1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas
Thread Starter
82 JOHN
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
From: Brant NY
1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas
I have replaced the original reverse lights with tail lights, thus having two tail lights on each side...I am looking for suggestions for surface mount reverse lights, preferably something small in size and brighter than stock lights...My thought was to mount them in the location similar to the 1968 reverse lights.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Safety Car
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3,758
Likes: 3
From: Surrey
Re: 1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas (johnjchiavetta)
Hi,
I had to change my reverse lights to direction indicators (legal requirement is to have orange, not red, indicators), which left no reverse lights. I bought a 12v clear light (think it's something for caravans??) & mounted it to the rear impact bar with a short length of 1/4" st/st rod. I cut about 1" of thread at each end of the rod (28tpi - 1/4"UNF), drilled a 6.5mm hole in the bottom of the impact bar & held the bar in the hole with a nyloc nut & washer each side of the bar. Did the same at the other end to hold the light to the rod. Pic below shows the light roughly in place as I was rebuilding the rear end. I used the adjustment given by the threaded parts of the bar to bring the top of the light up level with the lower edge of the bumper cover. Since doing this I've found a place that sells much smaller lights (about 2"x2") which would look a lot better. As it is the light doesn't look too obtrusive. A smaller light would be good but it's just another job I've yet to get around to. One big bonus of this light is that I can clearly see what's behind me at night when reversing!
:cheers:
edit: :confused: no picture?
[Modified by UKPaul, 4:40 AM 2/12/2004]
I had to change my reverse lights to direction indicators (legal requirement is to have orange, not red, indicators), which left no reverse lights. I bought a 12v clear light (think it's something for caravans??) & mounted it to the rear impact bar with a short length of 1/4" st/st rod. I cut about 1" of thread at each end of the rod (28tpi - 1/4"UNF), drilled a 6.5mm hole in the bottom of the impact bar & held the bar in the hole with a nyloc nut & washer each side of the bar. Did the same at the other end to hold the light to the rod. Pic below shows the light roughly in place as I was rebuilding the rear end. I used the adjustment given by the threaded parts of the bar to bring the top of the light up level with the lower edge of the bumper cover. Since doing this I've found a place that sells much smaller lights (about 2"x2") which would look a lot better. As it is the light doesn't look too obtrusive. A smaller light would be good but it's just another job I've yet to get around to. One big bonus of this light is that I can clearly see what's behind me at night when reversing!
:cheers:
edit: :confused: no picture?
[Modified by UKPaul, 4:40 AM 2/12/2004]
Safety Car
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3,758
Likes: 3
From: Surrey
Re: 1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas (Twin_Turbo)
:lol:
Sure do! Where the car is kept is pitch black at night & has a very sharp turn to get out the driveway. At the bottom of the drive is a single lane track with a mature tree right on the corner of it & the driveway. On the other side of the track is a deep drainage ditch & a lot of other trees. Without being able to see where I'm going in reverse I could easily wreck my Vette :( At the top end of the track are some very expensive houses & all of them seem to own 4x4's. As this track is the only time they go off road they take it at high speed, so I need all the lights I can get to prevent one of them ploughing into me!
:cheers:
?? what do you mean? you actually use the lights to illuminate where you are going in reverse??
:cheers:
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,964
Likes: 0
From: Huntsville AL
CI 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Vet
St. Jude Donor '09-'10
Re: 1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas (johnjchiavetta)
I'm thinking about doing the same thing. Underneath the rear bumper, just inside of the mufflers I have two "U" channel plates, about 3"x4", that appear to be mounted to the frame. I've thought about mounting two small fog lights, painted flat black, to these and wire them as my backup lights.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,205
Likes: 1
From: "Too Low, Too Fast, Too Loud" TX
Re: 1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas (AD2VET)
Check into some super brite 6-8 inch white led bars..from what I understand the can be mounted on top and below the liscense plate frame and are very bright...hope it helps!
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Safety Car
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3,758
Likes: 3
From: Surrey
Re: 1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas (AD2VET)
Underneath the rear bumper, just inside of the mufflers I have two "U" channel plates, about 3"x4", that appear to be mounted to the frame.
The LED strips are a good idea but can't be done here as it'd shrink the visible area of the licence plate, which is illegal. Most people would probably get away with it, but I'm the guy that got fined 1/2 weeks pay for having a plate that was correct in all ways except that it was 1/4" undersize in height. And that was on a Honda C50 moped! How embarassing was that? :lol:
:cheers:
Racer
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
Re: 1982 Alternative Reverse Light Ideas (johnjchiavetta)
Even though mine's a wide-body, the same idea will work on any vette.I installed the bubble lights in mine so I bought 1969 Ralley Sport Camaro back up lights ! Easy install and it filled in the large blank spot on mine! Rick
:party:
:party:
