It's been a pretty productive weekend!
Here's a shot of the top of the rack in case you were wondering how long it was. I purposely left space in front for the clearance lights and so as to not look crowded:
Holey Roof!
PIAA's installed:
So about them holes....some were for the clearance lights. Three holes per light, the center hole for the wires. I used grommets for the wiring holes:
Each lamp comes with a foam pad for the weather seal. I used polyurethane to seal better around the screw holes since there isn't any protection there. I also sealed under the heads of the screws.
Lights installed:
NMO style scanner antenna mount:
I used electrical varnish to keep the coax connection pristine:
All tidied up:
Only me and Hercules could have pushed this 6" section of silicone hose down the wire bundle. I used a generous amount of Dawn and strength to get that sucker on there.
Here you can see the BNC antenna feeds too:
That's a pretty gnarly bend with stiff wire. That is why I used a steel plate under the elbow to reinforce the roofs sheet metal. Here's the view from the inside:
I did a quickie test of the clearance lights just to see what they will look like:
I had bought 6 clearance lights but I'm not sure if that would have landed me in hot water with the Highway Patrol. Clearance lights are generally sold in packs of 5. The idea is the two outermost are for clearance. They show the width of the vehicle while the inner three are for identification. Not sure what the ID is for. I think interstate traveling commercial vehicles have three inner, while single state trucks don't need them. Passenger vehicles are NOT supposed to have these lights. My van however is registered as a commercial vehicle. It is also more than 80" wide now. I went with 5 lights. Some trucks also group the inner three but I thought it looked better equally distributed. I don't think there are any laws regarding the spacing.
I still need to feed the wiring through on the drivers side. After that is done I think this thread will have to move on to my "Custom Overhead Console" thread, soon to come...