Headlight Wire Tuck - No Cutting - Idiots Guide


Harvey

Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Messages
414
So i've always wanted to do a wire tuck but after looking online there are lots of guides however there doesn't seem to be a guide which involves no cutting, so i decided to do my own idiots guide as i literally started doing stuff to my car with no car knowledge at all.

So to start with I would advise doing the passenger side as it's much easier, honestly I'd recommend doing one side first, then do the other side another day as it is very time consuming, i did it over 2 separate days which made life easier especially as this is my daily.

Also please bear in mind i do not have ABS as it's been removed so you'll need to adapt this if you have ABS.

Tools:
-Socket set
-Lots of electrical tape (I used eBay stuff)
-Wire cutters (only necessary in one section)
-Stanley Knife
-Screwdrivers
-Pliers
-Disposable gloves (this is quite a messy job)

First things first then, remove the side skirt from which ever side you doing, you'll need to remove the three plastic crappy screws underneath, and the 2 screws that are at the front on the arch liner and remember to push towards the front of the car to remove. I also removed the front bumper and the lights. The arches come off with 7x10mm bolts, there is a good guide on youtube on how to do this. Also you'll need to remove the wiper cowl for the driverside, the clips which are closest to the front of the car are a bit weird to work out, basically get the pliers and twist them so the face vertically and you'll have to do this for each clip and then the cowl will lift up. The circular ones need to be removed as well.

Passenger side

I did the passenger side first so remove the battery and battery tray and also remove the fuse box and you'll need access to the wires that go into the bottom of the fuse box. You can unclip the bottom of the fuse box once removing the bolts that hold the box in place, once done place on the inlet to get it out of the way. I also removed the washer bottle as it made life easier.

IMG_5509.jpg


So you should be at this stage now, you'll need to disconnect the headlight loom and put the end attaching to the headlight underneath where the headlight would be for the time being.
Then you'll want to push the wiring which has the headlight and fuse box loom into the car through the firewall. You need to split the wiring, i just cut all the old electrical tape and retaped it once i split the wires. You'll also need to cut the grommet as there is no getting round this. Just cut it right down then middle and place to one side for now. Then you'll want to take the wires for the headlights and push them through the hole where the harness to the door goes, for the passenger side i will admit taking the heater box (the furthest left and middle box) out made it easier to do this. Getting the plug through the door is a bit of a pain but it will go through with some wiggling. Then you'll want to put it through the hole. You will need to cut part of the rubber to make it fit snug once you refit the grommet. Like so...

IMG_5511.jpg


You can also put some silicone here to make sure it doesn't leak, but it shouldn't do. Once you've done this refit the grommet from the firewall and stick some electrical tape round it to close the slit and refit to the firewall, obviously you need to put the fuse box wire through there first unless you're relocating that to the glove box. And to finish up connect the plugs and run them along the top of your inner arch.

IMG_5510.jpg


I also tucked the washer fluid hose, pretty self explanatory so i'll let you figure that out. Then connect the fuse box, and refit lights, etc and make sure everything works and if you want to finish for the day refit the arch, bumper etc.

Driverside

So i did the passenger side a couple of weeks back and decided to do the driverside today. So as before remove the headlight, arch, sideskirt, bumper and the wiper cowl and wipers as need access to the wiper motor. This side is definitely the harder side as there are a lot of more wires, so i also removed my intake, and unbolted the clutch reservoir to make more room. I then unplugged all the plugs so the headlight one, wiper motor, then one to the engine and the 2 that go to the master cylinder. With this side you'll have a lot of ABS wires so you'll need to double check this first. Also with the picture below i have wires already cut that would go to the ABS so please ignore those.

IMG_5647.jpg


As before i removed all the electrical tape and split the wires down to what goes where. Once i did this i pushed the whole lot inside. Once pulled inside i retaped the wires for the headlight and the wiper wires (as i tucked the wiper wires as well) and left the others for the time being. The wiper motor wires do require being cut if you want to tuck them, it's only 5 wires so is very easy to do but it's up to you. Once again pull the wires and plugs through the door harness grommet and cut the rubber at the top to make room for them. At this point you can plug the headlight up and be done with it but i did the wiper motor wires as well.

IMG_5654.jpg


To do the wiper motors, you need to cut the plug off and feed the wire through the long circular hole above and reach round and pull it through to where the wipers are, then rewire it, i just used these plastic plug things which worked fine and then wrapped the plugs in electrical tape.

IMG_5652.jpg


Once both those plugs are reconnected, pull the wires for the engine harness and MC back into the bay, refit the grommet and retape your wires so you should end up with something like this...

IMG_5657.jpg


Then plug that in, refit the headlights etc and make sure everything is working okay and once you've done so and everything works perfectly go ahead and fit the bumper, arch etc etc. Then admire your hard work and you should be left something that looks like the following.

IMG_5659.jpg

IMG_5512.jpg

IMG_5660.JPG


I think that pretty much sums it up, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, if you've found this useful as well then it would be great to know how you got on. Realistically this isn't a particularly hard thing to do, it's just about having patience and thinking before you do. Overall it took me about 5 hours today to do the driverside, but i did not rush it, i took my time and am very pleased with the results.

Thanks for looking :)
 
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:nice: ill be trying this all tho i do have abs , ill have look once i get home to see what would i have to do with the abs

Thanks :nice:
 
If you have ABS and AC the passangers side is alot more difficult, I chose to feed the headlight wiring through the gromets on the wings to be 100% that no water and gunk can get in to the cabin. I never thought about the windscreen wiper though, i may have to give that a go.
 
Cheers guys, will try and sort the pictures out later as they're not working on my work computer.

EDIT: Photo's reuploaded, please let me know if there are any issues.
 
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very nice and straight forward, will be trying this out :)
 
these wires with tape... i don't know if i would trust such wire tuck on my own car :D
 
This is how i put the wires through the wings, Thats will AC, ABS and PS all kept on.

IMG_2079.jpg


drivers side

IMG_2080.jpg


passangers side
 
Just done the wiper motor wire tuck this evening and it can be done without cutting the wires. Just need to de-pin the plug and then feed the 5 wires through were you want them. :nice:
 
Just done the wiper motor wire tuck this evening and it can be done without cutting the wires. Just need to de-pin the plug and then feed the 5 wires through were you want them. :nice:

I got so pissed off whilst trying to de pin it that i just cut them haha.
 
I would advise cutting a hole, Make sure there are no sharp edges!

looks a whole bunch neater

This is my setup

2012+-+1
 
Nice guide Harvey, I'll have to give you a call and come give me a hand with mine :)
 
Its not difficult, just awkward to maneuver yourself inside the car if you don't remove the dash. I only done a semi tuck but that's all i wanted shifted. There is so much more you can relocated and tidy up. :p


before

IMG_0148.jpg





after

picture109.jpg
 
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