Disclaimer - Please note I only recommend professionals undertake any work on vehicles. Spdkilz.com is not liable for any damage or harm that may come from the use of instructions given in the following how-to section(s).

 

. : List of Materials Needed : .
(1).  Rhino Ramps	(2).  Jack and Stands
(3).  Some 2 x 4 Wood	(4).  Whelen 90 Watt Power Pack
(5).  (4) Whelen 25 Watt Strobe Heads	(6).  (4) 15" Whelen Police Strobe Cables
(7).  (25) Feet of 12 Gauge Wire	(8).  Electrical Tape
(9).  Ring Terminal For Wire	(10).  (1) 15 Amp Switch
(11).  (1) Inline Fuse Holder	(12).  (1) 15 Amp Fuse
(13).  Torque Wrench (19mm Socket)	(14).  Philips Screwdriver
(15).  7 and 10mm Sockets	(16).  T-15 Star Bit
(17).  Silcone	(18).  Drill
(19).  1" Drill Bit	(20).  Zip Ties

 

(click on pictures for larger versions)

 

(1).  First, you start out by carefully lining up the Rhino Ramps with your car's tires.  If you only use the Rhino Ramps, part of the front air dam will rub against them.  In order to overcome this you can place a section of 2 x 4 in front of the Rhino Ramps (Though I have heard it does not hurt the front air dams if driven up using only the Rhino Ramps.
(2).  Next, you jack up the right side of the vehicle accordingly (if you need more help, please look in your owners manual).  With this done, get your Torque Wrench (not necessary, however, it is helpful) and use a 19mm socket (or a 3/4) and remove the wheel.  Place the wheel where it is out of the way.
(3).  Get on your back and slide under the car.  You will notice there are four 7mm screws holding on a section of the air dam.  Remove them and take it off.  Then there will be 5 remaining 7mm screws you will need to take off (see picture for locations).  As soon as they are all out, the plastic piece should come right off.
(4).  After the black piece of plastic is taken off, you should be able to look up into the bumper.  This is a picture showing the backside of the front signal assembly.  I could not get a shot of the bolt you will need to unfasten...but you can see in the picture where it would be located.  You will take one screw out (7mm) and one bolt (10mm).  Be careful though; there is a spring that is holding the assembly up.  Carefully take the spring out of the loop holding it to the assembly.  Detach the bulbs and the assembly should come out.
(5).  This shows the lamp assembly, and the three things holding it on (10mm bolt on left, spring in the middle, 7mm screw to the right).
(6).  After you have the side lights out, take your 1" drill bit and drill into the light as shown.  Be sure to allow enough room to compensate for the bulb.  To get out any extra shavings I used an air compressor to blow them out.
(7).  I realized something when I was testing out the 1" hole I had drilled.  When I placed the strobes in (taped them in place to test) there was a faint smell of burnt plastic.  This is because the strobe head does not fit all the way down into the light's housing.  There is the extra "dark" piece over the light housing.  So, there are two screws holding the "dark" piece of plastic onto the actual light housing, so I unscrewed them.  I then took the dark piece of plastic and using a dremel, carved out enough of the plastic to allow the strobe to mount flush with the light housing.  I am sorry I did not take a picture of this step, I forgot.  Also, I do not think this is absolutely necessary, though I recommend it.  In this picture you can see both light assemblies with the strobes in them.  You will notice I used silicone to seal them in place.  I have had police strobes on previous vehicles, and they did not like staying dry (as in, I mounted using the traditional methods, but moisture still would get into the light housing).  So I use silicone to (A). hold the strobes in place, and (B) to lock out any  moisture whatsoever.  Once all of that is finished, re-mount the light assemblies.
(8).  We will now take a break from up front and start with the back strobes.  I thought the most plausible location would be the backup lights.  In order to take the license plate frame off, use a Philips screwdriver to undo the two screws holding it in place.  (And for all those wondering, the "extra" part is the rear piece of my Escort SRX)
(9).  With the license plate off, there are now four more screws exposed.  In order to take these off, you will need a T-15 size star-bit.  The four screws are located in the far four corners.
(10).  After you take the four screws out, you will need to detach the two bulbs.  You can now remove the backup light assembly.
(11).  I was becoming concerned on where to mount the strobe light power supply.  Thankfully, there is just enough room to fit it behind where the backup lights were (you can sort of see the power pack in the picture).
(12).  Here is a far away shot of the strobes in the backup lights.  Again, I used silicone to keep them in place, and help seal the moisture out.  I also used the air compressor again to rid any stray shavings from drilling the 1" hole.
(13).  Close-up of the strobe mounted.
(14).  Shows the strobes attached to their cables.  Yes it is really messy back there, but don't worry, I cleaned it up!
(15).  Now we move to disassembling the interior so we can run all the wires we need to.  In this picture you can see two screw knobs on the right side.  There are two others in the same place on the left side.  Unscrew them and store them somewhere safe.
(16).  Carefully pull back part of the carpet where you have just removed the four knobs.  The carpet is made to conform to the car, so don't worry; it will fit when we put it back :)  However, before we remove that piece of the carpet, we need to disconnect the two trunk lights.  This is simple: pry the white clip up and gently pull the connector out.
