4th Gen Tail light mod

[Mark42]

I don't like the way the brake lights in the tail light housing on the Firebird work. Each side has three bulbs, but only the two center most bulbs are brake lights (3057 bulb). The outer most lights are just tail/running lights (194 bulb).

I want to change the 194 tail light bulb to be a dual filiment 3057 so the entire tail light lights up with the brake or turn signal. It looks like all that it takes is modifying the 194 mounting hole to accept a 3057 base and wire it in parallel with the other 3057/brake/turn circuits.

Maybe even upgrade the 3157 to 4157K (kripton gas) bulb. A few more watts means a brighter light. And its a long life bulb.

Anone done this?

[sweetbmxrider]

watch out, the extra heat can warp the tail light.

[deadtrend1]

Lot of work for no reason to me.

When driving behind a bird (I noticed this following Jersey_TA to the shore one night) you barely notice the outer most lights from the rear.

If you do it be sure to post up the results.

[KirkEvil]

If you want to spend the time, convert to LEDs while youre at it. Personally I think its a lot of work for a corner light that you will never see.

[PolarBear]

I did this on my 88GTA when I put the sequential tail light mod in the car and it wound up melting the plunger in the brake light switch so the brake lights came on and stayed on. Not saying it will happen but if it does you know what happened, lol.
And this is about 10 minutes worth of work, not "a lot of work". You just have to cut the old socket off for the most part and out the new one on. I personally think it looks better with all three light up, I say go for it

[Mark42]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

watch out, the extra heat can warp the tail light.

Originally Posted by KirkEvil

If you want to spend the time, convert to LEDs while youre at it....

Yeah, if heat is a problem, LED's will fix it. Thanks for the heads up.

Originally Posted by PolarBear

I did this on my 88GTA when I put the sequential tail light mod in the car and it wound up melting the plunger in the brake light switch so the brake lights came on and stayed on. Not saying it will happen but if it does you know what happened, lol.
And this is about 10 minutes worth of work, not "a lot of work". You just have to cut the old socket off for the most part and out the new one on. I personally think it looks better with all three light up, I say go for it

Like you say, it should be quick and easy. When I stand behind the bird and my wife hit the brakes, it sure looked obvious to me that not the entire lens lights up. Just one of those things that needs to be tweaked to look right.

Apparently this is a common mod, found a few hits on yahoo.

When I get the sockets I need, I'll post pics.

[sweetbmxrider]

ya i definitely wanted to do it on my camaro, especially since they are black

[xrelapse13]

have this done on my car since i have sequentials. Its real easy, get a socket for dual filament bulb and wire that in and there u go. No probs with heat or anything.

[Mark42]

Originally Posted by xrelapse13

have this done on my car since i have sequentials. Its real easy, get a socket for dual filament bulb and wire that in and there u go. No probs with heat or anything.

I did this a few weeks back. Not too hard to cut the right size hole, then add the "notches" for the socket to lock onto. Works good.

[sweetbmxrider]

pics? comparison?

[transmaro93]

if you wire them parallel they might blink at a different rate... just warning you about that... may have hyper blinkers...

[xrelapse13]

u can get sockets that instead of notches have holes for screws, alot easier that way i think. and just get an electronic flasher so as to not **** with the thermal one after wiring them in parallel.

[Mark42]

Yeah, I put in an electronic flasher just to get rid of the tin can sound of the standard blinker.