HOW TO: Install Fog Lamps on your Versa (Not 56k Friendly)

[Clipsed]

Well ladies and gents, here is a do-it-yourself How To on installing some fogs on your car. Weather or not you choose to go this route, or use the general idea of how I did this is up to you. Please excuse the poor picture quality as I did not have my regular camera, and had to use my 1.2 crappypixel camera phone.

I ended up using the factory mounting spots with Blazer Black projector fog lamps that I bought at Auto Zone for $39.99+tax, they ended up being a darn good fit after they were installed!

On to installing!

First go and grab the items you see in the pic.



Basically a wire coat hanger bent straight. A dremel, or something similar to cut and sand. 120 grit sand paper for the dremel, and a spiral cutter for the dremel. An assortment of screwdrivers phillips and flat head. A panel popper. A 10 mm wrench. Zip Tie assortment. Drill Bit assortment. Wire cutters, strippers, and crimpers. A drill. A Digital Multi-Meter. And not pictured, an assortment of wire crimp caps, spade caps, and f-f caps. And some electrical tape.

Start off by popping out the original fog lamp finishers with your panel popper wrapped in a cotton cloth or micro fiber towel. Start on the outside side of the bumper for the left and right, and once popped out there, you can gently pull with your hand. Take care when doing this as not to stress the bumper and paint, and as not to scratch the paint.

Photos of left and right side of bumper with fog lamp finishers removed.

Now we have space to work with!

Take those finishers, and drill a 1/4 inch hole in the center of the dimple. Now with your spiral cutter attached to your dremel cut out the dimple of where the fog lamp should be. Cut the general area out, but don't try to be exact, because it won't work. Your dremel will want to kick back at you, but be aggresive and don't let it, it is plastic so hold er' tight and cut her up!

Here are pics of how the process should go

Original on the left, finished one on the right, this is how to do it. . .

Original finisher

Drill your 1/4 inch hole in center

Cut with your spiral cutter in the general shape

Now with your 120 grit sanding attachment, sand to your pref. I sanded to where the about 1/8" flat circle was. Should look like this after you finish.

It is going to be rough, the sander will melt the plastic at high speed, and cool back to the fog lamp finishers, not to worry, clean it up with another slow pass to get up most all of the left overs.

Finish it off with your hands to clean up the hole, I used my nails to perfect it.

Both should look the same when finished.

Now we want to head down and start our wiring before installing the lamps. I would recommend if you need extra wire to use 14AWG wire. Grab your wire hanger and bend it straight with a slight bend, approx 10*. We are going to use it to push through the firewall grommet.

Push the hanger through underneath the driver side above and left of the brake pedal.

Now the hard part is getting that hanger to show through to the other side. You have to have it bent very slightly. When you push through the grommet get the wire as close to the wires as possible w/o it being so close it could mess them up, and push it through. You are going to hear it punture the rubber which is ok. Keep manuvering the hanger around until it has only about 8 inches or so still showing inside the cabin, and go check outside for the hanger under the hood. It should show up in the following place (see pic) If not continue with trial and error, eventually you will get it, as it took me a while to even figure out what things I was getting stuck on!

Once that is through, wrap the wire in electrical tape from top to bottom, tape it to the hanger, and pull back through into the cabin.

Once I got here, I decided to figure out where to mount my switch and decided at the bottom near the hood and gas release hatches. You are going to need wire for the ground on your switch, IF you have a lighted switch, if not skip that and move on. The ground you can grab from behind the fuse box panel at the screw circled in red (see pic) You can also see in the pic where I mounted the switch mount that came with the fog lamps.

I didn't happen to take pics of the next step, because I forgot to, but you will need a add-a-fuse mini to plug up in your fuse box for a new power source for your fogs. Grab it from the power socket fuse, hook up your splitter, and fuse the 15 amp fuse back, and your fogs with a 10 amp. (LEAVE THE FOGS UNFUSED UNTIL INSTALL IS COMPLETED!)

When installed and all cleaned up, it will look like this.

next we need to run the wires for the fogs.

