Alright, just in case any future individual finds this, I'll post what I did so that *hopefully* they can see how to route the wires in a less destructive way.
All in, I had to drill two holes into the firewall. One is to pass the wiring through from the cowl to the engine bay, the other is a ground lug. I also drilled two holes in the removable panel under the steering column for the switches.
First off, to get the wiring to the bottom of the windshield frame, I elected to run it down the front of the light bar bracket. These are just M4x6mm socket head cap screws and I drilled and tapped the 3 holes into the bracket. I went with the Fishbone offroad brackets that are 3/16 thick.
Next, I popped off the cowl and ran the wiring through there.
To get the wires to fit between in the gap between the cowl and the tub, I stripped back the outermost bulky portion of the wire, then added 2 layers of heat shrink over the outside for a little more abrasion protection and to clean up the look. I then soldered/heat shrinked all of the connections to the wiring harness that I made for it.
You can see where the hole was drilled in the firewall to pass through the wires. this also got a rubber grommet to prevent it from wearing. I used a self tapper for the ground, it seems fine for now but if it fails I'll do something better at a later time.
After I got to that point, I installed the cowl. This is how it turned out!
The wires look pinched, but I can assure you, they're not. They easily can be slid around/in or out, and I checked that there was not a sharp edge on the cowl to cut it. In the engine bay I have also installed the Toyota light wiring harness. I tapped into the high beam wire in the Toyota harness for a relay trigger. I then ran a 12 ga wire to the fuse block under the hood to act as the main 12v power for the relay. I soldered in a fuse housing next to the fuse block to minimize the non-fused portion of the circuit.
That 12 ga wire then runs over to the other side of the engine bay along the factory wiring, then I added a relay next to the washer bottle. Thats where I also mounted the relays for the Toyota harness so they're all in one spot.
I split the 12v input for the relay so that I have both a switched power and a constant 12v power. Both are 12 ga, and were ran into the cab. I then ran both of the inputs for the light bar/pods into the cab. I used on-off-on switches with the load connected to the center pin. I then connected the switched 12v power to one side, and constant 12v power to the other. That allows me the choice of having the lights on all the time, off, or switched with the high beams. That isolates the light bar/pods from the headlights so if there is a fault, I don't lose all light. Should I ever want to remove any of this, the only visible trace will be the two holes in the firewall. No cuts or mods to the factory harness were made, no holes in the outside of the body, and the holes in the interior can be fixed with a replacement panel in about 30 seconds.
There were reports of snow this morning in the mountains, and being as I was awake before the sun came up today, I decided to go test them out!
Got to go see some snow and aimed my lights!
The pods are really nice, they add in quite a bit of light to the headlights, but also are a flood light so they illuminate the burrow pits and around corners well, but aren't so bright they're blinding other cars a mile away. But when offroad or on really remote stretches, I can kick on the bar and see probably a solid half mile ahead, if not further. I already have spotted deer in the road with them. I saw them far enough away that I just came to an easy stop and let them saunter out of the way.
So anyway, hopefully this lasts a while and if there are any complications, I'll be sure to share.
