Sequential (Chase) taillight thread of injustice.... (a tutorial)

[91grandmarquis]

Ok so I have never done a tutorial before so here it goes....

First (and why my project is on hold atm) Is the conversion of the inner most bulbs from the 922 shit they are to the double filament bulbs the 2 blinkers on the blinker circuit use. I need to do this before I can continue.

Step one is to order the kit. Im using the splice in kit from americanmuscle, you can find that here.

Step two is to carefully read the instructions and try not to get ovewhelmed, the merc has 3 light spots, one just needs to be converted to a double filament... this is not as easy as just swapping bulbs like in a mustang, you need to wire in a new plug with the 3 prong circuit on back and a double filament. (I am in the process of this).

Well it is a start, but after my overnight shipping took 4 days, and came an hour before my FD meeting on my only day off, It looks like this is on the backburner till my next free day, or I can park the car and work on it at night after work. I will keep everyone updated and get pics of the kit and current harness before modifying it.

[91grandmarquis]

Here Is a link to the sockets you will need, they are not cheap, go figure, the fronts are only like $5.00 a piece.

Make sure to order these with the tail light kit, so you are not dead in the water like me. Next I need to take the rear tail light housings apart, and make a template, to dremel the innermost hole to accept this socket. I will get back to you guys with how that goes.

[MattsLincoln]

[91grandmarquis]

Alright... Pictures so far before I am stoned to death....



That is what $100 will buy you... no boxes, no adjustments... sequential lights all the time. One for each side.. it also came with all the twist caps and splicers necessary.

Current problem.


Ignore the gray marker light all the way to the right of the picture, this is just that a corner brake/marker light. Single filament. The two central white sockets are for the double filament flasher bulbs. The gray socket all the way to the LEFT, is another brake light, does not flash.... the problem is it needs to.

Now the kit says to replace this bulb with a double filament bulb.. IN A MUSTANG this would be fine, IN A MERCURY the light on the inside actually has a different socket with only 2 wires going to it, also I checked and no double filament bulb exists that has the wedge base the size of this, even if it did it wouldn't work because you need to add a wire.

QUESTIONS????
Im sure you have many... ask me at any time and I will explain a bit more.

My solution to this problem....



Simple.. (KINDA) take that nasty, icky, cocky, Im all that single filament bulb and socket out of the harness... and replace it with the blinker socket and a double filament bulb. Sounds easy right? Not so fast, the gray socket is a different size, Fortunately smaller than the blinker socket.

*STOP* take a breath and look at the above picture again. Notice the brown and black wire leading to it, this is your power (MAJOR CONSTANT + BROWN) and your ground (BLACK). It is missing the striped blinker/flasher wire <- not technical term. It is referred to as the minor power in the directions.

Ok so so far we established the need for a blinker socket and light in this hole. Wire it in to the brown and black wire just like the other two are... they both have the brown/black going to it, just with the addition of the striped wire. (orange and white? on one side and Violet and black on the other?, dont quote me on those.)

The hard part is (and you can't see this yet, I will get pics) that I am going to have to dremel out the hole in the light housing to accept a blinker plug where the old brake light (gray) plug was... can be done, I am just going to have to be careful. Once I get this done (hopefully tomorrow before work) I will get more pics and go on to the wiring... that part looks to be simple.

It will be probably next week before the wiring as I had to order 2 blinker sockets online... I am going to use the ones in the car for mock up/ dremeling the housings.

Hope this is helpful so far, would have posted earlier, but I had to go to the FD.

[91grandmarquis]

Alright... what I am hoping to be the hardest part of this modification....

Step one : Remove the tail light housings... (I did one at a time the processes are the same on either side).



Now here is what actually needs to be done. (I laid a towel down so I wouldn't scratch the lenses as I worked).



The hole all the way to the left... the innermost red lense covered light... needs to receive the sockets the other two turn signal lamps have. In other words the hole needs to look like the two to the right (in the picture) of it.

Or more simply.

this -


Needs to be this-


Step one in the actual tooling of this is to acquire a washer that is the same OD (outside diameter) as the inside hole... I used a 7/16ths washer. Trace this circle with marker CENTERED in the large flat spot, and then dremel this part out... this is what it should look like after this step.


Now... we need to make a template of the other socket for the little wings. I just used paper and it worked fine.. If you place paper flat on the socket hole and rub graphite on it it will transfer harder lines where the edges are... you can then cut it out and get something like this.


Place this template over the hole you have dremeled out... and trace the "wings" on to the cirlce. You can kind of see where I marked the "wings" around the circle I cut out.

Now dremel this out using a sideways cutting bit, they are like $3 at the hardware store.
You should end up with something like this -

This isn't my first time using a dremel so be patient and go slow, cut the speed down so it will make a clean cut but not suck the tool ahead... If you need to practice on something else to get used to how it behaves.. it will cut very fast through this material.

Next test fit....


Like a glove!

Now rinse and repeat on the other side.


That is all for now... I used the sockets already on the harness to test fit, Im still waiting on the two new sockets to re wire where the old small ones where and actually put a double filament bulb in.. I will cover that when I get to it.
Hope this helped... If you've got questions just ask.

[91grandmarquis]

Just got the shipping notification on the sockets... It is going to be about a week.... Sorry for the delay.

[sly]

all in due time. This is great info. I'm probably going to look into this if I ever really mod out one of my panthers.

[91grandmarquis]

Thanks... it is simple enough.. I just thought I was going to royally fuck the dremeling up.. even though it isn't my first time around the block with crap like this, I still get nervous.

[MattsLincoln]

can't wait to do this to mine. Just have to wait about a month.

[91grandmarquis]

can't wait to do this to mine. Just have to wait about a month.

Yeah, waiting sucks.. right now the inner lights are just dangling in the housings, I suppose I could take them out and survive on the other 2 blinkers and the 1 marker, but I don't want the fuzz getting on my ass. Your car should be roughly the same deal as this, I assume the inner light is a single filament, with a different socket.

[Lincolnmania]

nice!
i wanna do this to the 92 gmq also, but i need to add the third socket in a portion of the trunk reflector that isnt lit

[MattsLincoln]

Yeah, waiting sucks.. right now the inner lights are just dangling in the housings, I suppose I could take them out and survive on the other 2 blinkers and the 1 marker, but I don't want the fuzz getting on my ass. Your car should be roughly the same deal as this, I assume the inner light is a single filament, with a different socket.

Actually since mine is early 80's it may be the same as the rest of the sockets. which saves work for me because i know i am going to fuck it up if i have to dremel it. Gotta Check. How do you get the tail light off.

[Lincolnmania]

with a hammer, no more pesky tail light

[91grandmarquis]

with a hammer, no more pesky tail light

This... or you can peel that carpet liner piece along the rear up and see the sockets without removing them. If you need to remove them I think it is like 8-9 11mm? nuts then 4 phillips screws going up through the filler piece.... you have to crawl under the car for these. Also you need to remove the license plate because it sits over both tail lights, or at least you need to loosen it.

[91grandmarquis]

Sockets are here... It is wiring time... I am off to buy the correct bulbs right now, I will se how far I get with this tonight. Wish me luck fellas.