I am considering installing a third brake light on my 85, but I don't like that high mount brake light. I think it looks like when they built the car, they forgot it, said oops, and slapped one on the roof.
Have any of y'all ever installed a convertible style third brake light in the rear bumper cover? I'm curious about how hard it is to make the cutout for the light without damging/cracking the bumper cover, wiring rquirements, location of logic circut, etc. Any help and or suggestions appreciated. TIA
:seeya

 

Don't mess with stock, too much risk to do real damage.

 

:iagree:

I was thinking about just swapping out the rear bumper panel. Don't know if it would fit though. Sounds easier (and would look cleaner) than if I cut :eek:
the hole myself.

Kirk :seeya

 

I did it. I ripped the rear bumper cover on my 86 vert. I bought a used one, same color as mine, but from a coupe. After removing the light from my bumper, I measured the hole very carefully. It is one rectangle as you'd expect, plus 2 holes for the bolts to hold on the light. I marked the coupe bumper with a ball point pen and drilled the two holes with a standard drill bit. I then used the drill to make four holes, one for each corner of the rectangle. I cut out the rectangle using a high speed orbital jig saw with a metal cutting blade (very fine teeth). The 4 holes are necessary so that you can make the right angle cuts of the rectangle. The jig saw has an attachment to cover its "foot" so that it won't scratch the surface of what you are cutting. There is a wide bezel that goes around the third brake light that will cover the 4 pilot holes for the jig saw and any parts of the cut that aren't perfectly straight. You can't tell the difference that it is not original. I will say that when I was cutting, the bumper was flexing a little so if your paint was brittle it could crack. But mine was fine, using the high speed saw and brand new fine blade. If you search the archives under my name, you should find my write up of the whole project.


[Modified by Charlutz, 10:23 PM 8/6/2003]