Mod-Wise Boot Opening and Light Kit
Well another day and another Mod-Wise kit to fit, after this I should have the ability to open the boot from the outside, without having to put the keys in the ignition and press the button under the dashboard, and I should be able to see in the boot at night!!
Here's how I went about it:
Fitting the relay to the boot actuator. This was a matter of pulling up the carpet in the boot to the right hand side of the boot catch (as you look at the car from the rear) and finding the wires that feed the boot latch actuator, here are mine (picture taken from inside the boot looking backwards, the light pod is the off-side rear):
Now attach the wires with the supplied clips, and I've also taped the relays in place with good old duck tape!
Now it's a matter of feeding the door micro-switch and it's wire around the boot, again I used little strips of duck tape to keep it in place, and fed the switch over the near side wheel arch and through to the passenger door lock actuator. This was the trickiest bit of the job, getting the micro-switch to work consistently when attached to the lock mechanism, I had to very gently bend the long switch arm so it stayed in place when the lock mechanism was moved between the locked and un-locked positions, also at this time I tapped into the live purple wire that heads to the interior light:
Right now to sort out the reed switches and the LED lights in the boot, first the reed switch for the boot. I decided to put this through a hole I found under the boot catch plate. I had to enlarge it slightly but then it enabled me to put the reed switch through and have it behind the number plate:
As you can probably just make out from the picture the wire is held in the hole by duck tape, who invented this stuff? They deserve a medal!! Right, so after checking that it was working it was time to fit the light reed switch, I fed the wire up the off-side side of the boot and placed the reed switch on the bracket, putting the magnet on the rod that holds the boot open (I can't for the life remember what it's called) I was able to activate the switch when the boot opened:
Fitting the LEDs was straight forward again, just a matter of feeding the wires around to where you want the lights to be and using the small magnets behind the carpet attach the light in front of the carpet. I placed one, as shown, under the off-side rear wing, the other had to be placed on the rear panel facing forward because the wire wasn't long enough to reach to the near-side wing. Let there be light:
All that there was left to do now was to hide the magnet somewhere on the key fob so I could use it to gain access to the boot, I had the idea of putting it in the remote blipper like so:
Which was all well and good for a few days then the blipper stopped working! Taking the magnet out made it start again! Coincidence? I don't think so! At the moment the magnet is just clinging to the key fob until I find it a permanent home!
Here's how I went about it:
Fitting the relay to the boot actuator. This was a matter of pulling up the carpet in the boot to the right hand side of the boot catch (as you look at the car from the rear) and finding the wires that feed the boot latch actuator, here are mine (picture taken from inside the boot looking backwards, the light pod is the off-side rear):
Now attach the wires with the supplied clips, and I've also taped the relays in place with good old duck tape!
Now it's a matter of feeding the door micro-switch and it's wire around the boot, again I used little strips of duck tape to keep it in place, and fed the switch over the near side wheel arch and through to the passenger door lock actuator. This was the trickiest bit of the job, getting the micro-switch to work consistently when attached to the lock mechanism, I had to very gently bend the long switch arm so it stayed in place when the lock mechanism was moved between the locked and un-locked positions, also at this time I tapped into the live purple wire that heads to the interior light:
Right now to sort out the reed switches and the LED lights in the boot, first the reed switch for the boot. I decided to put this through a hole I found under the boot catch plate. I had to enlarge it slightly but then it enabled me to put the reed switch through and have it behind the number plate:
As you can probably just make out from the picture the wire is held in the hole by duck tape, who invented this stuff? They deserve a medal!! Right, so after checking that it was working it was time to fit the light reed switch, I fed the wire up the off-side side of the boot and placed the reed switch on the bracket, putting the magnet on the rod that holds the boot open (I can't for the life remember what it's called) I was able to activate the switch when the boot opened:
Fitting the LEDs was straight forward again, just a matter of feeding the wires around to where you want the lights to be and using the small magnets behind the carpet attach the light in front of the carpet. I placed one, as shown, under the off-side rear wing, the other had to be placed on the rear panel facing forward because the wire wasn't long enough to reach to the near-side wing. Let there be light:
All that there was left to do now was to hide the magnet somewhere on the key fob so I could use it to gain access to the boot, I had the idea of putting it in the remote blipper like so:
Which was all well and good for a few days then the blipper stopped working! Taking the magnet out made it start again! Coincidence? I don't think so! At the moment the magnet is just clinging to the key fob until I find it a permanent home!
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