Catz MSX Install

The problem, factory fog lights suck.  The answer, Catz MSX lights don’t.  Follow along as we perform surgery on a new Subaru to make it safer to drive.

Our mule, a ’00 Subaru Legacy with factory fog/driving lights that the customer is very unhappy with.  Subaru told him they were more of a decorative item than a functional one.

As you can see there isn’t a whole lotta room to play with, so we decided to fill in the area just below the license plate.

Catz-FET includes everything you’ll need for a clean install, including bumper clamps if you don’t want to drill through your factory bumper. 

The trickest part of this kit is the size of the switch, no problem hiding this out of the way to keep your dash looking uncluttered.

This bracket is already mounted, but I wanted to show you the backing plate.  Todays cars and SUV’s are made up from a lot of plastic, the MSX lights are not very heavy, however you cant support their weight just by hanging them from a plastic fascia.  The thin metal plate I am holding is a backing plate for just this type of application, I lined up the plate to match the holes in the bracket and drilled through the plastic.  The self-tapping screws are supplied and all you do is slip the backing plate behind the plastic and screw it down.

Ok, the lights are hung and now its time to snake the wiring harness through to the lights.  Make sure you don’t run the harness through an area that could rub and short the wires.

The owner of this vehicle is leasing and wanted to make sure the lights and harness could be removed at a later date for use in another vehicle that’s why there is an excess amount of harness tie wrapped to the A/C line.  In any other instance you could cut this to size for a cleaner install, this vehicle will never see a show so the owner did not mind.

What could be easier than plugging the wiring harness into the relay?  For those of you familiar with the computer industry, this is what we call plug and play.

I chose a spot close to the battery to mount the relay, the eagle eyed among you will notice the copious amount of silicone to keep the body from rusting and the self tapping screw from backing out.  Also seen here is the in line fuse to protect the wiring harness from burning to the ground in an event there is a short.

Beyond the master cylinder is the grommet we slit and pushed our wire though, after tie wrapping everything in place and making sure we had enough wire for movement, silicone was applied to the grommet to keep water out of the interior.

After running all wires necessary inside the vehicle, you must find the fuse box and select which fuse you’ll run your lights off of.  I chose the rear seat heater fuse; here in SoCal the seat heater isn’t an option that used much.  I pulled the fuse, pushed the wire inside and replaced the fuse.

The upper bolt for the gas pedal seemed to me an optimum location for the ground wire.  I loosened the bolt with a 12mm socket slid the ground under it and cranked it down.  You can see the wires running down and under the carpet into the center console/tunnel.

I “borrowed” one of the coin holders as the base for my switch.  I made a cover of abs plastic, cut out the center to accommodate the switch and glued that to the coin holder.  I then drilled out the back of the coin holder so I could run the wires through the back and into the console/tunnel, pretty slick, huh?  When and if the owner turns this vehicle in he can remove the switch and the coin holder can be replaced for under 6 bucks.  This is much better than drilling a hole in the dash.

Voila!  The Catz MSX lights look as though they came that way from the factory.  Hey Subaru, are ya listening?  The owner is very pleased and now can actually drive safer in the fog.

For more information you can visit Catz-FET on the web at www.fet-usa.com