Steve-O

Not having light under the hood at night can be a pain, some C6's came with the under hood light and some didn't, mine didn't, (the square cutout is there but no fixture with a housing , a bulb and a lens.

I had purchased a cove led lighting kit a few weeks ago, (sold by multiple vendors here). 3 modes, each mode has multiple settings and 2 remotes.

I happened to have 3 extra led strips that I had purchased from J.W. a while back.

Once the cove leds were installed and working, I simply broke the circuit and wired in one of the superbright led strips from J.W. The hood had a few openings in it to allow you to route the wire and conceal it pretty well.

At night the led strip of 5 smd leds is so bright its better than a work light, has very little drain on the battery and it looks coolear put it in the flashing (strobe) mode.

I also patched in a second led strip and ran it to the back of the car to light up the exhaust plate.

So I now have a red superbright led strip in each of the coves but I also have great under hood light and a cool strip that lights up the rear of the car.

willhaveC6

With a little more details on what exactly you purchased and how you installed it. It will help those of us build upon your effort. TIA

Craig

BWF07

LED's are real popular in my area (and I am sure other areas) of Florida for lighting the engine bay area for our nightly cruise-ins. Some people (IMO) go overboard with them, but it is their car their money. I have a Monterey Red Metallic coupe and at first I thought the common red LED's would not work with the Monterey Red, so I went with the white. It was just too bright, so I pull them out and went with the red.

I bought everything I need at Advanced Auto. The Led's the extra wire, the wire loom to conceal the wires and make it look a little more professional. I ran a one strip on the inside of each fender just below where the hood closes.. Two 0ne footers under the wiper cowl on each side of the engine and a small 6" strip on the bottom of the brake master cylinder. I have a custom cover on my fuse box so I mounted the switch on the side of it. All the wiring is enclosed in the wire looms and the LED's draw very little power but really light up the engine bay at night.

I think I have about $125 in it and that includes the white light I started with and remove for the red LED's. Some of the guts I know that had it done spent between $500-$800. Got love the DIY projects.

Steve-O

willhavec6,

Hope these pictures help.

1st pic; led strip above exhaust
2nd pic; under hood led strip not lit
3rd pic; led strip under hood lit up.
4th pic; red leds in coves
.



#2.



#3.


#4.

otobucket.com/albums/cc388/stevemilton/20140212_132526.jpg[/IMG]



#5.

Steve-O

BWF07,

if you want to get rid of the white ones you abandoned, why don't we trade my 2 reds for your 2 whites ?

I have the opposite problem you had. I initially thought the red was the right color but after seeing the white, I'd like to remove the red leds in the coves and change to white primarily for consistency.

Pricewise, I don't know who would spend $500-$800, because even though I didn't go the DIY route, the 2 red strips and the control box and 2 rf transmitters,(GM key fobs) were less than $150, ( i added 2 additional led strips) that included an up charge for superbright leds and the key fobs that control the lights have 3 buttons, #1 is on solid, #2 is flashing, with 8 separate rate of flashes, #3 is a gradient from bright to dim and repeat, also about 8 separate rates and #4 is off.

I like the remotes and the choice of about 20 or more different lighting scenarios.

I am going to put the purge for the nitrous in the coves and the lighting when I purge should be an interesting effect.

willhavec6,

I forgot to address your points about where and how. Various vendors here sell the cove kits, with or without remotes, I know corvettemods and jw both sell led kits, I used corvettemods for the cove kit and I had bought the white strips from jw a while back.

The install is unbelievably easy, there is a power wire with an eyelet to go to the pos battery post, a ground wire,likewise to the negative post, the control box has double sided tape, I attached mine to the side of the fuse box.

The wire runs under the rubber gasket at the cowl below the windshield and if you turn the wheels lock to lock, you can remove 2 -3 screws holding the fender liner and feed the led strip into the coves. Then from outside the coves, you remove the backing of the double sided tape and adhere the strips to a slotted plastic piece, when you look into the coves, you will see the slotted plastic part that the strips adhere to.

Total time, about 45 minutes. Total cost with 2 additional led strips added to the basic kit, it was less than $150.

franman69

Nice.. that should look mean!!

Steve-O

FWIW,

It makes it pretty easy to find at the mall.

willhaveC6

Nice, thanks for the pics and details.

smurfkiller

the hood lamp wiring harness is there in your car. it is located near the hood hinge on the passenger side just use that to power your led strip and you be set very simple. if you really want you could buy a light with the rest of the harness and make your led strip and plug and play deal.

Steve-O

smurfkiller,

thanks for the headsup, I didn't know the harness was there. Turns out it was easy to run the leads for the extra strip of leds. I tied into the cove leds with the remote so I like being able to turn the under hood light on an off.

It was just simple since I had just installed the cove led kit and added the single strip. But for those who just want to add the led strip instead of an under hood lamp, smurfkiller is saving you from having to run the leads from the battery to the led strip and I guess also saving you having to add a switch.