I finally crossed this off my list. I've been wanting to convert my 1971 backup lights to brake lights but the cost of re-pop parts, that may or may not be correct was prohibitive to me. I always look at the C3 parts for sale and found Bill (Bill17n72) listing of lens for sale at a good price. He even threw in the housing to boot. Bill even sent me $10 back because he thought they were not as nice as he thought. Stand-up forum member. Thanks Bill.

This information is from my 1971 Corvette. Your milage may vary on your year model.

I thought I was in for a battle as the tail lights and wiring harness is not the easiest things to get to. I planned on a few days but once I got started it all fell into place I had everything removed and cleaned up in a day and the second day was wiring and installing. One plus is my spare tire carrier has been removed for a long time. If it's installed it will have to come out. I managed to work around my mufflers etc. but they could be removed for better access. I managed to work around them.

I unbolted all the housing, including the two I was not replacing to clean them up. I got the wiring harness down and cleaned it up, repaired anything that was damaged but surprisingly it was in real good shape. I soldered and marine shrink wrapped in the new pigtails after making sure I have the circuits correct. On the 1971 the dark green wire on the passenger side is the brake light circuit and the brown wire is the running light. On the driver side the yellow wire is the brake light and again brown is the running light (sorry about my coffee stained wiring diagram ).

Spliced in new pigtails from Zip PN E-399. It's not correct for passenger side as they both came with yellow and brown wires instead of one having dark green. No big deal unless you want it to continue to match the original color coding.

New circuit


I cleaned all the grounds really good including getting a 5/8 round wire brush to clean inside the light socket. I cleaned all the housing and gave them a coat of metallic paint. I wanted something on the inside that would help reflect the light better. It's not NCRS or anything but I don't care about that. It will keep them from rusting like they were. Since I was using the outboard light housing from 1971 they have the fiber optics hole. Could have gotten creative and used the backup light housing but would have to swap the inner bulb housing to get the 1157 bulbs to work in them. I didn't want to go that far. I didn't mess with that and got some rubber stoppers from Amazon and plugged the holes. The brake light housings and the backup light housing mounting studs are not in the same location. A hole has to be drilled in the body for the brake light housing to work in the backup light housing location. Not a big deal.


Cleaning up the housings. These are backup light housing which I didn't use

Housing removed for cleanup and paint. I cleaned up my originals as well. Note the cracking around the stud holes. This is the "damage" I talk about below.



Painted housing installed. This was using the cleaned up backup light housings that I eventually didn't use. At this point I was thinking of modifying the backup light housings. I just made it easy on myself and drilled a hole for the brake light housings to fit.




Installed housing closeup

Weather boot

Rubber stopper


If you decide to do this be aware that the holding nuts will probably be rusted to the housing studs. It appears someone was in there before as some of the studs were already broken off. I soaked them with PB Blaster overnight. They all came out OK. The top studs need to be long as they have clamps that hold the harness in place and are attached to the studs. Luckily all my studs were just long enough. One I had to grind down a nut a little to make it thinner so the second nut that holds the clamp could be started. This was really the biggest headache. I did come up with drilling out the short studs and fixing a new one in but I luckily didn't have to. I also reused the wiring boot from the backup lights wiring.

Results:
Before





After

 

So, what do you do for reverse lights now? You just deleted them?

 

Delete for now. I may do something in the future.

 

Great write up and thanks for the pictures. Looks really good. I've had the parts to do this to my 73 for a few months but have been putting it off. This has finally given me the motivation to tackle it next weekend. I bought a led light bar that screws onto the license plate bracket that I will connect so I still have reverse lights.

 

I bought a cheap LED bar light that I'm going to try for backup lights. Should be here tomorrow.

 

Please post pics as I am going to do the same!

 

Glad you're doing that. Think at least one back up light is needed to be legal.

 

I had considered something similar on a bumper car; but also in concert with conversion from rear exhaust to sidepipes. As yet, not realized, But ...

Perhaps, "filling" the empty tailpipe surrounds with "driving" lamps, one strategically angled slightly; to serve as a brief "reminder" to tailgaters who insist on not dimming their Hi-beams.

 

This is an excellent mod that I did a few months back and I highly recommend doing it. Having 4 running and brake lights and 2 turn signal per side just adds to the safety and visibility to other drivers behind you.
I spliced in the harness as described in the first post after adding the two dual filament bulbs and housings with red lens.
For the backup light I spliced into one of the leads to the right-side backup light and stowed the other left side wire. I drilled a small hole and fed the wire through the panel behind the license plate to the LED light strip. The LED strip light uses the same screws that mount the license plate. It is super bright and you will have no problem seeing behind you on the darkest nights. Also, the light strip does not block the light from the license plate light assembly above it.
I purchased the back-up strip light from www.LUMAWERX.com

 

Classic cars in Virginia are not inspected. We don't pay taxes on them as long as they have classic car plates. If I wanted regular plates I'd have to get a safety inspection done and would need them unless I could talk the inspector into thinking backup lights weren't required in 1971 (actually 1968 is when they were made mandatory).

 

I like the look of your light and if the one I bought sucks I'll get one of those.

 

I wasn't thinking about inspections as much as a cop might hassle you if he saw you going in reverse with no back up light.

 

I don't think stuff like that is an offence you can be pulled over for in Virginia anymore. I just looked it up and in Virginia backup lights are NOT required for safety inspection however if installed they must be operational and you CANNOT be pulled over solely for lacking backup lights in Virginia. I guess if the LEO is an a-hole and see's you have backup lights but they don't work then he could hassle you. I would hope any LEO out there has better things to do with their time.

 

Please don't get too wound up, it was just a thought that crossed my mind. Years ago, a friend of mine was hassled by a cop for no reverse light.

 

I know in California, the Vehicle Code simply states that you must maintain all the original lighting on any vehicle and there can be absolutely no white lighting displayed to the rear.
The exceptions would be the reverse lighting, only if the vehicle came equipped with it from the factory, and only visible when the vehicle is in reverse.
The only other white lighting to the rear would be the required license plate lighting.
Usually, if you are stopped by an LEO it’s more of a curtesy to let you know there is a problem rather than to issue you a citation for the violation.
Now if you display an attitude and talk yourself into a citation, that’s usually on you.
During my 30+ year career, I never knew or cared that a C3 Corvette of certain model years had two brake/running lights and two backup/running lights.
So if your driving down the road with four red brake/running lights and they are all working, you are probably going to be just fine and no LEO will care or know the difference.
Now if you are backing up and don’t have some sort of reverse lighting, then you could be contacted by an LEO.
Vehicle lighting is all about your safety and the safety of others around you.
The LEO’s job is all about keeping everyone safe.

 

Perhaps "hassled" isn't the correct word I should have used but it seemed to fit the particular situation my friend was in.

 

Looks cool!

 

No not wound up. Actually you got me thinking about it more and I found the answer. Thanks

 

@Driving69 Can you post the part number of your light please. I don't like the cheap one I bought. It's way too wide and will look like crap.
Thanks

 

One nuance that I discovered when I did this on my 80 was that only the backup lights have cubic reflectors in them. This could become important if you are on the side of the highway at night, or if your light circuit fails.

So, in addition to adding very bright backup lights, I have additional reflectors to hang below the bumper, where they appear on many modern cars.