Quick_Trans_Am

iTrader: (2)

Edit: Not sure if this should be in the body forum, so if a mod feels it shouldn't be here, please move it. Thanks.


Hello All,

I decided about halfway through my little project that some of the info might be useful to people on here, so I figured I'd take some pictures and post what I did.

I'm sure many of you Trans Am/Firebird owners have fog lights that are less than aesthetic, with discolored or pitted glass and faded, rusty chrome bezels. Mine sure were!

Quick_Trans_Am

iTrader: (2)

After a few disappointing phone calls with local GM dealerships, it was to my dismay that The General now only offered the lens for the fog light, at the price of $55 each. It was good to know I could still get the lenses, but I was out of luck for the chrome bezels, and none of the local wrecking yards had any that were worth purchasing.

It was then that I was in my local Wal-Mart when I spotted this driving light kit:



and a close up of the part number:



Sorry, the lights aren't in the packaging due to the fact that I decided to document this after the fact, but they are very similar in dimension (and lens/bezel mounting) to the factory Trans Am/Firebird Fog Light assembly, and for $20 or so I figured it was worth the investment to give it a shot.

Quick_Trans_Am

iTrader: (2)

Now, the aftermarket light buckets don't mount in a similar style to the original ones, so I figured I could make a "hybrid" of sorts. Upon comparison, the chrome bezels nearly fit in to the factory bucket, but they would need a little modification.

As you can see, the aftermarket bucket has recessed points where the bezel seats:



The factory buckets do not:



To get around this problem, I had the help of my little friend here:



The bit on the die grinder in the photo made short work of clearancing the buckets to the same/similar depth of the aftermarket ones:

Quick_Trans_Am

iTrader: (2)

After the clearance work was done, I stripped the buckets:





I cleaned the brackets as well, and repainted the assemblies (sorry I have no intermediate pictures there)

Quick_Trans_Am

iTrader: (2)

I test fitted the bezels and had to do a little more clearancing to get them "just right". I think I put a 3/16" to 1/4" notch in them all the way around at the points I highlighted.

Once the paint dried I put the assemblies together, I had to do a little cutting and splicing, mainly because the new bezels use a screw to mount the ground wire, and the factory bezels use a tab and a spade terminal to mount the ground. It was easy wiring, really.

The aftermarket glass lenses and the bezels are now a perfect fit. But, I noticed the factory retaining clamps on the lens didn't hold the assembly to my liking, which was an easy remedy, I just used the clamps provided in the kit.

So the finished product:





The finished product on the car:



I, personally, think they turned out really nicely, and are an inexpensive fix to my problem. I've seen a couple posts about aftermarket lights before, but nothing really in depth (not that this is exactly in depth either). This is how I repaired mine, and I really hope this information is useful as a reference to someone who may be looking to refurbish their worn out lamps.

Also, if this is a repost of something similar, sorry about that. I didn't see anything in a search.

Derth Deboblo

Wow....very nice! Good Job!

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

nice!
I'm going to do something like that when i have the nose off.
My fogs dont work at all right now. Are they supposed to be able to come on by themselves? or only with parking lights? or only with headlights?
thanks!

Stephen

iTrader: (12)

The Fog Lights will only come on with the Parking lights or Headlights & will not work (stock) when the Hi Beams are on, only when the Low Beams are on, but there's a 3 cent/5 min. fix for that!

Fog Light Hi Beam Fix article

Quick_Trans_Am

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the comments!

Stealtht/a, it's exactly as Stephen posted. The fog lights can only be activated once the parking lights or headlights have been turned on. The fog lights are set up by the factory to turn off once the hi-beams are engaged. I opted to leave mine functioning as the factory had it, but it's a very easy job to turn them on full-time.

STRIKER911

iTrader: (1)

Here is a pic of the lights I got from Harbor Fright for $9. They look the same. Less work too. My car was not set up for them, but someone gave me the grill for free so what the heck. I wired the lights up with my own switch.

Very nice job on your lights though.

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

I got pulled over by 3 cop cars once for having my fog lights on. Supposedly that's why they pulled me over anyway. Made out with just a warning.

