The car is a 92 Spider. Connector 73 is in a bracket high on the left side of the drivers foot well. There is another smaller connector in front of it whose removal made it much easier to access connector 73. I disconnected the connector and the fuses didn't blow. The problem is in the cable running to the tail lights.
Removing seats, carpet, etc. to inspect the cable seems like a lot of work so I decided to do a work around to fix the problem. This summer, when I redo the interior, will be the best time to identify where the short is occurring. The work around is to run 18 gauge speaker wire from the fuse panel to the tail lights. The yellow connector on the fuse box connecting wires to F9 and F10 was unplugged as were the connectors to the tail lights. Both ends of the 18 gauge wire have 1/4' male spade connectors that were plugged into the fuse box and tail light. These wires also supply power to the license plate lights and side marker lights. The spade connectors for the tail lights had another wire crimped in place which was run to the license plate and side marker connectors. The two wires providing power to license plate and side marker lights required two 0.093 male connectors be attached, one to provide power to a license plate light and one to provide power to the a side marker light.
That left the issue of connecting the 2 other wires in the yellow connector to F9 and F10 and the connecting the other wires in the 2 taillight connectors. The solution was simple, connections were made using 2" jumpers with a male 1/4" spade connector at one end and a female 1/4" spade connector at the other end. I also made 2 jumpers with male and female 0.093 connectors to connect wires in 2 connectors that were unplugged to disconnect the cable with the shorted wires and connect wires to provide power to the license plate and side marker lights.
Auto part stores wanted about a $1 each for the spade connectors, however I bought an assortment of automotive connectors for $10-$12 at Harbor Freight. The 0.093 male connectors were found at Radio Shack. I also bought an assortment of shrink tubing at Harbor Freight that I used to cover the exposed metal of the 0.093 male pins after they were crimped. The 0.093 pins are designed to be inserted into a connector body.
The fix was obvious once I understood what the shorted wires provides power to. There's a hole on the left side of the rear firewall with other wires, etc. made running the 18 gauge wire to the tail lights easy.
Time wise it take a day to understand the wiring and identify what wasn't causing the short and 4 to 6 hours to buy connectors, wire, etc., make the cable, and install it.
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