I have an 83 firebird and the tail lights are extremely dim. even at night you can tell they're on but its too iffy for me to trust that other drivers see me wanting to change lanes or when I hit the brakes. I have already taken them apart and cleaned them as best I can but to no avail.



^ same style of mine but i just found it as a reference picture

i have looked around on my local craigslist and found a guy willing to sell me 92 style tail lights for $35.


^ that's the picture from the ad i just talked about.

so i guess what i want to know is there some other way to fix my own tail lights (like brighter bulbs or new lenses) or because of how cheap he is selling that would it be better to just replace them all together? but if i do replace it how hard would it be to swap out the wiring harness?

any help would be greatly appreaceated

 

im not sure how much the wiring differs, but isnt the brake lamps also the turn signals on that style? on the 92 style it has a the complete separate amber turn signal.

 

^ correct.

the early style has 4 bulbs, 3 brake (2 of which double as turn signal) and reverse light

and the new one has 6 bulbs, top 4 bulbs are brake lights and under that is 1 reverse and 1 turn signal (if i remember off the top of my head)

so thats why i want to know if its that hard to change the harness, ive seen other topics about doing the opposite (old tail lights into a new car) but they don't really help me much

 

well i know (atleast on the 92) that it all runs up the driver side. youd have to take the sail panel, wheel well panel and door jam panel off. idk how much the switch differs, but i could snap you a pic of the wiring diagram outta the service manual i have. i doubt the connectors would be too much different, maybe you could get multifunction switch with the wiring harness portion still connected from a donor car. i would get the harness that goes to the rear and separate it and re-loom it. idk if that makes any sense or if you already thought of all that.

 

yea i get what your saying. but the guy selling the tail light is only selling the tail light and none of the wires. and being in Arizona the sun and heat is lethal to plastic like any junk yard id be going to.

yea wiring isn't a problem for me. but having a diagram would help a lot. auctually i have a haynes manual, I wonder if it would have both diagrams for the tail lights or just one.