I attached the main splitter on the top in between the battery, and headlamp with zip ties to another wire.

Figure out how much you are going to need to extend your wires, as more than likely they will need to be extended.

Splice em, dice em, crimp em, and wrap them up in electrical tape from top to bottom.

Next we need to remove the black cover outlined in red in the pic.

With a screwdriver, get between the notch and the head of the black plastic holders, and slightly push up, they will pop up, and remove them with your hand, careful not to break them, and put them in a safe place. Pull the cover off, and set it aside.

With that cover now off we gain access underneath to run our wires. They should by now be wrapped in electrical tape, and if not do that now from top to bottom. Make sure the run from the bottom is hanging out of the fog lamp hole, and wire up your grounds.

I grabbed grounds from screws at the top of the engine bay, one was where the engine ground it self is, and opposite side of that, you will know what I mean when looking at your engine bay.

run the wire across and zip tie where the original harness is. You can see where this is in the pic, along the red line.

once run and connected, we can cover it back up, and clean up the engine bay.

Now we want to mount the fogs, figure out where they will mount the best, as this is kind of hard to explain, but figure the mounting points, test with the covers, and get your screws and screwdriver to mount them.

Testing it

Once the holes are there, take the double sided tape, and put it on the back of the fog bracket with holes in the tape.

With the fog lamp loosely attached to the bracket, place the bracket to the mounting point, and screw it down.

If it is dark enough, before putting your fog lamp finishers back on, you can adjust the aiming of the light first, if not you will have to do it later.

Do the same for the other fog lamp, and you are finished, wire it all up, and test them out.

Here are some pics of mine after I finished.

There you have it, good luck, and enjoy having some new fogs!!!

[weems84]

Nice work, fogs look pretty good. Are those the stock headlights or are they changed? They look brighter in the last 3 pics.

[Clipsed]

thanks for the compliment, but no those are my stock lights, quite bright yes I know. Can't wait until I get some time and money to do an HID conversion unless someone makes some projector lamps.

[Ever Victorious]

Oh yeah, this puppy is worthy of a sticky! Great job, man!

[Clipsed]

WHY THANK YOU! lol, yea Nissan, well the parts guy told me today that they are not expecting the fogs anytime soon, so he estimated summer to fall. Am I now worthy of a custom title? hehe
Modified by Clipsed at 8:57 PM 2/8/2007

[Big-Bird]

Clipsed:

Nice article and I see this having applcations on some of the other models Nissan makes that have a similar nose design.

IE: 2004 and newer Quest, 2007 Sentra. In fact I might attempt that project on my 2004 Quest. Keep up the helpful tips!

[Clipsed]

Thanks Big-Bird, I am happy to know that this article has helped with more than just the Versa. Good luck with the quest, if you have questions, feel free to ask as I am sure I could probably answer them.

[sickversa]

Great job on the install and thanks for the pics and info I have a question for you. What exactly is a panel popper and where do you get one? Can I use another tool to remove the fog lamp covers? Also how exactly do you remove the covers? From behind? Underneath? Are they held in by those push clips? I bought a nice set of multi color fog lights on E-bay that are plug and play. You basically hook up the power, ground the wires and route the wiring and relay neatly. My second question is about running the switch inside the cabin. It's a pretty good size switch and won't fit through a samll hole and it has several little wires inside so I wouldn't want to cut it. Do you have any advice? Basically the longest part of the job looks like cutting out the covers so they look nice and fit correctly. Thanks ahead of time for the info.....

[Clipsed]

Great job on the install and thanks for the pics and info I have a question for you. What exactly is a panel popper and where do you get one? Can I use another tool to remove the fog lamp covers? Also how exactly do you remove the covers? From behind? Underneath? Are they held in by those push clips? I bought a nice set of multi color fog lights on E-bay that are plug and play. You basically hook up the power, ground the wires and route the wiring and relay neatly. My second question is about running the switch inside the cabin. It's a pretty good size switch and won't fit through a samll hole and it has several little wires inside so I wouldn't want to cut it. Do you have any advice? Basically the longest part of the job looks like cutting out the covers so they look nice and fit correctly. Thanks ahead of time for the info.....

