Fish Tank Lamps

This was one of my first modifications to my '94 MTX. I followed the instructions included below to the "t" and had no problems......thanks again, Mike!

From memory, the headlamp unit retaining clips were a little bit tricky. The 'head' of the clip is flat and at an awkward angle to pull at with the hands or a pair of pliers. By the time I was done removing them, I had snapped the head off of at least 4 of them. I was still able to reuse them, and realistically, this made them easier to grasp with a pair of pliers to re-install them. The only difference from what is outlined below is that I got some black plastic wire cover from the local Pep Boys, or wherever to cover the wires I ran. This made the install look so clean that the wireing blends in to the point where it's hard to even point out to people! I'm a little anal retentive, so with ensuring that connections were well wrapped and wires strategically positioned, my completion time was more like 2 hours.

So, here it is... instructions on installing your very own set of Fish Tank Lamps........

 

Thanks to Michael P. Holhut :

Fish Tanks are the middle-most lenses on a Gen II SHO, and are unique to only the 1992-1995 SHO's.  They were used to mate the Sable lighting system to the Taurus SHO grille/bumper layout, and are simply a filler piece with no other purpose.  This procedure shows how to install lights into these otherwise useless lenses.  I chose amber because of my personal preference for the color and safety.  Choosing clear bulbs for the fish tanks might also look good, if you change the front directional and side marker bulbs as well.  Check your local laws for the appropriate color for front directional signals.

What you will need :

1. 2 bulbs, (size #194NA for amber, size #194 for clear) apx. $1.50 pr.
2. 2 side marker lamp/directional "pigtails" to hold bulbs.  apx. $3.00 ea. @ Pep Boys and the like.
3. Electric drill.
4. 5/8 "  wood boring bit.  apx. $2.50 - $4.00 for the cheap ones.
5. Phillips head screw driver, (or bit for VSR drill.)
6. 8ft.+ of 14-16 gauge accessory wire.
7. Electrical tape.
8. 8 butt connectors.
9. Electricians pliers.
10. Utility knife.
11. 7/16 " open/box end wrench.

Procedure :

Open the hood, and remove the negative battery cable, just in case.  Then remove the Phillips head screw from the cornering/side marker light assembly.  Then remove the two nuts in the front of the side marker assembly with the 7/16 wrench, one upper, one lower, inside of the fender, next to the front headlight directional bulb housing.  Pull the assembly out and disconnect the side marker pigtail (which will be used as a power source for lighting the fish tank) and the cornering pigtail from the assembly.  Both come out with a slight twist.  Set the cornering/side marker light assembly aside.  (Good time to remove the silencer cone from the air box snorkel if you haven't done so already!)

Remove the three headlamp retainer clips, (two upper, one lower) from the headlamp assembly. (I used pliers to remove the two upper clips, and the Electricians pliers to remove the lower one.  Tabs on clips may have to be spread to remove the clips, but should come out with a good tug.  Caution: tabs on clips may break, but they can be reused.)  Disconnect the front directional bulb holder by twisting, and remove the bulb holder from the headlamp assembly.  Pull the headlamp assembly forward and disconnect the headlamp socket from the headlamp bulb.  The headlamp assembly can now be pulled from the car.

The back side of the headlamp housing can now be seen.  Locate the two screws and clips that hold the fish tanks to the headlamp assembly.  Remove the two screws, carefully.  Chances are, that these have never been unscrewed and may be very tight, take care not to strip the phillips heads.  Make sure the two screw clips remain on the headlamp assembly, they'll have a tendency to slide off the housing.  Now remove the fish tank from the headlamp assembly. Drill a small pilot hole, with a small drill bit, centered in the back of the fish tank housing.  This will guide the larger 5/8 " wood bit which will have the tendency to "walk."  When drilling both holes, do not apply too much pressure.  The bit will break through the plastic housing quickly and scratch the clear lens; not very attractive.  Make sure to remove all plastic shavings that fell inside the fish tank.  I stuffed damp facial tissue in the new hole and picked it out with some tweezers.  If you wash the inside of the fish tank, allow to dry thoroughly.Cut two lengths of the 14-16 gauge wire to about 2' each.  Rough measure the distance from the side marker lamp harness (from step #1) to the grille area where the fish tank connection will be made.  Make sure you have enough wire on both ends to work with while making the connections.  Using the utility knife, cut back the electrical tape and plastic wire loom to expose the 2 side marker lamp wires, then cut both of the side marker lamp wires making sure you'll have enough wire to work with while making connections.  Strip back the wire 1/2" on all cut wires.  Connect one, 2' length of wire to one of the side marker wires, from inside the fender, and twist together.  Connect the other 2' length of wire to the other side marker wire and twist together.  Slide one end of a butt connector over one of the twisted wires and crimp.  Install another butt connector over the remaining twisted wire and crimp.  Now install the wires from the side marker lamp into the appropriate butt connectors and crimp.  Make sure the OEM wires match up again, brown to brown, and white to white, etc.  Thread both 2' lengths of wire back through the fender and behind the headlamp assembly bracket.  Pull the new wires up to the location where the fish tanks are located.

Now fit the new pigtail into the hole in the fish tank.  It it doesn't fit, carefully shave the corners of the "X" fitting on the pigtail until you can push the pigtail into the hole and it fits tightly.  Remember not to cut too much off the corners of the pigtail, once it's gone you may have to use some sort of epoxy to hold it in place on the fish tank and seal it from moisture; done properly though, it'll fit nice and snug.  Once fit properly, install the bulb in the pigtail holder, and the pigtail in the fish tank.  Install the fish tank back onto the headlamp assembly using the two screws and the clips on the headlamp housing.  Make sure the lens of the fish tank lines up flush with the lens of the headlamp.  Install the headlamp socket back onto the headlamp so it will hold the headlamp assembly in place while you make the fish tank connections.  Connect one of the new wires to one of the fish tank pigtail wires by twisting the stripped ends together, repeat by twisting the last two wires together.

TEST:  re-connect the negative battery cable and start the car.  Turn on your headlights and check all lights for operation.  If the fish tank light is not lit, then reverse the connection of the two wires made at the fish tank.  If the side marker lamp is not lit, then the bulb may be bad.  Mine blew during installation and had to be replaced (Lesson learned, disconnect the negative battery cable!)  If all lights are lit, check for flash sequence.  When the headlamps are on, the fish tank and the side marker lamp will flash on/off alternately with the front directional lamp.  If the headlights are off, the fish tank, front directional, and side marker lamp will all flash together.  If everything is working properly, shut down the engine and turn off all the lights.  Untwist the fish tank connection and re-connect using two more butt connectors.  Wrap all connections with electrical tape.  Install headlamp assembly onto the car using the three clips which just slide on.  Install the front directional lamp into the headlight assembly.  Install the cornering/side marker lamps into the side marker assembly and install the assembly onto the car using the philips head screw and the two nuts, (I left the lower one off, because it was such a pain to get to and in the event I had to change some bulbs in the future.)

Repeat the process for other side.

Total time:  about 1 hour +/-.  It took longer to tell you how to do this than it actually takes to do it.

Total cost:  under $12.00.