This post is all about rear lights. The tag lights were not hooked up and only had bare wires (no insulation at all) coming into the trunk about 2 inches. The tail lights were hooked up but only one side worked ... same with the brake lights.
I started by removing the tag light housing to see what I was working with. A mess, that's what! The bulb sockets where all rusted up and the wires where shot. I believe you can order the bulb sockets original to the housing but I decided to retro fit a newer fixture for a brighter light. I also had to go to 12 volts rather than the original 6 volt bulbs ... these also fell apart when I removed them. Here is a shot of what I had ...
Cleaned up the parts first and shot some Rust Reformer on the rusted areas. Then I went to the parts store and located a suitable socket for the new bulb and fit that to the housing.
To retain the housing I used part of a curtain hook slid into the groove on the socket ... worked great!
Lights up the tag nicely ...
Before I get into the tail lights I will get the "Bling" out of the way. There was nothing to it really. The trunk handle was on the trunk but the wings were not. This did not look to dad but the holes were not filled in so I ordered some cheap replicas from eBay and installed them. Now to figure out how to latch the trunk ... that will be the next blog post!
If I were planning paint I would just do away with handle wings and all and fill in the holes. I'm not going there any time soon!
Back to the lights! Once I examined the tail light that was out I discovered the wires arcing when moved around. So I removed the fixture from the car to get a better look. The old cloth covered wires had worn through right at the housing. Rather than change the socket on this one I just rebuilt the sockets. I wish I had pictures but I did not think I would be blogging. I may add some latter. Basically all I had to do was pull the wires out and cut them from the small tabs that the bulb comes in contact with. Then take the tab and solder on new wires and feed them back through the holes in the socket. The other side just had a blown bulb so I replaced it and everything works as it should now. They could stand to be brighter so I may convert to LEDs later.. All that is left for the lights now would be turn signals. I think the wires are already run but a column switch is needed. Oh and the front running lights are loose so the go on and off.. I need to remove them to see what is going one there.
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