Installing Lighted Logo's on a 2000 Ford Lightning

2007 Update: THE LOGOS ARE OUT OF PRODUCTION

HAVE BEEN UNAVAILABLE FOR 2 or 3 years now

The install would be mostly the same for any late model F-150

I got em from www.nthcoast.com a great vendor 
They are also available in limited sizes  from F150 Online Store

The Pictures are Thumbnails, click on the picture to see a larger version

The grill Logo measured 7 inches and I also Bought a 5.5 inch one for the tailgate

Grill Install 

Grill Before Surgery

First Step Remove the 6 or so plastic clips by unscrewing the plastic screw in the 
center and then pulling up on the clip.  You also want to remove the jack bar.  
There is one long screw that holds down the Intercooler reservoir as well.

Next Step is to remove the torx screw in the center of this picture.  It holds the corner lens in place.  
The lens just slides straight out after you remove the screw.

Then Remove the 2 black Phillips head screws.

A rubber strip( in photo below )  is clipped to the fender in two places on each side, to avoid scratching the lower  air dam or the fender I used a putty knife and sheared the plastic clips off, I will buy some replacements  and clip them back when I finish the wiring 

The two rectangular holes are where the tabs sticking out of the bottom of the grill clip in.
  The grill unclips if you ease it out of the holes. 
 I used my fingers behind the holes and pushed up on the metal clip to ease it out.

Close up of hole that Tabs below slide into

The nuts holding the stock logo on are cheap sheet metal and are about 11mm but they are
VERY hard to get a socket to grab on.  Which is why I removed the grill. 
 If you are more patient than I with a crescent wrench it is possible to install the logo without removing the grill.
I ended up drilling the existing holes in the grill a bit larger to accommodate the wires.

Back Side of Grill Sized logo I used the bolts to attach mine but you could use the double sided tape	Sample of hardware and inverter
Camera Flash off	With Flash on
No Flash	With Flash on

I attached the inverter for the grill logo to the side of the fender right next to the air cleaner.  
It is not a dry location but I figured with the amount of air rushing past the air cleaner it wont stay wet long.

Tailgate Install

Daylight View of installed Lighted Logo

No drilling required for the tailgate. There are holes behind the stock logo to align the emblem and they are big
 enough for the wiring.  The stock logo is stuck on with 2 sided tape.  Do yourself a favor and put the 
tailgate in the sun for about an hour ( may be longer outside of Texas in August ) with some paint thinner
 soaking into the sticky tape.  That way you can just peel the logo off.  I hurried and scratched the tailgate a little.
  The new logo goes back on with 2 sided tape as well so I just cleaned of the adhesive with 
paint thinner and then wiped with Windex.

View of tailgate showing wire loom coming out from hole in bottom of tailgate and routing to wiring under truck. 
It is no big deal to fish the wire down through the hole in the bottom of the tailgate

Looking up at tailgate and wires from below you can see the wire loom coming down from tailgate and meeting 
wire loom from inverter.  The wire loom closest to the camera routes to a hole on the body where I stashed the inverter.  

Since directions say it must be kept dry I put it in a film canister that I sealed with silicone.  
The whole thing drops into the hole above.  The hole is in the rear outboard corner of the rear quarter panel. 
The black stuff you see at the top of the picture is tire rubber <grin>

I connected to the license plate bulb circuit for a ground.  The positive wire can be seen in the photo above.  
It routes along the frame all the way back to the drivers side fog light.  That way I can turn the Logo's on and 
off without having to mount a separate switch.  I have some more work to do in cleaning up the wires, but it 
was real dark when I finished the job.  Which also explains why all the pictures of the tailgate install show "after" shots. 

                        I think It looks great                              Even the flash cant wash out the glow !!

Close-up of Tailgate Logo and Taillight

2/24/01 Update

Here is a Pic of the logo in a 2001 Lightning Owned by James Watson
My logo in the grill has picked up some water but it still shines and no cracks

1/4/2001 UPDATE :  

After 6 Months my Logos still look great.  Some of my friends have experienced cracking of the Logos
 installed in the grill.  This is likely due to the heat and stones from the road.  
I have not heard of anyone having trouble with Tailgate installs. 

9/7/2001 UPDATE :  

The Logo in my grill finally died from 18 months of rocks, rain and car washes.  
The front plastic didn't crack it came loose from the lighted back piece
I got a replacement coming from the guys at North Coast. 

9/15/01 UPDATE :  

 I installed the replacement today and took a couple more pictures to add here

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