Lighting the Glove box

[Ruflyf]

I could not believe there was no factory light in our glove box. And quite frankly the dome or mirror lights just dont cut it. Soo, mod time.

Step 1 was to find suitable lighting for the project. I new I wanted to use white leds because of the low profile, low heat, and they last forever (seems like). I found some accent leds at my local Autozone 2 for about $10. I thought about buying just the led and wiring them myself, but decided against it because i didnt feel like messing with the resistors that are attached.

Step2
Remove the top part of the glove box....very easy to do. The drawer of the box if pressed in on both sides will fold down and out of your way, so you dont even have to remove the glove box drawer. Once you remove the glove box top molding, find the best place to drill your hole(s). The leds I bought had a little black clip around the bulb that worked great for holding the led in place, assuming the correct size hole is drilled. Anyway at this point it should look something like this.



NOTE Be sure not to mount the leds to far back or they wont shine directly into the glove box due to the position of the glove box tray, you will end up lighting up the back of your glove box lol. The position mine are in, seems to be just about right.



Step 3
Wiring was easy, I wired them to the lighter because when the key is off the lighter doesn't work, I dont have to worry about a dead battery, although that would probably take a long time with 2 leds. I chose to use a mercury switch, mostly because I already had one onhand and they can be literally zip tied, taped, etc, in any location or place. The switch was mounted on the side of the glove box drawer, suprisingly there are not many locations that will allow for enough motion to clearly operate the switch in both directions. The end result is the pic below.



This can also be done to the center console cubby hole, which is next on my list, but dont really see a need to list it since its basically exactly the same process.

[WyldWeasel]

That is an awesome mod. Can't wait to try it, and that's a great idea for the console, also. Thanks!

[VehiGAZ]

Well done! About those "accent lights"... what exactly should I ask for @ Autozone?

[Ruflyf]

They are on the isle with all the other colored flourescent lighting for vehicles. I dont have the packaging that they came in anymore, but I do remember it was cardboard backed with molded plastic front (overall package size was probably about the size of a 4 pack of AAA batteries), had 2 leds per pack, and cost around $10. Each led has 2 leads one (-) and one (+). Any type will work as long as its 12v capable. I think just about anything sold in a car parts store will be 12v. If you can find the exact same ones as I did, meaning have the little black retainer ring around the led, just the led by itself will work just as well with a dab of hot glue on the back side. If you get to autozone and he looks at ya confused like, let me know and I'll swing by this one and get a part number for ya.