EURO Taillights DIY

[cubefx]

Big Thanks to Kane and his Evilution Guide.

DIY: Euro Taillights Conversion.

Disclaimer:
Use these instructions at your own risk. I will not be responsible for fried SAM, broken taillights, melted harness, or any other stupid things people might do to their Smarts. I am also not responsible if you cut yourself, burn yourself, electrocute yourself, or sustain any kind of injury while working on this project. In other words, I will not be responsible for ANY kind of injury or damage (physical, mental, spiritual, whatever) that occur during the process of converting your NA Smart taillights to Euro taillights.


That is how I end up buying Euro Taillights.
I decided to smoke my stock lights with "Nite Shades" (tinting paint).


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Result was not too bad, but far from perfect. So I decided to order new Euro taillights from Smart Madness. Very fast shipping and pleasure to deal with. :-) Will recommend them to anyone and look forward to get more stuff from them in the future.


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It took me some time to figure out the best way to implement this mod.

Here is the problem, our smarts have different wiring then Euro smarts.
Instead dedicated wires for the blinker and stop light, we have only one wire. Because of that, our SAM unit programmed differently and we have two additional relays.

Relays located behind the SAM unit and not easily accessible.



Here is two simple drawings on how to wire "EURO taillights" I created, so you will have basic idea what I am talking about.

You will need to tap "taillights turn signals" from the side markers or headlights turn signals. Brake lights are tapped from "Third brake light". If you want, you can also wire rear fog light (left taillight). It is fun to scare tailgaters with it!!!!!!!


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I tapped in to the harness right after the realys, but If I did it again I probably just tapped in the headlights turn signal and then run the wires back into the cabin thru the grommet. To do it the way I did you will need to remove the SAM (not just lower it, but unplug it completely). Also there is very limited space over there and it is pain in the butt to solder.

Black/white wire - LEFT
Black/green wire -RIGHT

Wires connected to the SAM (connector N11-9).
If you try to tap before relays (right after the SAM unit), you will get both Brake AND Turn Signals.
Relays have 4 clearly labeled contacts (2,4,6,8). You need to tap to the wires coming out from contact 2.


This drawing is only for the TURN signal wiring.


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DISCONNECT YOUR BATTERY BEFORE DOING ANY ELECTRICAL WORK!!!!!!!


To replace the taillights you will need to remove rear panels. Evilution site will guide you thru this process.



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Electrical part of the taillights are identical (they even have the same part number)


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TO BE CONTINUED......

[cubefx]

Here is relays I was talking about.


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After you tapped in to the front harness (soldered and wrapped in electrical tape), you will need to run wires in to the back of the car to the left taillight.


Here is the harnes for the left taillight you will need to mod.


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You will need to add one pin to the plug and replace another one.
I went to the local junk yard and got the harness from the 3rd Gen Passat. Pins are not perfect match but work very well. To pull the pins out I used dremel. Just slice the plug and remove the carefully.


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To open Smart plug and remove the pins, use small screwdriver and push the plastic tab up slightly. Then use two wires to push the tabs on the pin so it will slide out.


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You will find 3rd brake light wire (Black/red) in the left taillight area (next to the blue water hose). You will need to tap in to that wire for your brake light.


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TO BE CONTINUED

[cubefx]

Also you can leave reverse light wires alone or disconnect it from the left taillight (so you can use the rear fog light).

Now you will need to run two wires from the left taillight to the right one (one for the turn signal and one for the brake light). There is two way to do it.
Under the carpet or thru the roof. I used roof path.

You will need to unclip (sp?) some of the panels.


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Soldering and connecting right taillight plug is the same as the left one.


MAKE SURE THAT YOU SOLDERING ALL THE TAP POINTS

Also instead electrical tape I used tape called "cold shrink tape". You can buy it in most Auto Parts stores. You cut small piece and then stretch it. When wrapped around the wires it melting on itself.

Youtube video

Youtube video

On the scale 1 to 10 (1 is easiest, 10 most difficult) I would rank this mod 7


If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.


CUBE

[Smart09]

nice work. But I would not trust myself in doing all that LOL STICKY!!!!

[AndrewGS]

Could you just take the relays out of line and then tap the third brake light?

I did an export tail lamp mod to my GMC Sonoma back in 2004 and I ran wires all the way from the front of the truck only to realize later that if I had cut one wire all I had to do wat tap the third brake light wire at the rear of the truck.

[mvaldes]

Thanks for another beautiful DIY demo.