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Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Printable Version

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Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Focus man. Focus. - 03-23-2010

I picked up a set of very small fog lights at princess auto that are small enough to mount under the rear bumper. That got me to thinking about modding my existing tail light housings to a euro style set-up. To do this I would have to move the turn signal function of the tail light to the reverse light hole. I know Ken was working on something like this for his Fusion but I never heard how he made out after seeing the trailer wiring harness and replacement tail lamps last summer.

So for those that have done the REAL Euro swap, what needed to be done to the wiring to move the signal bulbs and reverse lights?

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - castone - 03-23-2010

There are little rubber grommets on the floor in your trunk(one on each side), all you have to do is extend the reverse light wiring through there and out to the lights.

All I did was use a small punch and made a hole in the center of the grommets and ran the wiring through.

I'd get into more detail but its been about 4 years since I did mine.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Focus man. Focus. - 03-23-2010

Yeah I got that part, its the easy one. But to wire up the reverse sockects to be the signals w/amber bulbs, and maintain the park/stop capability of the red's.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Jmountney1 - 03-23-2010

i was contemplating this as well. are you gona spray your clear part of your tail lights with a yellow night shade spray?



Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - konafocuswrc - 03-23-2010

it is not that easy just tap into wires..

you will need to cut off 1 wires where grey connector is(located behind rear quarter cover)
and cut another wires from the taillight and run new wires to reverse light..
that will seperate stop/turn signal..

if it is not raining tomorrow, i can snap some pics..

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - castone - 03-23-2010

There isn't really an easy way to get the brake and turn lights to operate properly.

The only sort of easy way is to run the turn signals from you front side or grill signals lights wiring all the way to the back (but that will just put an extra power load on your fronts).

The bulb holders and pigtails are different on the euro tails as to the North Americans, All I did was use a file and open up the inside of the euro tails to hold my factory sockets.



There is a way to do it from the wiring under the glove box, but I haven't tried yet (hopefully the next sunny weekend I will give this a try).
FF How Too

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Frost__2001 - 03-23-2010

castone,Mar 23 2010, 06:56 AM Wrote:There isn't really an easy way to get the brake and turn lights to operate properly.

The only sort of easy way is to run the turn signals from you front side or grill signals lights wiring all the way to the back (but that will just put an extra power load on your fronts).

The bulb holders and pigtails are different on the euro tails as to the North Americans, All I did was use a file and open up the inside of the euro tails to hold my factory sockets.



There is a way to do it from the wiring under the glove box, but I haven't tried yet (hopefully the next sunny weekend I will give this a try).
FF How Too
[right][snapback]303731[/snapback][/right]

Actually the easy way to have the 3 stage lights for your hatch is go to the wreakers and pull out from the plug the wiring harness from a sedan with the turn signels seprate already, all you have to do from there is test or mark each lead for what function dose what, I think I only had to cut the rear defog wire and resoder it. all the plugs are behind the rear passernger seat on the driver's side in the trunk.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - ZTWsquared - 03-23-2010

Focus man, Focus.,Mar 22 2010, 07:14 PM Wrote:I picked up a set of very small fog lights at princess auto that are small enough to mount under the rear bumper.  That got me to thinking about modding my existing tail light housings to a euro style set-up.  To do this I would have to move the turn signal function of the tail light to the reverse light hole.  I know Ken was working on something like this for his Fusion but I never heard how he made out after seeing the trailer wiring harness and replacement tail lamps last summer. 

So for those that have done the REAL Euro swap, what needed to be done to the wiring to move the signal bulbs and reverse lights?
[right][snapback]303707[/snapback][/right]

There's an electronic trailer wiring module that changes a "one-bulb" tail / brake / turn system into a "two-bulb" system ... sort of the reverse of the typical module you find in crappy tire etc, that allows "one bulb" trailer lights to work with "two-bulb" cars.

I bought one to use on the Fusion but never got around to it ... and will now use it to wire the Euro tails I got for the Focus.

Oh, and BTW - LOL - I bought two to them just because they were hard to find and the shipping was the same for one as for two.

I might be persuaded to part for my extra one if you think it's what you need ... and it is.

EDIT: and yeah, I did the wiring mod at the GEM thing to wire the Euro tails on the '07 wagon ... it was a pain in the butt and would have been a nightmare to reverse ... that's why I looked for an alternative for the Fusion, and that's how I came up with the module mentioned above. It's wired at the rear of the car at the lights and is easily reversed if needed.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - konafocuswrc - 03-24-2010

castone, the ff how to and your description doesn't match..
you don't need to go into glove box to do it..

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - castone - 03-24-2010

konafocuswrc,Mar 23 2010, 03:09 PM Wrote:castone, the ff how to and your description doesn't match..
you don't need to go into glove box to do it..
[right][snapback]303749[/snapback][/right]
?
Step one in the FF thread is to open the glovebox.

"1. Lower your glove box by pushing in on the tabs and lowering it it down, behind the glove box you will see your GEM module, it will have 5 plugs with yellow square holding tabs on them."

