Frank 84 Bird

I'm trying to install 91/92 Gta Taillights in my 84 Bird. I also have the rear taillight harness from a 91 GTA. The problem I have is the harness that runs from under the dash to the rear of the car does'nt have seperate wires for turn signals. The turn signals and brake lights are using the same wires. Anybody else run into this?? I really don't want to start hacking into the harness under the dash but I think I might have too.

Thanks
Frank

Omega

iTrader: (1)

I just installed the same lights in my 89 Formula. All i had to do was buy 2 "slim" sockets from the junk yard. How are the lights setup on the 84's? Do they have the indicators using the brake lights?

Frank 84 Bird

The brake lights and turn signals use the same lights. They also use the same power wires. In 84 all the Firebirds had all red lights. I think I might look into the wiring from a 82-84 Camaro I know they had amber turn signals. I just hope I don't have to swap out the wiring under the dash.

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

I'm bringing this back from the way-dead, since it was the only post I could find that dealt with installing 91-92 T/A-GTA tails in an 82-84 Firebird.

Frank, I saw that you still post here, so hopefully you'll read this. Did you ever figure out the best solution to get the newer tail lights to work with the 82-84 harness?

I have the taillight harness from a 91 GTA, but right now I'm using the stock harness from my 83. The plugs are different so you can't just plug in the newer harness. The '83 sockets fit just fine in the '91 taillights, but as stated above, the turn signals and brake lights use the same wires, so the end (amber) lens never lights when signalling, but the other two (red) lenses do. When you turn the headlights on, all bulbs illuminate, so the amber signal lenses come on as well.

Can anyone who has done this swap in an 82-84 Firebird offer some insight?

Frank 84 Bird

Kevin,

I did this swap twice once on the 84 Bird but that car got wrecked and then again on my 87 T/A. I don't have any wiring colors to make it any easier. Both cars had different colors. It's just a little time consuming.

You definatly want to use the 91 harness. Your also going to need some Wire about the same gage as the taillight harness because your going to have to run a wire from the brake light switch to the rear of the car for you brake lights. Your also going to need a Heavy Duty Electronic Flasher to replace the stock one(Napa, Kragen, etc). The original Flasher works off current(I believe) so if you take one of the signal lights out of the system it thinks you have a bulb out and stops flashing.

On th 91 harness what your going to want to do is cut the connector off the harness as close to the connector as possible. Then you have to figure out which wires go where. left, right, brake, tail, reverse. The easiest way is to put the bulbs in the sockets and use your battery and try each wire and figure out where each one goes. Write down the color of each wire on a piece of paper then which light it goes to. I'm not sure about the fuel gauge wire.

On the 83 harness you also want to cut the connector off but leave enough wire on the connector so you have a pigtail. Don't cut the harness inside the car! Toss out the rest of the 83 harness. I don't remember if the fuel sender is part of the connector on this harness either. Now you get to figure out which wires go where. . A test light works perfect for this. Check it at the connector inside the car under the storage compartment. Turn one light on at a time. Then mark down on that piece paper which color wire goes where.

One thing you'll notice on the 83 is there is'nt a seperate wire for the Brake Lights. The Brake lights work on the same wires as the Left and Right Signals. Somewhere under the dash the brake switch wire is connected to the turn signal wires. What you want to do now is climb under the dash and find the brake light switch and find out which wires give 12 volts (test light)when the pedal is pressed. If you have/had cruise in your car there may be 2 wires with 12 volts going out. Basically you'll have a 50/50 chance on which wire it is(Igot it wrong the first time). You'll know you have it wrong when you hook up all the wires and your rear turn signals and brake lights turn on when you hit the brakes What you wanto do is cut the wire and run a new wire from the switch to the back of the car for the brake lights.

Then you hook up the 83 pig tail to the 91 harness using the color code you wrote down. The brake light wire will hook seperatly from the wire you ran from the switch to the tail light harness.

I know I over wrote this but It might help someone else doing the same swap too. It's been 5 years in both cars and I hav'nt had any problems.

Just wanted to let you know I jealous of your car I miss my 84

here some pics of my 84

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...ht=formula+113

If you have any qustions let me know

Frank

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

Thanks Frank, that was a great write-up. I didn't realize so much was involved when doing the swap to an early car.

Your 84 was really sharp and well done, I'm sorry to hear it was wrecked.

I'm sure this post will help out more people than just me.