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

I'm glad to hear they were wired to come on with the parking lights only. For some annoying reason, the jeeps I've had were wired so the fogs would only come on w/ the low beams (not parking) so if you were in really foggy conditions, there would be too much light from the headlights to be effective. Of course, its not hard to fix that, but i wasnt sure if it was technically legal to drive w/ fogs and parks only. Maybe it isnt on newer cars, but in VT at least, whatever the cars came with for lights from the factory is legal.
BTW, just wanted to point out here that there are much better fogs available than most factory ones. Most factory fog lights actually have too direct a beam, they still reflect too much light back at you in very foggy conditions. I mostly use Hella FF fogs on my vehicles. They are NOT driving lights! They have a very diffuse beam which really allows good vision in poor conditions, but only at short range. This is what fogs do. If you want to see well on dark roads in clear conditions, you want DRIVING lights, not fogs. Driving lights by law must be wired for high beam use only and dont work as well in a low mounting point like on the firebirds. Just thought i would put that out here before we got the inevitable comment we always get on the Jeep forums "my foglights suck, what can I do to make them brighter to see on dark roads"

back to the firebird: I'm going to use yellow fogs when i mount up some Hellas. I'll probably have to do a lot more fabrication since i dont want to use any of the original fogs. I think the yellow will look better w/ the parking and front markers all being yellow or orange and I find the yellow more effective in real fog conditions.

Quick- Nice fab job! They look great But it does appear from the package and lenses that those are driving lights, not fogs. Depending on your local weather, you might find them more effective for your needs wired for use w/ the high beams.

Stephen

iTrader: (12)

They do have their own separate On/Off button, but they don't get power without at least the Parking Lights on. So you can't run the Fog Lights only & no other lights. But you can turn them off & leave the Parking Lights on.

I leave my Fog Light button always on & only hafta switch the Parking Light button on, to light them.

rough

Good to see our tax dollars hard at work huh

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

Good work on the foglights, they look good.
Actually I think they really pulled me over either because they thought I was about to rob the gas station or to see if I had been drinking. I stopped at the gas station because my girl had to use the restroom really bad. We left there to meet up some friends at a restaurant and when we got there she realized she left her purse in the gas station's restroom so I was kinda going fast back to the station to get it but not dangerously fast or doing any retarded menuvers. When I pulled in and parked they all pulled behind me. They asked a million questions, one of them asking a lot of questions about the car. Then they gave me a warning for fog lights. The gas station attendent was like "dude, what did you do that made that many of them pull you over? That scared me even, I was about to run in the stockroom and lock myself in there." FOG LIGHTS.

Quick_Trans_Am

iTrader: (2)

I know what you mean. The beams on these are more focused than the old fog lights. The factory lights had a shield on the bezel that would sit in front of the bulb to make the beam less intense. The ones I used in the picture do not have that shield, and the lens has less distortion in it, making for a much more direct beam.

Most of the light packages I see in stores any more are labeled as driving lights, and the fog light packages I've ran across aren't in a similar shape or design to what was in the car originally. That doesn't mean they don't exist, just means I haven't seen any yet. If I ever do find some I may just re-do my other broken set with them.

The reason I used these is because they were a quick and inexpensive way to restore the lights to working condition, with minimal fabrication, since new factory parts are no longer available with the exception of the lens.

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

Sure, I understand why you used them. But as you said, they are a more focused beam, so they wont actually do much good in low vis conditions. The nice thing about drivers on the firebirds that if you wire them same as the fogs, you can use them instead of headlights, so you dont have to turn the bird into "Ugly" mode. They actually did that on Knight Rider, because it was more photogenic w/ the lights down. It would be good for cruising well lit areas and as daytime running lights during poor vis in daylight or in those places where they tell you to use you headlights in daytime (undivided highways). My suggestion was to rewire them so you could use them w/ high beams too, then they would actually work as driving lights for you.

bobj823

I'm not getting power to the Fog Light switch. The relay works, and when I trip it (manually) the fogs come on. Does anyone know where I could look for the power feed to the switch ?
Thanks.. Bob.. deweybeach@comcast.net

omnipotentgoku

iTrader: (1)

I smell a tech article!

johndinu

ok my fog light buckets desintegrated... literally...

TRANSAM82-92

iTrader: (1)

Rock auto
www.rockauto.com

TYC Part # 19533370 {#16502945, GM2596101} Complete Assembly
Right; W/ Reflector
Left; W/ Reflector

$23.99

johndinu

lol it's the first place I checked too!!
unfortunately I think it's only lens plus reflector, no bucket