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I purchased the plug in kit from AM when it was on sale. I also bought the replacement relay to slow down the process. First off there are absolutely No instructions in the kit. AM's site says this can be as fast as a 15 minute swap. I beg to differ. I did ask for some tips on here and other boards. And got some but the best help came from a customers install procedure on the AM site. It showed me how to remove all of the clips holding in the trunk carpet / surround around the lights to make it much easier. From my experience you need 2 small flathead screwdrivers, a medium Phillips head, needle nose pliers help, a 7/16 deep well socket, a 7/16 open end wrench, and a work light. Preferably a headlamp. I thought it was going to be a real bear because the first fastener I tried to remove on the trunk rear was in so tight I almost broke the head off, taking it off. The other 3 and the 2 Phillips head types came off much easier. My luck to try the stuck one first. Then on the advice of the write up on the AM site I loosened the side panels for access to the nut closest to the outside quarter panels. There are 4 nuts that must be removed on each taillight. One is hidden in a recess hole. There is a 5th nut that you may think is for the light, but it has nothing to do with the light, must be for rear fender cover. The normal price for this kit is $149 for the plug in light kit, and $49 for the relay. For $200 they could offer you an illustrated how to guide. I also feel for that amount of money how hard would it be to label the light sockets 1-2-3, stop. It may seem obvious, but when you install the lamps and turn on the blinker it's not a jump out at you 1-2-3 sequence. You want to make sure they are right before you reinstall them. The stop light is obvious, it's got only 2 wires and they are a different color. In my case purple and black. Since I didn't want to go through this and have a bulb burn out right away I went to Auto Zone and bought 8 new tail light bulbs. Cheap insurance, plus they were nice and clear. I removed the old harness and installed the new. Here I ran into an issue. The drivers side cable to the plug was about 1-2" too short. I had to remove the inside the trunk connector from its fastener. Even then it barely reached. Again for $150 don't be so stingy with the wire. 2 last things. There is no mention on what to do with the electronic module. It's part of the harness about 1"x 3" long. Left alone it could rattle or like happened to me, get in the way of reassembling your tail light. So I used some thick double stick foam/ tape to hold it between two bulb sockets. Final issue. I removed the OEM Ford yellow relay. It's held on by a clip under the drivers side dash. For you young skinny guys I'm sure this is a piece of cake. For a 52 year old, 200 lbs and 3 back surgeries, it was painful. My complaint is the new Raxiom relay doesn't clip in. So you either wire tie it, or it dangles. Again for $50 put it in a case just like the OEM, or provide a way to mount it.
I ran out of daylight. So tomorrow I need to reinstall my trunk surround, and tie up my relay. I'm happy with the look, especially on my all black car. A nice addition would be to tint my taillights and use hi intensity bulbs. But they were $9.99 for 2. My biggest issue is the aftermarket world assumes everyone has experience pulling on body fasteners. My car is a 96, it's in near showroom shape, and I get nervous pulling on a fastener or body / interior part not knowing how much force is too much. The AM video makes this look like you open the trunk, plug and play without removing the tail lights and it's a 15 minute job. If I did it again, had all of my tools and bulbs in front of me, knew where all the fasteners and nuts were, I'm looking at 45 minutes on a good day. And I'm not totally afraid of or unfamiliar with cars. I stripped my 70 Mach-1 down to the bare metal, removed every conceivable part, painted and restored it. But it bolted and screwed together, not push in fasteners and plastic. Thanks, Spiney-Dave
---------- Post added at 12:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 AM ----------
Forgot one thing. The connectors fit extremely tight together. In fact I thought they may be the wrong ones. So here's a tip. I sprayed silicon on them, they then inserted ok and clicked closed. Also the passenger cable barely fit, but it was not too short like the drivers side.
Oh I forgot another important tip. On almost every nut and washer the rubber seal was shot on the washer. So I put a bead of RTV silicone sealant on each one between the washer and the trunk to keep water and dust out.
I ran out of daylight. So tomorrow I need to reinstall my trunk surround, and tie up my relay. I'm happy with the look, especially on my all black car. A nice addition would be to tint my taillights and use hi intensity bulbs. But they were $9.99 for 2. My biggest issue is the aftermarket world assumes everyone has experience pulling on body fasteners. My car is a 96, it's in near showroom shape, and I get nervous pulling on a fastener or body / interior part not knowing how much force is too much. The AM video makes this look like you open the trunk, plug and play without removing the tail lights and it's a 15 minute job. If I did it again, had all of my tools and bulbs in front of me, knew where all the fasteners and nuts were, I'm looking at 45 minutes on a good day. And I'm not totally afraid of or unfamiliar with cars. I stripped my 70 Mach-1 down to the bare metal, removed every conceivable part, painted and restored it. But it bolted and screwed together, not push in fasteners and plastic. Thanks, Spiney-Dave
---------- Post added at 12:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 AM ----------
Forgot one thing. The connectors fit extremely tight together. In fact I thought they may be the wrong ones. So here's a tip. I sprayed silicon on them, they then inserted ok and clicked closed. Also the passenger cable barely fit, but it was not too short like the drivers side.
Oh I forgot another important tip. On almost every nut and washer the rubber seal was shot on the washer. So I put a bead of RTV silicone sealant on each one between the washer and the trunk to keep water and dust out.
