Oh man, see what I started [sigh] I'm keeping the grill! and i'll find some lights when I manage to build up a few extra bucks, i'm not in a financial hardship guys, i'm just on a tighter budget (like most people) these days. Since the holidays, business has been picking up a bit, so maybe it wont take as long as I thought! If anyone wants to help "the Steve", don't call 1-800-DIRECTV to get satellite service, call ME!!
Hey Daniel, I was looking to buy the crimper, not borrow it, and you are going and loaning my tool to others? I have more than just a little grill to wire. Like a car.
The crimper from Pegasus worked great -- after some practice. Highly recommended!! Now, I need to go get some nice heat wrap, just so I can massively over-engineer this whole project.
It doesnt sound like you are over-engineering this project Daniel. It sounds like you are just doing it properly!
I would never loan my tool to anyone, and crimping it sounds awfully painful. Now, I've never wired a grill, but I have grilled a few wires.
Yes, and thanks very much Brent! I have not yet had time to plug the thing in, but I have the grill, lights, etc. nearly installed. It does indeed fit perfectly, and I love the new look - classic Ferrari. I may not get time to finish it this weekend (which is killing me!), as I am in the National Guard and it is drill weekend. BUT, I will finish it, and post pics as soon as I am able.
Tell the seargent that you have a few important things to work on at home if you could please be excused.
My grill arrived today, i'm VERY excited about it!! The quality is exceptional, in fact it may be a bit TOO good! The finish is absolutely flawless! I am a perfectionist and a mofo of a nit-picker... I can find ANYTHING wrong with it, and I cant think of a thing that could make this piece any better! Even the packaging was outstanding and dare I say... ''UPS proof''!! I guess i'm gonna have to seriously consider prostitution to get cash for my lights, I gotta get this thing on my car!!! Any takers?? I've been getting $10, but i'm willing to negotiate!
I got the grill installed last night. I took a few pics, but they did not turn out because of the darkness. Looks great! I was unable to get the lights all working, however. The harness I purchased will requre some modification. The outer lights appear to be fuctioning properly, that is if I understand what they are supposed to do. Outer: tail lights and brake lights? Inner: turn signals and reverse lights (and brakes too?)?
I'm not laughing. Actually, I am. On mine: Outer = running lamps + turn signal Inner = reverse + brake MAJOR pain for the wiring. Make certain your OEM F355 harness has null on the empty pin. On mine, the empty pin had a wire but one of the live pins had an empty wire!
Tom, first thing: Did you make certain that the three prong taillight is on the outer, and the 4 pronger is on the inner? I believe that the reason for the extra prong on the inners is that only the inners have back-up (reverse) lights. Daniel, I traced my wires out and they were as follows. Does your map agree with this? This shouldn't be that difficult - every prong on the 355 lamps should have a "home" somewhere on the female 348 black plug, where each slot is numbered 1 through 9. Here is what I found on mine. Daniel, I'd be curious if your set-up turned out to be different: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Husker - thanks for the diagram. I will double check the 3 vs. 4 prong. I did try to swap the two harnesses (inner for outer) and would up with no life in the outers, and the inners had good brake lights, white turn signals, and no reverse.
Tom, please let us know when you get this figured out and post it. If we can get a system (i.e. map) that in place, this SHOULD be a snap. All I am trying to do right now is to correctly map where the posts on the lamps should connect on the female 348 plug. I think I've got it right, but then again, I thought I had it right when I was referring to the wires by color and we found out that Ferrari used different colors. I was hoping that with the converters you bought, we would really gain some insight as to confirming my map. I'm wondering if Brent's lights worked ok with the harness? Thank you in advance for your patience with this and posting your progress. I am really looking forward to solving the wiring riddle once and for all.
Hey guys been waiting for some more pictures.. the grill looks nice. Those harnesses I had were just plug and play for me. I just plugged them in and they worked, no stories. The biggest issue I had when I installed mine was cutting the right amount of the panel underneath to get the angles correct for the lights. I would love to see some pics of the underneath panel after the cutting has been done to see if it was similar to my modification.
You may not want to. Looking at Daniels made me cringe a bit. I think he is going to go back in and clean it up a bit though.
That was the most difficult aspect for me - cutting on my F car. "First cut is the deepest ..." ouch. But my cuts are straight, and I sanded and painted, so it looks pretty clean. I also think it would be very easy and clean to return to stock, if that ever became an issue.
I wonder if there were changes through the 348 production. What year was yours, Brent? Mine is a '91.
I get a question occasionally that sounds something like this... "Why can't you devise a way where you don't have to cut anything?" Probably the best way to answer this is by saying this: If you own a large dog, and you go to Petco and buy a large dog house, the house isn't going to do him any good if he can't get into it because the door is too small. You have to cut out a little larger opening. But if originality of the dog house is important to you, by all means let your dog sleep on your living room couch instead. The same is true with the round taillights: You have to modify your taillight frame to accept a different type of light - it's really that simple. If you are OK with the taillights setting out and pointing basically to the sky above you, I suppose you could decrease the amount of trimming a bit. Remember this regarding the frame you have to trim: 1. It's not a visible part. 2. The part can easily be restored with some simple welding. 3. It's not a visible part. A little later today, I will post the diagrams on the cutting of the frame, before and after.
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Good instructions Husker .......... though just my opinion .......... one should cut straight to the 'widen' part, so one will remove each side in one piece. That way if ever the 348 becomes a cult classic for some reason ........ it will be extremely easy to restore/weld one piece on each side .......
