Hi

I recently got myself a 89 Trans am w/ a 305.
When I got it , it was in preety ruff shape. Interior looked like the guy who sold it left the t-tops off during fall! It also needed paint, and one of the most important items it needed, is headlights. The pass. side unit was there, but really messed up and broken, and the drivers side unit wasnt even there!

I found a set on e-bay that looked good, and got them.
They got here today, and they seem to fit very nicely.
The only problem arose when I tried to connect the headlight motors. Seems that the motors I have, have 3 wires, and the harness from the car has 2.

My question is, is it possible to convert the harness on my car to accept the 3 wires needed for the motor? If so could anyone explain to me how to do it so I can get my motors moving properly?

Thanks for reading this, hope you can help me.
-Joe

 

You got the '82-'86 motors. You could just find some '87+ ones.
In order to convert you'll need a older harness and 3 relays. This system is a pain in the ***, though. Parts are hard to come by and the relays goes bad a lot. I have a '85 TA.

Matt

 

Has anyone out there ever done this conversion?

 

I tried to do that conversion with my 87 GTA that had a engine fire. I got a harness off of a 86 T/A that had the 3 wire harness and tried to convert it to the 2 wire. I found that it could not be done since the 87 up has a module that controlls it, and the 86 and prior has switches and relays.

 

I don't know how true it is--but I've heard that you can get away w/using Fiero headlight motors. just make sure you get the 2 wire ones!

 

It's true, the fiero motors will work. Also, if the bushings are bad/broken('87+ motors) ball bearings can be used or new bushings can be purchased from Ecklers Corvette. There website is www.ecklers.com. The Vette used the same bushings.

 

I've heard Ecklers is sky high--in price. I've heard you can just turn the gears around-if they're stripped--but that's not his problem, he has the wrong year motors.

 

Hey thanks for the help guys, the other day i was kinda annoyed with my purchase and i was sitting in the garage looking at them, and remembered when i brought the car home, even the most the headlight stuff was ripped out, i remembered that the motors themselves were still in there, so i found where i put them, and bolted one up to one of the headlights, plugged it in, and bingo, it worked!

The drivers side motor is dead, but passenger side one worked just fine, and now all i need is the one motor. Thanks anyway tho

 

fiero motors work but you need the fiero one from the opposite side of your broken firebird one. (i.e. your birds passenger side headlight motor needs replacement, so get the fiero headlight motor from the drivers side)

2 wire headlight system is easier to diagnose and maintain than the old 3 wire system. 3 relays in old system are replaced by one headlight door module mounted on the firewall near the brake master cylinder.

 

Does wire color matter I have an 88 with one motor with wires that are Grey and green and one with black and red. I don't think that would matter that much