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - castone - 03-24-2010

Frost__2001,Mar 23 2010, 12:24 PM Wrote:
castone,Mar 23 2010, 06:56 AM Wrote:There isn't really an easy way to get the brake and turn lights to operate properly.

The only sort of easy way is to run the turn signals from you front side or grill signals lights wiring all the way to the back (but that will just put an extra power load on your fronts).

The bulb holders and pigtails are different on the euro tails as to the North Americans, All I did was use a file and open up the inside of the euro tails to hold my factory sockets.



There is a way to do it from the wiring under the glove box, but I haven't tried yet (hopefully the next sunny weekend I will give this a try).
FF How Too
[right][snapback]303731[/snapback][/right]

Actually the easy way to have the 3 stage lights for your hatch is go to the wreakers and pull out from the plug the wiring harness from a sedan with the turn signels seprate already, all you have to do from there is test or mark each lead for what function dose what, I think I only had to cut the rear defog wire and resoder it. all the plugs are behind the rear passernger seat on the driver's side in the trunk.
[right][snapback]303732[/snapback][/right]
Didn't know that.
Are the plugs the same as the hatch's? I can just unplug at the yard than plug in on my hatch and test at home?
I'd rather try this way then the GEM idea

ZTWsquared,Mar 23 2010, 01:44 PM Wrote:
Focus man, Focus.,Mar 22 2010, 07:14 PM Wrote:I picked up a set of very small fog lights at princess auto that are small enough to mount under the rear bumper.  That got me to thinking about modding my existing tail light housings to a euro style set-up.  To do this I would have to move the turn signal function of the tail light to the reverse light hole.  I know Ken was working on something like this for his Fusion but I never heard how he made out after seeing the trailer wiring harness and replacement tail lamps last summer. 

So for those that have done the REAL Euro swap, what needed to be done to the wiring to move the signal bulbs and reverse lights?
[right][snapback]303707[/snapback][/right]

EDIT: and yeah, I did the wiring mod at the GEM thing to wire the Euro tails on the '07 wagon ... it was a pain in the butt and would have been a nightmare to reverse ... that's why I looked for an alternative for the Fusion, and that's how I came up with the module mentioned above. It's wired at the rear of the car at the lights and is easily reversed if needed.
[right][snapback]303734[/snapback][/right]
Good to know!
I might give Frosts idea a try as it seems 100 times easier and reversable :)

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Focus man. Focus. - 03-24-2010

So for the person not familiar with sedans at all, which ones have seperate signals? I was looking at every sedan I saw on my ride home but nobody uses their signals on the 401, except me of course. :D But to be honest I only saw like 2 sedans and they were going the other way.

So back to the sedan wiring. Am I looking for a sedan with Orange signals or is their a sedan with red tails that have seperate signals?

I was thinking of putting Lamin-x over the stock reverse lights to have amber signals, but lamin-x doesn't have amber only yellow. So I would have to check at local vinyl sign shops to see if they have what I need or just use an amber bulb in the clear housing. I would prefer the first option but would settle for the second if I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - konafocuswrc - 03-24-2010

the one on ff, not the upper portion, bottom portion..
i don't understand why 02- and 02+ has different wiring..
they are exactly same thing, don't need to do the one at the gem..

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - konafocuswrc - 03-24-2010

here is the one from focaljet
http://forums.focaljet.com/exterior-modifi...-no-red-xs.html

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Focus man. Focus. - 03-24-2010

I found this on FF. Linky I think this is the one I am going to follow. I will check yours though.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Focus man. Focus. - 03-25-2010

On an unrelated note. I was just checking out the thread on this topic over at the Jet. I started reading some of the new posts etc. and they are all a bunch of A-Holes. That forum is full of SMUG. Fans of South Park know what I am talking about. Although they don't drive hybrids. LOL

Now I remember why I don't post much over there.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - paolo - 03-25-2010

I remember there was a nice how to on Focu Shacks.com a while back, did it disappear?

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - paolo - 03-25-2010

BTW, I was a pro at Electronics in my younger years, I could essentially study the wiring schematics and try and wire this up for you the way you like it to... After all, I was one of the originals who helped with wiring the Mach HIDs going on 7-8 years strong with not a single issue so far.

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - Focus man. Focus. - 03-26-2010

I think I will be alright. I have a good How-To from FF and it is very detailed on what to do at the GEM modules and also at the lights themselves. If all else fails I could always use hand signals out the window. LOL :blink:

Moving Hatch Reverse Lights To Look Euro - ZTWsquared - 03-26-2010

Focus man, Focus.,Mar 25 2010, 10:40 AM Wrote:I think I will be alright.  I have a good How-To from FF and it is very detailed on what to do at the GEM modules and also at the lights themselves.  If all else fails I could always use hand signals out the window.  LOL  :blink:
[right][snapback]303845[/snapback][/right]
Just make sure to paint your hands yellow first - then you're Euro!