Finishing the look – Hella’s

September 2016.

When I initially mentioned to Dad that I was going to get a winch and plate bumper, he had two questions for me.

How's that going to be for your gas mileage?
You gonna get some more lights? Hella's or PIAA's?

Little did he know that I'd already purchased some Hella 500's, and they were sitting in the dining room collecting dust. I mean, who wouldn't buy some Hella's, knowing that a new bumper was coming in 6 months, right? Plus, they were a great deal on Amazon (well, they were the same price as always).

I ignored the first question. It was irrelevant. Obviously.

With the armor on, and the garage big enough to house the truck again, I set about installing the Hella's. This was going to be easy - they come with all the wires necessary to wire them up, and so it's just a matter of installing the switch, placing the relay and fuses under the hood, and bolting on the lights. 2 hours tops.

Or 8 hours. You know, when you round up.

Most of the install went smoothly. I found the perfect place to mount the relay and fuses under the hood (a pre-threaded 6mm 1.0 hole), I got the dash disassembled (again) and switch installed with relatively little fuss (though, in a different place than I'd originally envisioned on the dash), and most of the wiring was easy (but took some time to push through smurf tubes and route. But man, getting the lights mounted on the bumper - that's where I ran into trouble.

In the end, everything worked out, the install is pretty clean; and the truck looks pretty great. Now I just have to decide - is it time for an accessory fuse/relay panel under the hood? That could keep things clean for mods to come.

I don't really need it.

But that doesn't mean I don't want it.