Front fog lamps on 1.8 MK3?

So, I stumbled across this earlier…

The question is, does a standard 1.8 have the necessary connectors in place to support fog lights? Is this going to be a simple retrofit or more hassle than it’s worth??

The connections should be there for fogs in the bumper, maybe tucked away. The switch is just plug and play then.

Do you reckon it’s a bumper off job or could I fish around behind the wheel arch liner for the connector?

If you go on the Mx5parts website some say they didn’t need to remove the bumper, that’s if you look up reviews on their kit.:+1:

You will need these.
https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/lamp-bezels-mk3-p-1012.html
If they are not with the ‘kit’ personally i would do an e-bay search and buy individually.
No need to take the bumper off.

What about these.

Hi Chris,

Yes, all the wiring will be there, quite easy to fit as well. Have a look here - How To: Fit foglamps to an MX-5 » Glasgow Dave - it used to have pictures on the page, but the instructions are easy to follow.

Phil

Funny that this came up today as I’m just about to fit front dogs onto my 1.8 NC.
I purchased the fogs on Ebay for £20 for the pair as they are the same lights as fitted to the RX8, also managed to get both stalks of an RX8 again off Ebay for £30…I have already fitted the variable intermittent wiper stall on my other mx5 2.0 sport. I then had to purchase the bezels for the mk3 from mx5parts so total spend was £85. I’m not going to remove the bumper as it’s possible to do the fit from the end under plates and the connectors are already there just taped to the wiring on the end of the chassis legs. I’ll post pics later once it’s all done.

Sorry for the spelling mistakes…its predictive text taking over.
One issue that I did have with the fog light units was the lower bolts that had seized in the light body, unfortunately I managed to shear off the bolt head on both lights so ended up drilling the sheared part out and instead off retapping the hole, due to having no die taps, I just fitted a nut and bolt so shouldn’t have a problem in future with it seizing again.

I did this job on my 2006 2.0 NC a few weeks ago. The wiring for the light units is already there. There is no need to remove the bumper. Just move the plastic wheel arch liners out of the way.

If you are starting from scratch why not add the combination of Fog and DRL?

I used the Vinstar kit from MX5 parts. One of the pictures in my install below shows the brown connector going to the back of the original H11 bulb fog lamp.
If you have that brown H11 connector, then all you need is the lamp surrounds, relevant light stalk on the steering column, a fog fuse and a plug-in fog relay to fusebox 1 and both fogs and DRLs will work.
Plus add the small variations I made to the DRL kit.

@Spelio

Just wanted to revisit this… So you’re saying the RX8 fogs are the same on the NC1, is that just the lights, or are the bezels the same too?

Yes just the lights are the same, you will need to buy the bezels for the nc1. Fog lights are the same for both nc1 and nc2 but bezels are different. I bought my bezels from mx5parts think it was £35 for a pair. You may find that you have to be careful removing the fixing bolts in the fog lights if they are used items as the bolts tend to rust in the alloy light body. I actually broke off the heads on the bolts so ended up drilling them out and using a nut and bolt arrangement. The locating screws in the lights were not a problem to remove. You will also require an additional screw for fixing the bezel to the bumper as the orginal blanking piece is only held in by one whereas the fig light bezel has 2. I may have a photo showing my drilled bolt and nut arrangement. There is also a how to fit foglights on the Club website download section which includes photos of the various stages. You dont need to remove the front bumper just the plastic side undertray section as it’s got plenty of access.

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Bolt and nut arrangement at the bottom in the photo. Just remembered that the hole in the bezel will need elongating to allow for the fogkight to be pivoted up and down for beam aim. The hole is already made to just need the plastic to be nibbled away to allow this, there will be instructions with the bezels to explain this further.

Thank you!!

Anyone able to confirm that the base level Mk3.75 NCs have front fog lamp wiring as standard? Thinking of fitting them to my late 2014 car. I gather most earlier cars had the wiring, but haven’t seen mention of this specific model.

I just happen to have a left Mazda 6 stalk just sitting around from my variable intermittent wipe upgrade, so it’s ~£150 for the remaining parts.

Mine a 2010 1.8 NC. Wiring was there, tucked away. Accessed through wheel arch. Simple plug in connection.