zjrog

I recently decided to pull the pin on the light grenade. First, I HATE HATE HATE stock lighting. And ZJ lights are just horrible. I've been through a lot of bulbs over the years and Silverstars are OK, but I always want more. I'm not a fan of always running my foglights just to feel like I'm lighting the road in front of me. I never understood why Jeep had the foglights ABOVE the bumper.

I moved them under the bumper a couple years ago where they work SOOO much better. Funny thing, the foglights on my Jeep sit higher than the headlights on my Neon...

But back to my original thought, I recently did the 9004 to 9007 swap. But I wasn't as happy with that swap as I had been with my old 1987 Caravan. I found out about something new thanks to friends on Facebook. LED technology is pricey and I want to see someone else get some first. But I also found out about something called Solux Technology and decided to give them a shot. $40 later, same as Silverstars, and I had some shiny new bulbs to try.

9007 Silverstar left, 9004 Solux middle and 9004 basic bulb right. No, the bulbs are all the same size, the 9004 looks bigger thanks to my bad photography. Quick answer, I will never ever buy Silverstar bulbs again. The Solux bulbs give me a better light at low beam, but are so much better than Silverstars for high beam. Turns out, if you look on Amazon and search for your type of bulb and Eico, they are cheaper... And worth every penny. Still, I want more. Never satisfied, and once the lighting monster bites, too much is never enough... Perhaps its time for some Euro housings. And a HID projector retrofit.

So, with the headlights about at their limits, its time to use the Harbor Freight KC knockoffs I've had for a couple years. I always meant to build a front bumper for... Oh well.

So two weeks ago I called Mark at Detours USA. Had a great conversation after accidentally hanging up on him twice. Lucky for me, he had a pair of A pillar brackets in stock, so I wouldn't have to wait for him to build a set. The link shows XJ brackets, but call him and ask for ZJ pieces and he will work with you. A few days later, I had them in hand and took them to work to paint them. And today, I got them installed and wired up the HF lights.



I used self drilling screws, but will replace them with cheese head Phillips screws and hope the weatherstripping lays better. Might be an issue when going doorless next summer. At highway speeds, I nearly lost the door weatherstripping. I need to finds a better way to hold that down along the light brackets. THese wound up feeling a lot more solid than I expected. Mark at Detours was careful to remind me not to use too long of screws so I wouldn't break my windshield. So I used 1/2" deep screws on the sides and 3/4" on the top.


I think they look pretty good. Although, I did have to cut 1/2" from the mounting bolt so the windshield wouldn't get broken.



I mounted the brackets higher than I wanted to, but I also wanted to minimize light glare off the hood. Mark leaves where you mount them entirely up to you.


About 20' from the garage door. With the fog lights I have up front and close well covered. 9004 Solux bulbs are better than Silverstars, and give me a great low beam, better high beam. And now with the Harbor Freight lights on the A pillars, I have a better distance vision. Lights need better aiming, there is a slope to my driveway. Absolutely can't use these on the street. But cruising the open highway with too much light is pretty cool. Good thing there wasn't any oncoming traffic.

I was going to mount the LED 5" lights I got from a guy locally recently. I need to fab something to fit them to the stock ZJ foglight brackets. The LEDs almost work on them, but are just a bit too close to the grill and would be aimed too low to do any good.

But I'm looking forward to having them on the front of the ZJ and in place of foglights on my Neon.

zjrog

Just a teaser for my Neon lighting project..


Yes, I designed a pushbar for my Neon so I could add lights.


I used the ZJ to compare the 12" 15* spot LED to the 8" Procomp lights. A 30" bar might come close to the Procomps. And to compare against the 6" Harbor Freight lights. Results soon.