SDHQ Bumper Light Mount Installed

[bigd9247]

I wanted to add some amber auxiliary lights on my truck, but I didn't want to replace my OEM fog lights. My daily commute has a lot of traffic so I wanted the OEM fogs for commuting and aftermarket lights for backroads and forest service roads. I came across the SDHQ bumper light mount and decided to give it a try. I also ordered a set of Baja Designs Squadron Sport with amber wide cornering lenses.

The install was pretty straight forward, but one thing I didn't realize is that this kit requires the removal of the active grill shutters and some other plastics behind the grill. The kit includes a mount to retain the shutter motor so that there's no error codes. I also had to relocate the ambient air sensor because it was in the way of the drivers side light. I'm going to track my fuel economy this week and see how much of an impact there is from removing the shutters.

I wired the lights to Aux 2 by cutting up the included Baja Designs wiring harness. Overall I'm really happy with how this turned out.

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[maxx075]

Interesting. Definitely watching this to see what your results of removing the shutter are like.

 

[gofastdan]

I'm also interested in what happens when you remove the active shutters. As I understand it they're not for aero purposes as much as they are for cooling. I read somewhere the engine doesn't even have a thermostat and the active shutters provide the coolant temperature modification. If so, seems like a really extreme solution to a problem that never existed. I'm not sure how this could be an improvement over an old-school thermostat...

If true though, that means you're running the engine wide open all the time, which in cold weather potentially means the engine might not ever get up to normal operating temps. If they designed the kit to remove the shutters then hopefully they did their research. Definitely interested in your experience once you've run it awhile!

 

[bigd9247]

I'm also interested in what happens when you remove the active shutters. As I understand it they're not for aero purposes as much as they are for cooling. I read somewhere the engine doesn't even have a thermostat and the active shutters provide the coolant temperature modification. If so, seems like a really extreme solution to a problem that never existed. I'm not sure how this could be an improvement over an old-school thermostat...

If true though, that means you're running the engine wide open all the time, which in cold weather potentially means the engine might not ever get up to normal operating temps. If they designed the kit to remove the shutters then hopefully they did their research. Definitely interested in your experience once you've run it awhile!

If I knew that the grill shutters had to be removed I probably wouldn't have ordered the kit in the first place. But it's on now so might as well give it a try. Everything is 100% reversible, so I can always take it back off. On this morning's commute (32 miles) everything was fine. Engine warmed up like normal, coolant temp gauge stayed in the middle where it normally does. The dash said I got 22.6mpg which is pretty typical of my morning commute. It's usually in the 22-23mpg range depending on traffic.

 

[gofastdan]

If I knew that the grill shutters had to be removed I probably wouldn't have ordered the kit in the first place. But it's on now so might as well give it a try. Everything is 100% reversible, so I can always take it back off. On this morning's commute (32 miles) everything was fine. Engine warmed up like normal, coolant temp gauge stayed in the middle where it normally does. The dash said I got 22.6mpg which is pretty typical of my morning commute. It's usually in the 22-23mpg range depending on traffic.

That's great news. A company could make pretty good money just selling a shutter delete kit if that's the case!

BTW, the lights look great!

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