... lamps for my bird at the junkyard today. I'm working on cleaning them up but.. for $40 and I wasn't even looking for parts for my car.. I won't complain
I never did like the firebird tails much, I think these t/a taillamps will be a modest improvement..

 

The right one is still filthy but, that will be taken care of soon enough..

 

Nice find, it always happens that way. Just wished it happened to me more often.

 

Yea I agree the TA lights are a big improvement for the car.

 

Amazing what you can find at junkyards. I found a whole interior in good shape- front seats, back seats, carpet, dash cover- all in excellent shape, and all for $70! Now my red Camaro has a red&black interior, instead of(nasty) tan!

 

now just give them a good polish and make them really stand out! like this......

 

I got my T/A tails from a swap meet for $60, and I also have another set I bought from the junkyard. You might want to get the wiring harness for them if you didnt already.

 

Ward.. I got the harness with the lights but, I'm not seeing why I can't use the existing one ?
I figured the outside lens would be turn (the amber one on mine now) and the 2 inner lenses would be park & stop (sort of like the 91-92 T/A, GTA lamps). Is that wrong ?.. I've never really seen T/A lights at night to know how they are lit.

Damm josh .. those are some glossy taillamps It looks almost like you block sanded them totally smooth and went to town polishing them. I didn't put much effort into mine last night since I was mainly trying to get the overspray off them but, this is what I've got so far...

 

the only sandpaper that touched those lenses was to get rid of the raised DOT letters that collect wax...about 10 swipes and they disappear. then use plastic polishing compound and a buffing wheel...and presto.

 

I don't have the right side done, this is how crappy they both looked when I got them...

 

damn, those look like sh*t, but yur doing good

 

you'll probably need the harness from a T/A. everything would work, except for the turn signal. on base lights, it's pretty long, as it goes in on an angle. on the T/A lights, the socket goes straight in the back (at least on the 91 T/A lights i have, they do) and won't fit. you may be able to cut and edit the sockets or something, but i personally lack the wiring ability for something like that to know if it would even be possible.

-Pat

 

Josh.. you should see the poor t/a those lamps came from

So it's the bulb sockets that are more the problem than the wiring itself it seems. It's been awile since I've had my old lights out but, I may have to check that out later tonight. As for wiring, I have no problems with doing that (unless I can't find my soldering gun). The T/A lamps have a wire that 'loops' it back to the signal switch to make the signals flash using the same bulb/circuit as the brakes. The base lamps are w/o this loop because they have the amber signal. The 91-92 GTA lamps appear to be wired the same as the base lamps (both have amber signals. So my though was to have these new lamps do the same except there's no amber lense. I'm assuming, with the exception of having to maybe swap sockets, this good enough ?
Thanks for the input black bird.

One more question, do the entire lamps (all 3 sections) light when the lights are on or just the 2 inner sections ?

Thanks guys

 

i think its the 3 outer bulbs and then of course the one closest to the center panel is the back-up bulb

 

You'll need the harness for the T/A tails because the firebird tails use different size bulbs. My buddy and I ran into the same problem on his 89 firebird when we tried to put T/A tail lights on it. The reverse and turn signal lights on the bird tails are small bulbs, the same size as the ones that go in the side markers, while the brake and tail lights are large ones, the same size as the front parking lights. With the T/A tails, there are four lights to a side, all of which are the big style bulb. One of the few advantages of having an 82-84 bird is being able to directly swap to the 85-90 T/A tails :P. Also, On my friends 89 bird, we couldnt find any kind of plug for the tail light harness, so you will most likely have to cut your harness.

 

great find, i wouldnt mind having those either!!

 

Wow, what kind of polish did you use?

 

Hey guys, thanks for all the info about the lights.
Ward, you were right about the turn sockets not working but, the reverse lights were the same. There were 2 194 sockets for park lights that I snpped off (unused on the T/A lights).
I ended up wiring a new socket on the turn and left the park/brak sockets alone. I'm thinking I might put the dual element sockt on the turn so they light up with the park lights but the turn is still independant of the brakes (I think that makes sense. Or does how I have it right now look alright (left regular, right, turn signal on) ?

 

Plastic polishing compound from www.eastwoodcompany.com and a loose buffing wheel.