Hey it is no problem, I do these like this all of the time, and get paid to do it, may as well spread the info so that others can do it them selves too! But a panel popper is a special tool designed to fit in between panels, and squeeze the plastic clips holding the panel on to get them off without breaking them, it is slightly curved at the end to allow you to get leverage on popping the panels and other things off too. If you look at the picture of the tools required, it is the yellow handled tool inbetween the screwdrivers on the left hand side of the picture. You can buy one at sears, I believe they carry a brand that makes panel poppers, I can't remember off of the top of my head, and I am at work right now and can not look in my favorites. I will get back to you on that as there is a couple of web sites you can order them from.

The Fog lamp finishers get removed from the front of the car, I know I didn't get a chance to take pics of this very key step, but let me break it down hopefully a little bit better than previously stated. Basically with your panel popper, wrap it in a micro fiber cloth (recomended) or a 100% cotton cloth (a lil thicker and harder to fit in) Starting with the outermost part of the finished (the outside, not near the middle of the bumper) insert the panel popper near the top, and CAREFULLY pry it out wards gently, try not to put leverage into it, but instead press against the tool towards the finisher to help release the clips holding it in place. If you force the tool toward the bumper, you will stress the plastic bumper and ruin your paint with stress marks. Once the top half is released, do the bottom half using the same steps as the top. The finisher will be released on the outside edge but not the inside, you can then stick the panel popper in to move it so that you can get your hands in there and gently pull straight forward, straight so as not to break the plastic clips. I will try to get some pics and show this in better detail tomorrow morning as by the time I get off work it will be dark.

As for routing your wiring, I am not too sure how the wiring on your lamps looks like, is it all connected, heat shrinked, and taped up? If so you can still cut it to be able to get the wires through the firewall. If you can take a pic so that I can see exactly, I can help you out in more detail, and edit the pic to show you exactly how to accomplish that.

Yea once you cut out the holes in the fog lamp finishers, it is pretty straight forward, just time consuming to do it RIGHT and make it look clean and factory. The dealer asked me who did my install on my fogs and system, when I said I did the tech was shocked as to how clean and factory "looking" it was. Like I said I will get some better pics now that I am borrowing someones camera and post the pics up.

Get back to me so that I can help you out.

[Clipsed]

So what is the status Sick Versa, do you need those pics?

[versa6spd]

yo post up thos pics with the nicer camera would ya? nice install by the way!

[Clipsed]

ok do that first thing tomorrow since it is already 8 o'clock and dark here.

[Clipsed]

yo post up thos pics with the nicer camera would ya? nice install by the way!

Here are some pics I snapped, if there are any specific pics that you would like to see, let me know and I will get them posted for ya!

[sickversa]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you, been out of town and very busy. Haven't had a chance to do the fogs yet as it's been rainy and cold lately. Still need to figure out how to get the switch in the cabin. Can you send me your e-mail address so I can send you some pics of my fog lights? Thanks for the help with this......

[Clipsed]

sent an e-mail to you on [email protected] account.

[hradak]

clipsed, I've been trying to find that firewall hole (from the cockpit) but I can't. Any chance you would have a better picture? I'm trying to pass a battery wire from a powered subwoofer.nice install by the way!

[Clipsed]

clipsed, I've been trying to find that firewall hole (from the cockpit) but I can't. Any chance you would have a better picture? I'm trying to pass a battery wire from a powered subwoofer.nice install by the way!

Sorry about that hradak, I didn't notice the post got bumped up, because for some reason my yellow annotations only work when they want to, and I guess it wasn't your lucky day when you posted. Anywho, I will get a pic for you today and post it a lil later, as I do not have a great pic showing the whole area.

Thanks for the compliment!

