97-01 XJ - Trimming the bumper end caps / facia and relocating auxiliary lighting

[Kevin108]

As I've wheeled my XJ, I've learned quickly that the air dam and the fog light area under the front bumper basically makes contact and gets hung up on everything. My plan was to trim the air dam and bumper end caps as far up as I could and to mount some aftermarket lights on the bumper.

The stock end cap, as the project began.

I noticed that the top of the fog light opening is a good straight line I can base my cuts off of.

Cutting it free hand would have been close enough but I'm a carpenter by trade so things have to be straight and symmetrical for me. I played around with some tape and other things and finally came up with this. It's a jig that holds the pencil at a set height so that I could mark an even line all the way around what I needed to cut.

The caps are flat on top so I worked them upside down. I aligned it to the top of the factory fog light opening and carried that line straight across and all the way around.

I dressed the cuts with a Dremel before I reinstalled the caps.

And this is what I wound up with.

A little measuring, a little drilling, a little wire stripping, a little soldering and a little heat shrink.

I was able to reuse the factory wiring completely. All I had to do was flop it over inside of the "frame rails" and down behind the grille. The new lights operate off the factory fog light switch.

The cheap lights I used made things more difficult than they should have been but all said and done, I am delighted with how they turned out. I removed 4" of plastic from under the front bumper and the new lights provide much more usable light than the factory fogs did.

 

[casm]

That's a really nice job. I've got the tow hooks and fog lights up there as well, and have thought of doing the same job but couldn't quite figure out a good way of getting the end caps cut straight. Thanks for the tip

One question for you, though:

What's the wire that appears to be dangling from behind the tow hook? It almost looks like it could be for one of the fogs, but doesn't have the connector on the end of it.

 

[Kevin108]

It's a keeper for the hook. It's a thin metal tab that bolts in with everything else. Once you place your strap in, it's under spring tension and keeps the strap inside the hook.

 

[fyrfytr1717]

Nice job on the trim. Looks clean. Be careful running those aftermarket lights on your factory fog switch if they are any more powerful than the OEM fogs. The fog light switch is notorious for failing (even with the OEM fog lights) as the factory wiring is set up in such a way that it supplies power directly from the switch to the fogs instead of through a relay as it should be done.

One question for you, though:

What's the wire that appears to be dangling from behind the tow hook? It almost looks like it could be for one of the fogs, but doesn't have the connector on the end of it.

I think what you are looking as is the retainer clips for the tow hooks. They simply keep the tow strap from falling off the hook when it is not under tension. Can be seen much more clearly in this pic:

 

[casm]

Looking at it again with the explanations, that makes perfect sense. I'm guessing those are aftermarket hooks; I've got the factory ones and they don't have retainers, hence the confusion. Thanks, guys

 

[Kevin108]

Yep, C4x4 hooks. I was running 100w bulbs in the factory fogs. The new lights are only 55w so hopefully I'll be okay.

 

[sbxj]

those tow hook retainers are nice to have..at least until they rust away..haha
You did a good job of cutting but I would rather lift and not cut away my bumpers, flares, etc

 

[Kevin108]

Yeah, they either rust away or break off after you bend them too far too many times. The cutting is just a free mod. I'm not sure if I'll ever lift or not.

 

[anthrax323]

You did that far, far cleaner than I did mine. My first cuts with a new Rotozip and universal bit were done on my actual fenders... Needless to say, it takes a moment to figure out how to keep the thing moving slowly, and straight.

Looks good man.

 

[Kevin108]

Thanks! I used one of these from Harbor Freight. JP and Fourwheeler mags regularly have coupons to get them for $10. http://www.harborfreight.com/high-speed-metal-saw-91753.html