like the idea of creating yet another rust-trap.....I'm going to concentrate on polishing and rustproofing for the next few weeks and avoid all this modding stress.:bang:
 
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I've come across similar products and one of them acts as a refelector when not powered. If only there was one which was 50mm square and might replace the existing refelector on the rear lights. :rolleyes:

Now you are getting carried away, next it will be the jet thruster modification allowing you a vertical take off in traffic jams :D:D:D
 
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In the world of competition sport, you've missed the point slightly.

In navigational rallying you need the biggest, brightest LED work light.

That fitted, for events only, with a dash switch, will not only allow you to see where you are going after a wrong slot, but will also allow you to blind any fellow competitor following too closely.

D
 
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