Mount the Brackets to your MINI

1. Locate a level, clean, and well-lit location to perform this installation. Pop your hood, open your battery compartment, and disconnect your negative (-) battery terminal. The rain tray needs to be removed prior to opening the battery box. Arrows show the quarter-turn fasteners and 10mm nuts that need to be disconnected/removed.



2. Battery box lid is held on by (3) 8mm screws. Remove lid and disconnect the negative (-) battery terminal with a 10mm wrench. Secure the cable so that it cannot contact the (-) terminal over the course of this install.



3. It is not necessary to completely remove the grill for this install. Remove the (5) T30 torx screws across the top of the grill and you should be able to flex the grill forward just enough so that you can access the v-brace support bars behind it. NOTE: If you can remove the top trim panel, go ahead and do so as you’ll have much better access behind the grill. However, with some MINIs this panel is glued together at the clip sections and will be virtually impossible to disconnect.



4. The brackets are side-specific to the MINI and the images below show their intended orientation once installed.



5. These are slots below the grill that the brackets will utilize for the install.



6. Take a bracket in hand and enter behind the grill, placing the light mounting tab through the slot below the grill. The four-holed mounting portion of the bracket should lie flat against the v-brace core support bar.



7. Insert the ¼-20 x 1.25 stainless cap screws through the bar mounting portion of the light brackets with the cap heads facing up. Place the ‘dog bone’ shaped clamp on the backside and tighten the cap screws evenly with your 3/16 hex key wrench. Ensure that the light mounting tabs that come through the slots under the grill are level before performing a final tightening. Hand-tight is fine.. do not crush or deform the core support bars.



8. Perform the same to the opposite side and then we’ll get on with the electric bits.

Install the Auxiliary Lights

1. Open the PIAA 5 LP550 high intensity LED driving lamp kit and lay out it’s contents. You should have (2) driving lamps w/ their respective hardware, a wiring harness, and a set of installation instructions. Please read through the PIAA instructions in addition to what is presented here to have a broader scope of the process.
2. Mount the PIAA lights to the CravenSpeed brackets utilizing your 19mm box wrench. We left off the rectangular rubber pads on the bottom of the PIAA light mounts to minimize any vibrations and make for a more solid attachment. Insert the short PIAA light wiring plugs through the grill in preparation for the wiring harness.

Install the Light Wiring Harness

1. Unbox the PIAA light wiring harness, uncoil it, and take note of its various components. Snake the two light power leads behind the grill, plug them into the PIAA lights, and then ziptie the leads to the core support bars to keep them tidy and out of the way. The longer of the two leads will go to the passenger side light.



2. Next, we’ll locate a suitable location for the PIAA light harness relay. It will need to be mounted vertically so that water cannot collect inside of it, and the driver side headlight has a mounting point that will fit the bill nicely. Remove the 10mm screw from the headlight mount and pull off the clip-nut with a set of pliers. Replace the 10mm screw and affix the relay to the inboard side using the supplied M6 locknut and flat washer.





3. Coil up any excess wiring between the relay and the lights and ziptie them out of the way. With your 13mm socket and ratchet wrench, connect your relay ground to the battery ground bolt attached to the body of the vehicle and the relay power to the accessory post on the positive battery terminal.



4. We’ll now need to send the PIAA on/off switch leads through the firewall of your MINI. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this depending on your situation. You first option is to remove a small plastic cap above the driver side wiring loom firewall plug and feed the PIAA wiring through it. Accessibility is quite limited behind the dash there, so your results may vary.



5. The second option is that there is a rubber wiring loom plug fitting on the driver side firewall that you can drill a ¼’ hole through. If you can’t disconnect the wiring from the plug, you’ll need to cut off the PIAA wiring plug a few inches before the on/off switch connection and solder it back on after you’ve passed the wires through. The MINI we used for this install already had a couple holes drilled through the wiring loom firewall plug, so we just utilized one of those holes. The plug is approx ½ thick rubber with a plastic core and it can be a bit of a struggle getting your cordless drill down to it due to the limited amount of space available. The plug has a flat section just to the right and down from the hood release cable that you’ll need to drill the ¼ hole through.



6. Once you’ve drilled your hole you’ll need to send the PIAA switch lead wiring through it. Obviously the on/off switch plug will not fit through a ¼ hole, so you’ll need to either carefully disconnect the contacts within the plug connector or cut the connector off and resolder the wires once they’ve been pulled through. Open your driver side door and use a trim panel tool to pop off the side dash panel. Shine a light inside and back towards the hole you drilled through the firewall plug, locate the PIAA wires and pull them through. If you were able to remove the contacts of the PIAA switch plug, reinstall them now. If you had to cut it off, resolder the two wires back together and heat shrink/wrap them.
7. Next up is tapping into a switched (ignition) power source from the MINI to power the PIAA relay. There is an extra white wire lead coming out of the PIAA on/off switch plug lead that will reach over to the interior fuse panel located above the passenger footwell and against the firewall. You’ll need to tap into a switched power source and we’ve included an ‘Add-a-Circuit’ with a 1mA mini fuse that should simplify this procedure.
8. Take the extra white wire lead coming off the PIAA on/off switch plug and feed the length of wire behind the dash and over to the interior fuse panel. The route we utilized was; under the steering column>(remove driver side kick panel)>down behind kick panel (avoid the heater core tubes)>through the center console>(remove pass side kick panel) up behind kick panel>over to the fuse panel behind glove box.
9. Head around to the passenger side and empty out your glove box. Located on the back wall will be an access hatch to the interior fuse panel. Take a look at the image below and take note of the switched (ignition) power locations.



10. Feed your white wire up and through the opening in the back of the glove box and utilizing your crimp tool, fasten the ‘Add-a-Circuit’ to the end of the wire. Place the 1mA mini fuse into the top section of the ‘Add-a-Circuit’ and then plug it into one of the designated switched (ignition) power sources.





11. Loop any excess wiring together and secure it under the dash with a couple zipties.



12. Plug the PIAA on/off switch into the wire harness connector, locate a suitable spot for the switch and affix with the included double-sided tape. Reconnect your MINIs battery and test the functionality of the lights. If everything checks out and your driving lights function normally, button everything back up and proceed to aiming your beam patterns as shown in the PIAA instruction manual. If it doesn’t light up on the first try, double check your connections and ensure that you have proper ground for the PIAA relay..



PIAA lamps are intended for use solely as auxiliary lighting. Lighting laws vary from state to state. PIAA makes no representation or warranty, either expressed or implied, as to the legality of its products for street use on any vehicle or in any location. PIAA lamps are designed to improve visibility during night time motoring and inclement weather conditions. However, irresponsible use of any auxiliary light can be dangerous and illegal.