Block heater input jack

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I recently made a mount for a Noco GCP1 AC input jack on my 2003.
This is a recent pic of my '03 after the GoRhino install.

Heres a pic of the Noco input jack


So I decided I wanted to mount that jack onto the push bumper and thought of a few ways. Drilling a hole straight through the steel and have it out the side was one, but would permanently alter it. Also, would damage and remove the powder coat. I pretty much wanted to mount it some way that was removable and would not modify the GoRhino.
So that meant making a mount that would attach the plug to the GoRhino.
This is what I came up with. Pretty much a box with a hole in it the cord goes through. This was finished prodect, just before paint. You can see Im bolting through the side plate, but Im using a already existing hole. Then I have a piece of 2x1/8 stock going down to the bottom 1/2" bolt to support it there. The whole thing is 2x and 3x1/8" flat stock. It was very nice that the 3" wide stock was pretty much the ideal size for it. Very overkill, very solid. Does not give when you are pushing the cord into the jack.


And finished, put together and in use. I did upgrade the supplied bolts with the Noco part to stainless with some shopping at lowes. The one negative about it, I think is the steel bolts it comes with. Easy to fix, though.
 
Neat job. If you pulled up behind me, my foot would lift off the gas in an almost involuntary action
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Coming home in the wee hrs on the Mass Pike. If I saw a set of headlights approaching rapidly, I would go into the far right lane and coast down to 70. In a half minute a Panther would roll past in the left lane doing upwards of 80.
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That's really cool! That kind of plug would work good for a car that sits a lot or over winter, could install a battery maintainer and plug in simple with that.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
That's really cool! That kind of plug would work good for a car that sits a lot or over winter, could install a battery maintainer and plug in simple with that.

Yes. I actually have one on my '02 as well, and since its out of commission waiting for an engine, I disconnected the block heater and plugged in a battery maintainer. Since its sitting outside, I tucked everything under the hood and shut it.
On that car, the bumper cover has a big tear in it, so knowing it looks bad anyway, I just drilled a hole right into the bumper cover and mounted it that way.

Glad you like it Stevie! I got into an argument with a Canadian on a Panther-centric FB page over this plug. He said he'd never seen anything like it and it was stupid overkill, unnecessary.
Maybe, yes, but I like it. Its pretty much sealed when not in use. Ive never seen water in it. There is a drain hole to let water out, but you'd still see moisture on the inside if it was getting in.
I can plug and unplug one handed. Which is nice if you are carrying something to the car. Just grab and pull, put the cord away and close the lid. Opposite for coming home.
 
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Glad you like it Stevie! I got into an argument with a Canadian on a Panther-centric FB page over this plug. He said he'd never seen anything like it and it was stupid overkill, unnecessary.
Maybe, yes, but I like it. Its pretty much sealed when not in use. Ive never seen water in it. There is a drain hole to let water out, but you'd still see moisture on the inside if it was getting in.
I can plug and unplug one handed. Which is nice if you are carrying something to the car. Just grab and pull, put the cord away and close the lid. Opposite for coming home.


Facebook can be quite the place. I don't belong to many groups any longer because it seems to only attract people that want to argue. Anyway on my next vehicle I will install one of these for sure because every vehicle I have had where the cord dangles out by the head-light it has scratched the headlight because of it flopping up/down with regular driving and I'm not about to pop the hood each time to put it away. Plus I also like to keep my battery on trickle charge overnight so the dash cam is recording in parking mode and this would be ideal for that too. I will just put a switch to allow me to only run the charger or the charger and block heater. (Waterproof connections and switch of course)
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Glad you like it Stevie! I got into an argument with a Canadian on a Panther-centric FB page over this plug. He said he'd never seen anything like it and it was stupid overkill, unnecessary.
Maybe, yes, but I like it. Its pretty much sealed when not in use. Ive never seen water in it. There is a drain hole to let water out, but you'd still see moisture on the inside if it was getting in.
I can plug and unplug one handed. Which is nice if you are carrying something to the car. Just grab and pull, put the cord away and close the lid. Opposite for coming home.


Facebook can be quite the place. I don't belong to many groups any longer because it seems to only attract people that want to argue. Anyway on my next vehicle I will install one of these for sure because every vehicle I have had where the cord dangles out by the head-light it has scratched the headlight because of it flopping up/down with regular driving and I'm not about to pop the hood each time to put it away. Plus I also like to keep my battery on trickle charge overnight so the dash cam is recording in parking mode and this would be ideal for that too. I will just put a switch to allow me to only run the charger or the charger and block heater. (Waterproof connections and switch of course)

Thats a good idea with the switch. I'd like to see that when its done.
 
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