FJ40 Interior Lighting Help, Please

[cuencanolenny]

My 1979 FJ40 is up in the north country for a body off repair/paint job. I have an American Autowire harness in the vehicle. I do not have any interior lighting. On the old '79 dash there was a small light, on the dash pad, but that was all. There are two holes in the car that I will presume for lighting. The one on the left pillar I think would be the light switched by push buttons at the front door jambs. The light to the right of the rear view mirror I think is the one offered with a toggle lever. Any input appreciated. I would like to have the body man install a couple of wires in the windshield frame which are very easy to route with the windshield rolled forward. One for the interior light and a wire to service off road lights on my roof rack. Thanks and Happy New Year. I'm going to Peru this year!!!!!!!

 

[SD_rdcruzer]

The only interior light that I'm aware of is on the B pillar next to your driver's seat. Typically it's switched on at the light and needs constant power.
Page 156 Land Cruiser Dome Light
The hole at the top of the windshield next to your rear view mirror appears to be for your wiper motor.
Edit: looking closer, you have the later windshield frame, so maybe a light would go there

 

[Living in the Past]

Hole to the right of the mirror on the windshield is a excess hole for the washer nozzle connection. Should have a rubber plug for cover. Thought the interior light switches on the A pillar started with the 82 model. Before that it was just a light with switch on the bottom located on the driver's side B pillar.

 

[imyahucklbrry]

Hardtop off for work so no lighting other than the awesome illumination provided by cluster, dash pad, and that little light to left of heater box.... I keep a magnetized flashlight on front of heater if I need to see what kind of bug flew in.....

 

[cuencanolenny]

Hole to the right of the mirror on the windshield is a excess hole for the washer nozzle connection. Should have a rubber plug for cover. Thought the interior light switches on the A pillar started with the 82 model. Before that it was just a light with switch on the bottom located on the driver's side B pillar.

That is curious. My '70 had the washer bottle mounted on the rear side of the left front fender and the nozzle was on the hood. Since I swapped the new harness from the '70 over to the '79 I put the new bottle in the same place. I made a bracket for half of the coolant/washer bottle as the washer bottle was toast and I mounted the coolant bottle to the side of the radiator. I may buy a new one of those when it comes home. The hole through the windshield frame, about 1/2" diameter could be grommeted for a wire to service off road lights.

 

[darwink1]

A simple and non permanent solution for interior lighting in a 40 is a solar powered lamp. No wires to run, they can be stuck anywhere, and they wont drain your battery. I have a 2x6" mounted to my roll cage between the seats with a small pull cord to turn it off and on. Charged it all of 2 times this summer and its never failed me.

If youre looking to run wires there are some small and unobtrusive leds that you can use. I have two of these small led pods, one under the dash above the tranny hump and one in my tool box under the drivers seat. They are powerfull enough that I added a couple to to my tub corners to act as back up lights and I use one for a rear license plate light.

D

 

[C6H12O6]

A number of the indoor LED light strips that run off house 110V AC wiring are actually 12V DC systems with a 110V AC transformer. If you remove the transformer, they'll run just fine on standard auto 12V. There are some threads here if you search of guys using the LED strips mounted inside the little gap around the inside edge of the hard top. A simple switch, and you should be good to go.

 

[cuencanolenny]

A simple and non permanent solution for interior lighting in a 40 is a solar powered lamp. No wires to run, they can be stuck anywhere, and they wont drain your battery. I have a 2x6" mounted to my roll cage between the seats with a small pull cord to turn it off and on. Charged it all of 2 times this summer and its never failed me.

If youre looking to run wires there are some small and unobtrusive leds that you can use. I have two of these small led pods, one under the dash above the tranny hump and one in my tool box under the drivers seat. They are powerfull enough that I added a couple to to my tub corners to act as back up lights and I use one for a rear license plate light.
View attachment 1601855


D

Interesting, thank you. Solar powered works when the sun is out, yes? If it is daylight there is not much need for interior lighting so I don't think I'm following you. With regards to the under seat tool box, that is something I always liked in my '70. Another benefit of that is the routing of the exhaust from the header. But it always smelled like gasoline inside in the morning. With the '79 the gas tank is on the left side and makes for weird snaking of the exhaust, plus you can't put the muffler on the left side along the frame rail like the '70 again because of the gas tank. I built a dashbox for the '70 and that is one of many things that was switched over to the '79, so that killed the dash light that was mounted on the original, and very cracked, padded dash. I also built a roof rack and put two plates on the front for off road lights. I think I could bypass the lever switch on the standard Toyota interior light and wire it to switches mounted at the door frames so that whenever the door is opened, on either side, there is some light. The '70 had some add on lights front and rear that used a tail light bulb. They were switched and were okay. I think your idea of the LED's is good, they are brighter size for size.

 

[BrianSanDiego]

cigarette lighter map light?
https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Produc...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EXP64S74DJ6J0QNTBNJ6

 

[cuencanolenny]

cigarette lighter map light?
https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Produc...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EXP64S74DJ6J0QNTBNJ6

That's pretty cool, thanks. Almost as good as having an articulating map light mounted on the right hand A pillar. Can't remember which car I saw that feature on but thought that was great. This one would be very handy, I stuck it in my cart for future reference. The biggest problem is my wife can't read a map.

 

[darwink1]

Interesting, thank you. Solar powered works when the sun is out, yes? If it is daylight there is not much need for interior lighting so I don't think I'm following you. With regards to the under seat tool box, that is something I always liked in my '70. Another benefit of that is the routing of the exhaust from the header. But it always smelled like gasoline inside in the morning. With the '79 the gas tank is on the left side and makes for weird snaking of the exhaust, plus you can't put the muffler on the left side along the frame rail like the '70 again because of the gas tank. I built a dashbox for the '70 and that is one of many things that was switched over to the '79, so that killed the dash light that was mounted on the original, and very cracked, padded dash. I also built a roof rack and put two plates on the front for off road lights. I think I could bypass the lever switch on the standard Toyota interior light and wire it to switches mounted at the door frames so that whenever the door is opened, on either side, there is some light. The '70 had some add on lights front and rear that used a tail light bulb. They were switched and were okay. I think your idea of the LED's is good, they are brighter size for size.

View attachment 1601875

View attachment 1601877

The solar light batteries are charged during the day by the sun. They power the light when you need it regardless if its day or night, turn it on when you need it off when you dont.. Mine lasted all summer on 2 charges. The solar panel plugs in to my light and is then removed and stowed in the center console when the batteries are charged.

D

 

[bikersmurf]

Wally World had this !2" LED option that mounts using factory holes (with a little grinding of the plastic).

PETERSON PM PM-V369S 12V SWITCHED LED ADJUSTABLE INTERIOR STRIP LIGHT LAMP 12" | eBay