[Jun_alejandria]

You did an excellent job with the instructions and the pics served it's purpose. One question though, are your fog lights slightly smaller than the cut-out from the plastic finishers? On some of the pics I can seen the mounts or bracket on the back of the lights....Excellent job, wish I could hire you to install my fog on my Versa, as well as my daugther's Versa.

[Clipsed]

didnt get around to that pic today as my mom is very sick and I have been keeping an eye on her today, but as for your question Jun, yes they are a lil shorter than the hole, but just as wide, the reason I had them touch the bottom is because if you look at them standing they look perfect, it is only when you lower down to that level the pics were taken do you actually notice they are a tad bit smaller, and we are talking about 3/4 of an inch smaller which is not bad. the light output is worth having that lil gap, because it is a projector and makes the light brighter than it actually is, and spreads it out much better.

[Clipsed]

ok so here is that pic, sorry but it is with my camera phone, but atleast my new camera phone is 2 mp, looks a whole lot better!!



Hope that helps, the hole is where the blue and black wires disappear lolz.

[Jun_alejandria]

ok Clisped, I want to pick your brain here....What would be the diameter of fog light should I get. 3 1/2" or 4"? Are the lights mounted with screws, and can I hook up the wiring to the headlights so they both turn on and off at the same time and not have to worry about a separate switch? Where did you get your fog lights? Sorry for all the Q's and hope your mom is feeling better...

[Clipsed]

The hole diameter of the finisher is 3", my fog lights are 3"x2 1/4", and yes they can be mounted with screws, and yes they can be hooked up to your headlights, hell you can hook em up only if the doors are locked, ac is on, and your seatbelt is fastened if you wanted but why would you do that??? but yes pretty much anything is possible to connect it to, I personally have mine wired to the accessory power so that when I turn my car on the fogs are powered, when I turn the car off, the fogs shut off. I got my fog lights at Auto Zone for $39.99 which it says in the very begining of the post. Thanks about hoping my mom feels better, I thought she was still not feeling better, but she just left as I am writing this with her friend so she must be fine haha. Anymore questions, feel free to ask.

[Jun_alejandria]

Hello Clipsed, Do you have a pic of how you popped the plastic finisher? Can I use a different tool other than the panel popper? I getting ready to install my fog lights I bought. Any help or pics are appreciated.

[Clipsed]

Hello Clipsed, Do you have a pic of how you popped the plastic finisher? Can I use a different tool other than the panel popper? I getting ready to install my fog lights I bought. Any help or pics are appreciated.

I sure don't have a pic, I mean you could use a screwdriver, but you really risk messing up your bumper. Go out to a hardware store and ask for a tack puller, as that is esentially what it is. It is well worth the >$5. When you do it, please make sure to wrap it in a thin cotton towel or rag, microfibers work the best IMO, but an old ripped t-shirt would work too. gently pull straight out, and when you pop out the outer side first, you can use your hands with one hand to the back side, and gently but firmly pull straight out and pop out the other side.

Good luck and feel free to ask more questions.

[remiasz]

do you void your warranty by installing fog lights?

[Clipsed]

do you void your warranty by installing fog lights?

No, you will only void it if your installation somehow messes up other things, say it gets a short, and messes up you BCM, then it voids your electrical warranty.

[evil200000000]

can someone please tell me where the fuse for the fog light is supposed to go? plz show a pic. Thanks.

[Clipsed]

scroll back up buddy, there are pics there. It goes in your fuse box on the driver side near your knee.

[evil200000000]

my kit doesn't come with a fuse. It comes with a switch, relay, all the wires and the fog lights. There's a blue little thing with it also. not sure what that is. It looks like a clip. According the the manual, it tells me to hook it up to the headlight circuit for power source. I'm not sure which one is the low beam wire. Would you be able to tell me cuz i dont have a circuit tester and also how do i hook it to the battery? I got this kit.

[Clipsed]

looks like you picked up one of those cheapy $5-$10 blazer knock off fog assemblies. Basically your headlight bulb has three prongs on it if you look at it, the left prong being high beam, middle being low, and the right being your ground.