(17).  With the carpet removed, we can drill a hole for the wires to pass through.  When the dealer installed my SRX, the drilled a smaller hole in the trunk, so I drilled a larger one right next to it.  Also shown in the picture are a few pieces of the interior we will need to take off.  To the right is the small piece of molding that is held on by two clips (see picture 15 to see what piece I'm talking about).  You can also see a part of the long plastic molding.  It is held on by two plastic fasteners.  Take these out and gently pull for it to come off (it is also held on by three clips).
(18).  Now, in order to get the panel off where your rear speaker is located, you will need to take your seatbelt off.  You will need a rather large star bit, one which I did not have.  I used another "block" bit I had that fit into the bolt.  I was sure not to strip it (it worked well, though I am in the process of finding the right size bit).
(19).  After removing the seatbelt, you can pull the plastic panel off.  It is held on by I believe five clips.
(20).  Once the above panel is off, we can remove the panel directly below it.  We do not need to completely remove it from the car, just pop it off and put it to the side (the seatbelt is attached to it).  You can also see I removed the panel that runs along the bottom of the door (also held on by clips.  Gently pry up on the right side, and pull toward you).  With this done, all the panels needed off are off.
(21).  Now we will start wiring everything up.  In order to get the wires through the firewall we have two options: go through the firewall by the battery (where a rubber grommet is) or drill our own hole.  Seeing as I will be adding a stereo system soon, I opted for the second choice.  In order to do this, we must first take off the dead pedal.  There are two bolts holding it on, that require a 10mm socket.
(22).  Next we need to take off the dark piece of plastic from the drivers side wheel well.  There are five 7mm screws holding it in place shown in the picture.  Not shown, are three other 7mm screws holding it in (located under the car...you can't miss them).
(23).  With the plastic piece off, we now have access to the firewall.  You can see where exactly to drill the hole.  I used the 1" drill bit again, because I will be having numerous wires coming through there (strobes, system, etc).
(24).  Here you can see the wires coming through the firewall.  Now all you need to do is route the wires from the front strobes to the back of the car, and route the power and ground wires from the police strobe power pack, up front.  The wires can be hidden under the carpet where the panels were pulled up.  I used 12 gauge wire for the power/ground.
(25).  I grounded the strobe wires to the chassis of the car where some wires were already being grounded.  Thus, I only had the power wire to worry about.  I ran the power wire up under the drivers side dash, and drilled a hole for my switch (it shows two switches, because the other is for my vent neon).
(26).  After installing the switch, I ran the wire through the middle between the driver and passenger seats (see picture 29).  In this picture it shows the floor mat removed and you can see the fake panel.  Pull down slightly from the top and lift it out.  It is held on by two Velcro squares (up top) and has small hinges on the bottom (don't break them!)
(27).  This is a shot of under the passenger side dash.  Sorry the picture is blurry.  Anyway, there are two plastic fasteners holding the above piece in place.  Pop them out and be sure not to yank to hard: the light is still connected.
(28).  To gain access to the rubber grommet (which allows us to go through the firewall to the battery) it is easiest to take off the kick panel on the bottom of the door also.
(29).  This picture shows the 12 gauge power wire coming through from the drivers side.
(30).  Wow, so many wires!  Be EXTREMELY careful not to accidentally cut any of these wires!  Now, in order to get the wire through the firewall, we will need to poke a hole in the black grommet.  I did so using a pen (I didn't want to use something sharp for fear of cutting wires).  Then I fed the wire through into the engine compartment.
(31).  Here is a picture showing the battery.  You will need to remove the bolt holding it on (will get size of it tomorrow).  Unscrew the positive and negative terminals using a 10mm socket.  Lift the battery out and the other side of the rubber grommet will be in plain view (sorry I did not take a picture of this).  After the battery is removed, take the 12 gauge wire and attach the inline fuse to it, then put on a ring terminal to the other end of the inline fuse.  Connect to the positive terminal and you are done!  (be sure not to have the fuse in when you are attaching it.  Only after it is attached and you have checked your wiring thoroughly should you then test the strobes out).  Now put everything back together, enjoy your new strobes and wait for everyone to flock to your car!
Final Word -      Hopefully everything worked out for you.  I know I did not provide perfect instructions and that a few steps were overlooked.  I apologize for the inconvenience, however, there is one last thing I want to go over.  When routing the wires from your strobes to the interior I used numerous zip ties.  I attached the wires to the frame of the car and away from anything remotely hot or moving.  This took a while to do, but the wiring is very secure and nothing will every sever any of the connections.  Remember, an electrical install is only as good as the wiring!  So please, take care in your wiring!  I don't want anyone's Corvette burning to the ground because of bad connections!                                                                                                                      Carleton Wesley Yoder

 

Top of Page

 

 

Want to install police strobes so that everyone will notice your ride?  Take an afternoon off and do it!