1 piece tail light

[1badaurora]

I noticed the previous thread regarding turning the center piece on the trunk lid into a functioning light...well, I just bought my Aurora, the 1st thing I thought of doing to the car was turning the rear into a 1 piece tail light...then I came across this forum and couldn't believe others had thought of it already.
Obviously it is an awesome idea, and I have already thought it out completely on how to pull it off...but I am missing one very important thing: I cant take the damn center piece off, I have removed the 4 bolts that hold it in place, but there is a plastic thing holding the left and right bottom corner of the assembly, and cant figure out how to get it to let release the assembly, other than that I have the rest all figured out...and once it is completed I will post easy to understand instructions on how to acheive it, and I may even go crazy and buy a digi cam to take pictures of the end result.
So if anyone knows how to remove that center piece please let me know.

Thanks,
J

[1badaurora]

Well, the project has been tackled......complete failure.....details to follow (have to go and return everything I bought for it)

[JimW]

The previous thread about this idea never really got off the ground for fear of it being unsucessful, sorry to hear yours didnt work out either

[omegaic]

I'm sure it can be done, but is the reward worth the work? Congrats, you've got an Oldsmobile Mark VIII.

[kobalt]

Don't let it get you down - failure is only certain if you do not try at all.

[JimW]

omegaic said:

I'm sure it can be done, but is the reward worth the work? Congrats, you've got an Oldsmobile Mark VIII.

Wow...same page, I dont think it would be totally attractive, the Mark rear end and our rear end is very different, one is very linear, the other is not.

[scottydl]

1badaurora said:

Well, the project has been tackled......complete failure.....details to follow (have to go and return everything I bought for it)

Sorry, man... ...but somebody had to be the guinea pig and try it! I am curious to know what didn't work about the procedure.

[SupaStealth]

i honestly think it would look awesome to have a one piece tail light, i think one day i might try and tackle it, i'll have to find some bright strip led's, but i won't try until the summer.

[1badaurora]

Well, here goes:
What I thought was going to be a 2-3 hr long project...turned into 10...yes I began at 1pm...quit and put it all back together at 11:45pm.

I began by buying 4 "1157" bulbs, 4 sockets for the bulbs, 18 gauge wire, and tubing for the wireat AutoZone.

1st I had to figure out how to remove the center piece, it had 4 screws along the top on the inside of the trunk lid, I had removed those but something still kept the assembly in place along the left and right bottom corners...after trying for to long to figure out how to have it release, I had enough, so I pryed it with a screwdriver so it would just snap...Finally, center piece removed.

Then I spliced into the left tailight wiring and tested with one socket to confirm all would work, before I did all the work to later find out it wouldnt...well, for about an hour something was wrong, one of the guys in AutoZone couldnt figure it out...I spent an hr in their parking lot untill I figured out the left side and right side have their own fuse...the left fuse had blown, so the turn signal wasnt working...got that fixed ran home.

Spliced the 3 wires to the left tail light wiring, tubed it and ran it under the trunk-lid carpeting, just like the wiring for the trunk-lid light.

Had to go to Home Depot and buy a drill and a drill bit to go through metal...put 2 holes one the "left-half of the trunk lid, where the center piece was before, so that the sockets could go flush in there, opened 2 holes on the center piece where it would fit over the bulbs.

(I've skipped through all the several jams I ran into, cursewords and such...It was HELL)

Finally, the moment of truth, by now it was about 11pm, hell I thought this is going to kick ass..........NOT ENOUGH LIGHT SOURCE...you could see the darker areas that the light did not fill, therefore being able to identify the bulbs....

SOLUTION: needs at leat 4-5 bulbs on each side in order to produce enough light to fill the entire center piece.

What was nice was that the center piece has a divider in the center where the keyhole is, therefore each half would also light up with the turn signal.

When I saw that, I said the hell with it, it took too damn long, I put everything back together, returned everything I bought...that was the last time I take on a project like that.

What sux is I had it figured out, the right way....because no disrespect, but led strips, cathode bulbs, and neon sticks....are not going to work with the headlights, stop lights, and turn signals, and are not going to produce the same degree of light...the only way to go was using the same exact system the car comes with.

Well, enough on my part....bring on the criticizm/comments

[Aurora40]

Sounds cool. I think if you want bulbs to provide even light, you'll need some kind of reflective backing behind the bulbs to spread it out.

LED's or cathodes would probably work though. The car uses electricity to light up the back. It doesn't matter if it goes to an LED or an 1157 bulb.

Was there a reason you couldn't add 4-5 bulbs per side, or did you just run out of time?

[omegaic]

It stinks that you couldn't get it working 100%. Take any pictures of what it looked like with the bulbs in there?

[scottydl]

1badaurora said:

SOLUTION: needs at leat 4-5 bulbs on each side in order to produce enough light to fill the entire center piece.

I never would have thought of that...! I suppose some sort of metallic reflecting plate could be used within the assembly also, but there's probably no good way to insert something so big (vs. just drilling small holes for extra bulbs).

1badaurora said:

What was nice was that the center piece has a divider in the center where the keyhole is, therefore each half would also light up with the turn signal.

I don't think I'd be crazy about this ... IMO it would look better if the center lights stayed solid, even when a turn signal was flashing. You could probably wire it to the rear registration light wiring (instead of the taillight wiring) to accomplish this.

Sorry it took you 10 hours to find out... ... but this is great information! Thanks!

[dred98]

scottydl said:

... IMO it would look better if the center lights stayed solid, even when a turn signal was flashing. You could probably wire it to the rear registration light wiring (instead of the taillight wiring) to accomplish this.

I think you're right about the turn signals - but would it be easier to wire it to the high mounted light on the parcel shelf and just have it for brakes? Look like a STS then (well, nearly ;D)

[SupaStealth]

dred98 said:

I think you're right about the turn signals - but would it be easier to wire it to the high mounted light on the parcel shelf and just have it for brakes? Look like a STS then (well, nearly ;D)

yeah, thats what i was thinking as well

[1badaurora]

I wouldnt wire it to the 3rd brake light because it would only turn on when you press the brake...and not when the headlights came on....the same with the license plate light, it would be on when the headlights come on, but not when you step on the brake.
SOLUTION: using the same sockets I had purchased, with have 3 wires, 1 black, and of the remaining 2, 1 is for the turn signal, you would just leave that out, or actually buy the 2 wire socket which was available at AutoZone, which meas you dont get the turn signal, therefore resulting in the whole back piece turning on with the headlights, and shining nice and bright with the stop/brakes...giving it a more uniform look.

if I had a spare centerpiece, and the proper cutting tool to cut throught the trunk lid, I would once again tackle the project, I have a very good idea of how I would solve it using the same materials. But I am not going to experiment on the centerpiece I have now...if anyone knows how I can locate one, or has a spare ;D

But if I do get my hands on one, you can bet I will get it done right, I really think it was stupid of the folks at Olds/GM to not make that piece light up, what were they "not" thinking.

[scottydl]

The lighting wouldn't get any brighter with the brake lights unless you installed dual-filament bulbs and sockets. Is that what you are referring to? My idea was to have the centerpiece steady on with parking/head lights only, but not with brake lights or turn signals... which should work with the license plate light wiring.