Need advice about tail light

Topic: Need advice about tail light (Read 3246 times) previous topic - next topic

Need advice about tail light

April 15, 2005, 03:26:23 AM

Dear all,

In estonia we have a fck stupid car register laws :flip: . In shortly, before i can pre-register my tbird i have to change original red Tail Lights or modify them so way that it should contain two different lights. One yellow light for side and the red light for brake. I hope you will understand my problem. I hate this situation due my plan in project was to restore to original.
Do anyone has a clue where i can buy so called euro lights for Tbird? Any idea, help is grateful.

Regards,
Reinis

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #1 – April 15, 2005, 06:07:14 AM

I'm not sure you can buy euro tail lights for the T-birds, all I know is that some people modded there 87-88 T-Bird lights to look euro by taking apart and removing the red lens from the taillight assembly.

I don't think you can do the same thing with 83-85 T-bird tail lights as they don't have a seperate red lens along with a clear lens like the 87-88 birds.

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #2 – April 15, 2005, 01:04:32 PM

he means euro as in "european", they use a separate amber turn signal

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #3 – April 15, 2005, 01:16:07 PM

Reinis, I don't believe you will find what you need. I know for certain that these cars were exported to Canada and Mexico, but at the time no amber/red taillight lenses were necessary. You will probably have to make your own. On your taillights, I believe you can remove the brushed aluminum strip from the bottom, and possibly wire an amber LED light or something similar in that area. That's the only area I can think of, for what you need to do.

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #4 – April 15, 2005, 02:24:30 PM

OK, here's a suggestion for ya: In most areas backup lights are not required by law. If that is the case in Estonia you could put orange 1156NA bulbs in the backup light housings, then cut the wire going from the brake light switch to the turn signal switch. Cut the wires going to your existing stop/turn bulbs and connect these wires to your new "turn" lamps. Then, run a wire from the stop lamp switch directly to the factory stop/turn bulbs that you disconnected previously. This would convert your tail lights so that the existing stop/turn lights turn into stop only (no flash) and your existing backup lights (with orange bulbs) would become turn only (no stop function). This should get you by for registration and is about the simplest and most non-damaging way i can think of to make your car Euro-legal.

Now, if you DO require backup lights all is not lost. You could drill a 1" hole in each backup light hosing beside the existing backup bulb and add a second bulb/socket to the backup lights and use these as turn lamps. The backup lamp housing is plenty large enough to house two bulbs so you should be OK that way.

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #5 – April 15, 2005, 04:35:38 PM

Now that sounds like it would work to me...good idea!

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #6 – April 15, 2005, 05:51:14 PM

never would of thought of that

Need advice about tail light

Reply #7 – April 15, 2005, 08:59:12 PM

i don't think so

:flame: it just burns me up

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #8 – April 16, 2005, 09:32:17 AM

I'm sure the official regulation is in there somewhere....

http://trip.rk.ee/cgi-bin/thw?${BASE}=akt&${OOHTML}=rtd&ID='TSMm_RTL_2001,_69,_941'

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #9 – April 16, 2005, 09:56:13 AM

Thunder Chickens idea is very good, as long as the amber signal doesn't have to be on the outside of the brake lamps...

Re: Need advice about tail light

Reply #10 – May 14, 2005, 08:23:38 AM

Thank you everybody for advice, i will act like chicken mentioned.

EuroLights the Nor-way

Reply #11 – October 19, 2005, 04:53:29 AM

Heres what they did in Norway.
Front:
Orange blink bulb, little orange side blinker.
White lamp under bumper is disconected (for safety!)
Back:
Outside red lense replaced with orange, rewired
for blink only.
Red side marker blacked out (for safety!)

You have to laugh or cry.

Need advice about tail light

Reply #12 – October 19, 2005, 07:37:17 AM

Quote from: BobNorway

Outside red lense replaced with orange, rewired for blink only.

I think that's a great solution. It doesn't change the look of the car too much.

Can you explain the reasoning for this regulation? I don't understand how removing lights and changing others from red to amber will improve safety.

Need advice about tail light

Reply #13 – October 19, 2005, 09:49:27 AM

It's because of European lighting regulations. Rear turn signals must be amber, and of course brake lights have to be red, so the two circuits have to be separated.

That amber light conversion does look good, but that is not an option on 83-86 cars