If you are anything like me you are somewhat dissatisfied at the amount and location of the lighting in the
trunk of these cars I went on a trip down to Florida and had the back end packed. This included putting
things under the overhangs on each side I drove there during the dark and a couple times went into the back
to get a few things I had packed back there and couldn't even tell the light was on because there were things
packed in front of the light. Prior to that when I was cleaning the car up for the trip I had the rear hatch open
and had to do vacuuming and washing the window. I knew it would be open for a while, so I popped off the
cover and pulled out the bulb..... (burning my fingers) Then when I was done, I went to put the bulb back in
and of course you have to have the hatch open to do this,,, burned my fingers again.. Man, those bulbs
get hot fast!!! This being the facts I went about figuring what I could do to fix every complaint I had about
what they didn't do at the factory
This is what I came up with. Adding lighting and installing a switch to turn off the current lighting if I wanted
to leave the hatch open for any reason
 

This is the lighting fixture I chose. You of course can choose any one you want. I liked this one because it
already had a switch mounted in it and I wanted the ability to turn either the one I was installing or the
original on or off. I also liked the looks of it and figured I would get the most light from it because it
was clear plastic. It was about $6 at K-Mart
 

First you have to start off by removing the bulb in your existing light and DON'T burn your fingers!!
Next your rear carpet and underlayment. Fold down your back seats and remove the four screws
holding it in and remove the whole thing.  Now remove the trunk trays. You know the ones under your
carpet on either side of the spare tire.  Now remove the  back plastic trim panel by the trunk latch by
removing the four screws under the little round caps on top, (two on each side of center) two screws
in the corners under each Backup Light Access panel, two screws, one on each side in little holes
near the backup light access panels and a screw  on the floor on each side, that also hold the side
panels, for a total of 12 screws Put these screws in some sort of container so you don't lose them.
I used a Scotch electrical tape container, but an old butter container would work just as well
Carefully remove the back trim panel making sure no screws are still holding it in.
Now remove the side panel screws up to where the hatch support cylinders are mounted.
This should give you enough play to slide the side panels out enough to get the wiring in. There is a
screw on each side on the floor and another under an access button on the top edge.
There is also one christmas tree type plastic retainer
mounted on the top edge but it should pop out if you pry carefully. Best to just check your car
and carefully examine to see all anchoring points are removed because I can only speak for a 91 VR4.
Yours could be slightly different so just take your time and don't break anything
Now pry the panels out enough to gain access to the wiring for the existing light on the right side
and enough to see the inside of the top surface on the left side. Mount your light as shown below drilling
a hole using the wire grommet for the wires to pass through. Since we do not have a ground, we need to
run both wires out of the light housing. On the right we see the light mounted and the wires run up through
the grommet. You do not need to drill the holes for the screws to hold the light in place
Just pushing hard while turning will penetrate the plastic giving you a better screw hold than a drilled
hole and also leaving a smaller hole in case you wish to remove it later though I can't imagine why.
 

Now I ran both wires over to the other side even though I didn't need to. I took a black and a
red lead in wire and twisted the ends together and put them lightly in a vise and then put the other
ends in my drill and spun them to twist them together into a single wire "loom" so to speak as shown
below. I also put spade type connectors on them for access later if I need to take the panel
out again for some reason
 
 

Now fish the wires across to the other side along the back wire loom and tape it a couple times
to hold it in place. If you want to instead of spinning the wires together you can also take the black
ground and run it to a screw somewhere on the body in that area on the left side and only run the
red wire to the other side. Once on the other side, locate the original wire for the light and splice
in your wiring from your new light. I suggest either soldering in the connections or use those little
plastic wire taps with the metal wire piercer in them. I have used them before and they work fine
except I don't like the fact that they sometimes cut strands of wires decreasing the wire capacity.
Using an ohm meter or a 12 v test light, determine the hot side and splice your red wire from
the new light into it as shown below and tape the connection Note I also spliced in the black ground
You will not be doing this if you opted to connect your ground on the other side
 

Now take and 18 inch length of black wire and put a spade connector on one end and a
round connector on the other and connect it to ground as shown below on the right side
 

 Now Drill a hole above the switch you have purchased for the original light. I didn't tell you
to buy a switch?? hmmm sorry,, Oh, you need a switch if you want to switch off your original
which fulfills my complaint of not being able to turn off the original when the hatch is open.
I happened to have an illuminated switch left over from my Malibu Fog Light Mod so I stole it from there.
Now I have to buy another to fill that hole, but there is plenty of time for that later. I needed the switch,,
The hole will be determined by the switch you buy so I can't state a size, but my mounted switch is
shown below and can't really be seen from a normal trunk view and out of harms way
 

My particular switch is illuminated but I'll show you the wiring for it if you choose
an illuminated one. This particular switch has a ground (just for illuminating the switch and that
was that 18 inch piece I had you install,, whoops, don't do that if your switch isn't illuminated)
Next it has a hot lead. The hot lead is what we are going to switch on the original light so my
switch will mearly a ground, the hot side of the light supply wire and then the hot wire that used
to go to the light If yours isn't illuminated just cut the hot wire or the ground wire, doesn't
matter and put one side of the cut to one side of the switch and the other side of the cut to the
other side of the switch, simple as that. If it is illuminated hook up the 18 inch ground wire you put in
to the ground connection of the switch. Then hook the hot side of the wire you cut from the car to the
spade terminal on the switch marked hot and the wire from the light gets hooked to the spade
terminal marked accessory. To do this easier and leave me with more wire room I took my original
light out and turned it upside down and reinstalled it so the plug was pointing up instead of down,
my wiring looks like this
 

 The connection on the right is the 18 inch ground wire. The center is to the light and the far left is to the
hot lead from the car. Don't worry about the two ground leads hitting each other (same polarity)
Here is the Switch and Light Illuminated
 

Ok, here is the finished product after you reassemble everything, side by side with no
external lighting of any kind.A side by side view of the amount of light you get looking into the trays
directly below. I had all lights out in the work area for these pictures and the camera settings were
exactly the same. It will look a little brighter in person than the camera sees, but you get the picture,,, haha

 Original looking into tray                                                                       New Light

 And here is the finished products not illuminated with the hatch open. I placed the built in switch
on the new light facing toward the back so it wouldn't block light. It is still easily accessed though it
may not seem to be

For Comments or questions on this Page Click Here

 To Return to 3SI Tips and Tricks Click the Image below

Photos and text Copyright John C. Adams  Use prohibited without authorization.
For questions send e-mail.   Last Update 2/28/99