Anyone here planning on LT1 tail lights on 97+?
03-15-2010, 09:31 PM
#1
Staging Lane
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Anyone here planning on LT1 tail lights on 97+? I am going through the process of putting some LT1 taillights on a 99 and have run into the problem of no brake lights. The bad part on my half is I traded my tail harness for the LT1 harness. I've read some posts where it can't work unless you hack up the harness and I've read that you have to hack into the 97+ harness to those to work as well. Going through my schematics, it seems that the brake feed on 97+ cars goes to 2 places. One goes to the center tail light and the second goes to the rear of the car throught the lt blue wire. On a 93-96 car, the brake feed goes to the 3rd brake light and the other goes to the blinker switch.
Here is where I need someone's help. My car is in the body shop for another couple of weeks. On the schematics I have, it would seem that one feed between the 2 cars is the same: the center tail light. The second one splits off and goes to either the rear of the car OR the blinker switch. Why not add that wire to the column? It would be pin "P" on the steering column connector. On the car side, there should be nothing there and on the column side, it should be a white wire. All you have to do, theoretically, is run a wire from the lt blue wire on the brake pedal switch to the pin "P" on the steering column connector that is white. This should solve all of the problems of the brake lights and should work as they do on LT1 cars, without all of the hacking and cutting. And hell, work. 1 wire could solve all of the problems of this conversion.
Now, who here has the ***** to try it? If it doesn't work, the most it should do is nothing or blow a fuse.
Here is where I need someone's help. My car is in the body shop for another couple of weeks. On the schematics I have, it would seem that one feed between the 2 cars is the same: the center tail light. The second one splits off and goes to either the rear of the car OR the blinker switch. Why not add that wire to the column? It would be pin "P" on the steering column connector. On the car side, there should be nothing there and on the column side, it should be a white wire. All you have to do, theoretically, is run a wire from the lt blue wire on the brake pedal switch to the pin "P" on the steering column connector that is white. This should solve all of the problems of the brake lights and should work as they do on LT1 cars, without all of the hacking and cutting. And hell, work. 1 wire could solve all of the problems of this conversion.
Now, who here has the ***** to try it? If it doesn't work, the most it should do is nothing or blow a fuse.
03-15-2010, 09:59 PM
#3
Staging Lane
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The cover? It's the whole tail light housing last I checked. And even if you did switch out just the cover, it still wouldn't be correct in the brake light and blinking pattern.
The only way I've seen on here is to get the LT1 tails, use your existing 97+ harness and go to autozone or where ever and buy 30 bucks worth of light sockets. Then you have to dremel out the holes in the tail lights to accomodate the 97+ sockets. Once you get them in there, you have to splice into the existing harness to attatch the new sockets. Even then, they still don't work they way they should.
My solution is run 1 wire from the brake pedal switch to the steering column. Done. Finished. If it works. I'll try it on my car as soon as I get it back, but was hoping someone would try it first to see if it does work. If so, then I can rest easy. If not, I'll be staying up late again to find the proper solution. But this should work.
The only way I've seen on here is to get the LT1 tails, use your existing 97+ harness and go to autozone or where ever and buy 30 bucks worth of light sockets. Then you have to dremel out the holes in the tail lights to accomodate the 97+ sockets. Once you get them in there, you have to splice into the existing harness to attatch the new sockets. Even then, they still don't work they way they should.
My solution is run 1 wire from the brake pedal switch to the steering column. Done. Finished. If it works. I'll try it on my car as soon as I get it back, but was hoping someone would try it first to see if it does work. If so, then I can rest easy. If not, I'll be staying up late again to find the proper solution. But this should work.
03-15-2010, 10:24 PM
#4
i say get another 98+ harness and call it a day.
all i did to put 93-97 lights in my 99, was notch out the openings for the bulbs. if you do like 1 1/8" notch in the right spots the bulbs will fit right in. no other work necessary. i don't see why people go through the hassle of swapping/altering the harnesses and what not
all they did from 97 to 98, was change the color of the blinkers to amber, and decrease the size of the reverse light. but the housing design is exactly the same, so everything will light up the same way as they did stock.
all i did to put 93-97 lights in my 99, was notch out the openings for the bulbs. if you do like 1 1/8" notch in the right spots the bulbs will fit right in. no other work necessary. i don't see why people go through the hassle of swapping/altering the harnesses and what not
all they did from 97 to 98, was change the color of the blinkers to amber, and decrease the size of the reverse light. but the housing design is exactly the same, so everything will light up the same way as they did stock.
03-15-2010, 11:09 PM
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This is how my 93-96 tails look on my 98 (this is the look the OP is going for)
And this is how they light up with stock 98+ tails and no modification to the harness:
If I put the 98+ tails back on my car the amber part will be lit anytime my headlights/running lights are on
And this is how they light up with stock 98+ tails and no modification to the harness:
If I put the 98+ tails back on my car the amber part will be lit anytime my headlights/running lights are on
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03-15-2010, 11:23 PM
#8
gotcha gotcha gotcha! i was wondering where the confusion was.
okay i see what you're talking about. personally, i got the 93-97 because i like how they look better and flow with the car, as opposed to how they light up. i could care less about what the people behind me see at night.
okay i see what you're talking about. personally, i got the 93-97 because i like how they look better and flow with the car, as opposed to how they light up. i could care less about what the people behind me see at night.
03-16-2010, 10:19 PM
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This is how my 93-96 tails look on my 98 (this is the look the OP is going for)
And this is how they light up with stock 98+ tails and no modification to the harness:
If I put the 98+ tails back on my car the amber part will be lit anytime my headlights/running lights are on
And this is how they light up with stock 98+ tails and no modification to the harness:
If I put the 98+ tails back on my car the amber part will be lit anytime my headlights/running lights are on
03-18-2010, 07:07 PM
#14
Staging Lane
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Well, since no one was man enough to try and I got my car back, I gave it a shot.
And it works perfectly. 99 Camaro with properly functional 93-96 tail lights by running only 1 new wire and no other modifications.
And it works perfectly. 99 Camaro with properly functional 93-96 tail lights by running only 1 new wire and no other modifications.
03-18-2010, 07:18 PM
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Right. Mine work just like the LT1 cars. I used the LT1 harness and ran 1 wire from the light blue wire from the brake pedal switch to the steering column connector's white wire, which is in postition P. The wire is there on the column side, but not the car's side. As a side note, I know this should work on the 97-00 cars. I think in 01 and 02 cars, they changed the column and don't know if that wire is still there.
