Sunday mornings quick job was to improve the interior lights.
Front interior light
I bought an interior light with maplights from the breakers off a Ford Focus for £3.00. The light was the deeper type and I had to snip out some LR hidden plastic at the front light to exchange it. I have fitted a LED festoon, first I tried a 4 LED type and have now changed for a 6 LED type; its good but im looking for a brighter LED, I'll update when ive found one. The maplights till have standard bulbs because Ford /LR have the polarity opposite to available LED baynet bulbs, i'm going to try unsoldering the LEDs and see if I can reverse them.
This leaves a spare FL interior light.
Loadspace light.
I bought from Dan at Duckworths another ivory light trim for the headlining, same as the passenger roof light.
Its a quick easy job to make a card template before cutting the hole and fitting the new rooflight, just be aware that it has to be well forward to miss the plastic clip holding the headlining. Ive wired it to the existing loadspace LH sidelight and taken the original festoon out. My new lamp also has a 6 LED festoon.





I'm rather pleased with the result, it all looks very original and last night in the dark it did its job!
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Edit 1 March '14, I've fitted LED Festoons to the front and centre light Fizzmo 42mm 35MD LED 264 Canbus error free - very pleased. Ordinary LED festoons glowed when switched off!!!
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Edit 2 Fizzmo have made me a pair of reverse polartity baynet bulbs for the side map lights in the main front light. You can order them direct as 5t4wNP however don't expect to see them on Ebay as they are only made in small batches. They are a b***r to fit as you have to dismantle the lamp and then squeeze them past the chrome reflector. Well pleased with the final result!
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Edit 3 May '14
You order the reverse polarity as special order. They are not listed on their main site either.
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Kind regards from Fred
. 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

Last edited by fredastaire on 3rd May 2014 8:14 pm. Edited 3 times in total

 Foraging near Gaydon....
——————————————
MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

I wonder if at last I've beaten Slanydore and Mav to an update?
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For the Dog owners there is the advantage of using the switch to turn the light off immediate whilst you leave the tailgate open.

Kind regards from Fred 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

I did wonder what to do with the old front interior light when I replaced it with a model with maplights. Now I know.

Nice mod Fred
I might have to have a look in to this, winter coming with the dog in the back,,,,l its a nice mod BETTER looking half of the famous Twinlanders
The wanna be other half - http://www.freel2.com/forum/member-carriec.html

Extra note:-
Just be careful to get the template the right way round to get the switch facing you. One side is straight ; the other has a slight curve AND keep the Stanley knife blade so it only just severs the cardboard headlining top skin as there is a huge wiring harness above where you cut.
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Kind regards from Fred
. 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

Just wondered
1/.if any other members might be tempted with this upgrade?
2/. if anybody can recommend a specific LED, ive fitted a festoon with 6 white/blue dots but wonder if there are brighter ones out there?

kind regards from Fred 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

Fred,

I'm going to do this mod - thanks for the post. I will also run the wiring from the existing load-space light.

Can I ask:

1. Which connector(s) did you use to connect to the 'new' light?
2. Where did you run the wiring from the existing load-space light to the 'new' light?
3. How does the 'new' light fix to the roof?
4. Did you solve the led map light conundrum?

Thanks,

Andy

Thanks for sharing this mod I have the flexible loadspace liner in the back most of the time for the dog, but it does block the boot lights. Having a roof light would be really handy.

I've just ordered the interior light with maplights off ebay.

If you're going to do this bear in mind that a light there, right in the doorway, is going to be very vulnerable. My Forester had a central light in the boot area, a bit further back and so in principle less vulnerable, and it was always getting knocked when loading large items. Eventually the cover broke. A bit further into the car, or in the pillars either side, might be a better location for additional lighting if you actually use the loadspace.

Answer for Le Bouch
It's a long time since I installed! I think that the top connectors are standard 1/4 Lucar spade connectors. The wiring I used some two core cable of automotive multicore strand. Tuck the wiring behind the headling and side roof pillar plastics, use PVC tape to secure it to the steel. At the old boot light I eased the side panel out to reach the original light cable and used Scotchlocks to make the connection.
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And in reply to the other post above I havnt risked damaging my headlining so my light is fully intact.
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Kind regards from Fred 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

Thanks Fred!

I did also consider mounting a light on the horizontal part of the side wall of the boot, above the present light's position. I haven't been able to find a suitable one - it needs to fix to the flat surface next to the rear window but shine into the boot. There area couple of DLR designs which would do it but I fear they'd be way too bright!

I can't use the side wall mounting idea that others have as I use a fabric boot liner which would cover it up.

Quote:

I did also consider mounting a light on the horizontal part of the side wall of the boot, above the present light's position. I haven't been able to find a suitable one

Quote:

I havnt risked damaging my headlining so my light is fully intact.

Hi Pab, your comments are fine. The beauty and fun of this forum is that everybody gets a chance to comment. It all helps each other to their own considered opinion.
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My FL keeps on getting covered in mud and that will upset the cleaning and detailing types!!
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Kind regards from Fred

Hi Fred,

Further to our PM correspondence and posts on here I have purchased the part you called the "light trim" from Dan at Duckworth's and the LR description of it is " Frame-Interior Lamp" Part No.(Ivory) LR 0008822.

Looking at the light unit in front of me on my desk. you are correct that the connectors are standard Lucar, but note that with the switch nearest to you (the straight side) that the +ve connector is the left hand one.

Bill Life Honorary Member of Wallasey Motor Club.
Licenced MSA Radio Operator for 35+ years.
Rallying is the only sport.