2003 hood light?

lrymal · June 21, 2003

Soooo, we complain about the removal of the hood light for the '03 models. Such a cheap thing. But, removing that light, which wholesales out for probably $5 tops, * several thousand trucks made world-wide, and the General may have saved 1/2 a million buckeroos or so....

Soooo, with that said, and if you really want that light, you'll be pleasantly surprised that the mounting holes for that light exist on the '03 hood, under the noise mat.

I picked one up at the local junk yard for a buck and it is totally undamaged. Alas, no wiring harness and harness strain relief. No biggie, I can find that at the dealer or parts.direct.

Anyway, if you want the light, you can indeed purchase one and the mounting holes are there. Just cut a hole in the mat to expose the holes.

In a way, I find this amazing since the '03 Chevy hood is redesigned over the previous years.

MountaineerTom · June 21, 2003

Cool.

And heres where the wiring harness lead too. I didn't split open the plastic loom to see see how many wires went to that main harness, but I would imagine just a couple. They lead to that harness, which leads to that plug. I would guess it's just tapped into something with constant power.

lrymal · June 21, 2003

Yeah, I traced that out at work. One of our '02s was near and I was able to compare. Once I get the harness, things should go together pretty quickly.

greyghost03 · June 21, 2003

lrymal - thanks for the info! Let us know how the entire proj goes. I would like to do this as well.

BTW- new grille looks good! New pic looks awesome!

lrymal · June 21, 2003

lrymal - thanks for the info! Let us know how the entire proj goes. I would like to do this as well.

BTW- new grille looks good! New pic looks awesome!

Thanks for the compliments!!!

The sig photo is a bit large, although I compressed the heck out of it in Photoshop for dial-up users. If I get it smaller, then the grill doesn't display well. Anyway, I'm very pleased with the grill but it took a long time to get the thing to align right with the surrounding plastics.

The light project should "boringly" go together pretty quickly and hopefully will appear factory after I get the factory harness and strain piece.

Victory Red · June 21, 2003

Besides just being a cool pic, there was another reason for this side by side... It was easier to see what parts I needed for the new truck that I could "borrow" from the old one. The underhood light being one of them...

lrymal · June 21, 2003

Oh, that hurts..... That hurts bad. Suddenly, that hood light seems very insignicant.

lrymal · June 21, 2003

Ok, y'all. Got it done. I'd show pictures, but it would look just like an '02's hood light setup. The hookup was the most diffiult part. The '02's wiring disappears into the bundle of wires as shown in the earlier message. That's the background for this story...

The first wire that I hooked up was one for the ground. I tied into the wire that bolts into the hood by the hood light. I just got an eyelet connector and did a proper job of hooking in there.

For the positive wire, I snaked a wire through the jacket of the same negative wire since that's how this hook for the '02 is done.

Soooo, the negative was hooked up. Where to feed the positive???? I looked in the bundle of wire, sampled voltages and couldn't really get anything. Plus the same area has a yellow wire which I'm always scared to touch since this might be tied to the airbag circuit. Not sure on that, but I don't like taking chances.

The most obvious solution, at least for me, was to snake my positive wire all the way to the + jumper cable access close to the alternator. There's certainly a better solution, but this was the easier and quickest for me. After dressing things up with tie-wraps, it looks just like a factory hook up.

The light shines brightly and goes off as the hood is lowered. When the hood goes up all the way, the light comes back on.

Awesome! Will I ever have a need for this? Probably not. But it just bugs me I never had one.

Next project: floor lamps. Heck, even my Pontiac Grand Am has floor lamps! I want floor lamps!!!!

GnatGoSplat · June 22, 2003

What floor lamps are you talking about?

lrymal · June 22, 2003

What floor lamps are you talking about?

Lighting that shines on the floor when you open the door. My Grand Am had three options for interior illumination: floor, overhead, or both. When I get some "umption" to do it, I want to at least rig up something for the floor.

Tungsten · June 22, 2003

I noticed that on my 03, Kinda pissed me off. Oh well. Your grille and fender flares look great! Thats the grille I suggested to you right?

lrymal · June 22, 2003

I noticed that on my 03, Kinda pissed me off. Oh well. Your grille and fender flares look great! Thats the grille I suggested to you right?

Ah, the flairs! You can save a fortune---literally---by buying them from these guys on eBay. Not sure where they get them since mine came in a sealed GM box.

The billet grille is definitely the one from Carriage Works. Hey, I'm happy with it, but I do have a "negative" review. grinnn. THE REVIEW:

This is one of those things that one needs to see in person as opposed to making decisions via magazine photos and websites. You really got to work it to get everything to line up right, for either the cover grille or the cut-out grille. I think both grilles are the same, just that there are different mounts.

As you install, you'll fight getting all the horizontal pieces to line up with the OEM grille's plastic frame. It is almost impossible so you have to work it, work it, work it. It is terrible to have a very discriminatory eye.

Secondly, I'm not that impressed with the finish. You have the shiney finish facing you and black elsewhere. Sometimes the black creeps past the "boundary" onto the shiney part.

And finally, the shiney part is not perfectly flat. You don't really notice that until you back off from the vehicle and notice occassional "ripples", especially when the sun hits the front of the truck.

These are issues that if they were GM's factory parts, I would have gone to my dealer and complained. I am so danged particular on my modifications and have always spent enough time that the mods appear "factory" rather than a modification, if you know what I mean.

I think that if I were to do it all over again, I would have NOT done it, waiting for the market to catch up with some better quality aftermarket grilled choices. I got caught up with the Carriage Works advertisements and with the Truckin magazine review. I'm amazed they didn't remark about the finish---once one gets past the glitter.

Victory Red · June 23, 2003

Not to change the topic of this post, or anything, but besides the lack of an underhood light on my '03, I just noticed today that the windshield wipers do not swing out all the way like my '01. Now I have to hold them up while I wash the windshield. If I would have known that, I would have taken the wipers off my old truck when I swiped the underhood light! Why the change back to caveman wipers, I wonder?

lrymal · June 23, 2003

...I just noticed today that the windshield wipers do not swing out all the way like my '01. Now I have to hold them up while I wash the windshield. ...

Yeah, no kidding! That is weird... Some of the "little stuff" is missing on the '03s.

GnatGoSplat · June 23, 2003

What floor lamps are you talking about?

Lighting that shines on the floor when you open the door. My Grand Am had three options for interior illumination: floor, overhead, or both. When I get some "umption" to do it, I want to at least rig up something for the floor.

Oh, the floor lamps that pretty much every car and truck has is missing off the 03's?

You should be able to yank 'em out of an '02 if the mounting brackets that hold the bulbs are still in the 03.

I know my '99 definitely has floor lamps on either side of the dash. There's no option for them though, they always come on as long as Dome Override isn't pressed.