Some years ago, I had a 1969 Mercury Cougar and really liked the sequential turn signals it had in the back. So, wanting to re-create that lighting system on my 85 Fiero GT, I looked for a conversion. I found “Webelectric” mentioned on the forum and ended up getting their conversion kit which was pretty reasonable at $70 delivered. It came with 2 compact modules, connectors, wire, diagrams and clear instructions on how to do everything.
The first thing I had to do was convert the 2 running lights in the back to run/turn/stop lamps. That would give me 3 run/turn/stop lamps on each side. To do this, I got 2 light sockets from the wrecking yard that matched the Fiero and tied them into the turn/stop wire of the socket beside.
There are existing holes in the fibreglass to run wires through as shown in the picture below. Using these as guides, I drilled through the trunk wall and installed grommets in the metal holes.
With this done, I mounted the sequential modules in the trunk, behind the carpet and followed the wiring instructions to complete the installation.
I tested the setup without lenses installed and it worked flawlessly, but rather than just put the lenses back on, I decided to do some cleanup and mods beforehand. The mods I performed were done in such a way that I can easily change things back to stock if I ever wanted to.
I took the taillights apart very carefully. The black “dum-dum” that holds them together was still quite sticky after 27 years, but steady pressure, some razor knife work and cautious prying got the 2 halves apart. I did crack one clip on one light and repaired that with a piece of plastic and some crazy glue. New dum-dum will seal it all.
First, the clear lenses were a bit cloudy with fine scratches
So I used some Turtle Wax Scratch & Swirl remover on them.
It took a while, but what a difference this made to the lenses. They look brand new! This shot is out of order, but it shows how clear the lenses are now.
Then I repainted the lens outer edges with Krylon black paint for plastic
My 85GT didn’t come with the rear “PONTIAC” word in the taillights. I kind of like the idea, so I modified my taillights to give a similar effect. My GT will soon have a 3800SC under the deck lid so I made up the 2 items below using overhead transparencies. I found the Pontiac font on the internet and used a graphics program called “Gimp” to design these printouts. I ran them through the laser printer twice to get good black coverage and stop light from showing through. Time will tell how long these will last, but they are easy to make and can be replaced if necessary.
I removed the original Fiero clear lens inserts to make room for my modification. I cut 2 pieces of clear acrylic and 2 pieces of diamond pattern acrylic (fluorescent light cover) for each taillight section. They were cut to the same dimension as the original lens insert face. I chose the diamond pattern to give the backlit wording a red jewelled appearance.
Then the printout, the clear piece, and the diamond pattern piece were placed into the Fiero lens, in that order, beside the red lens insert.
I secured the whole thing in place with black and clear silicone as needed,
I used a pipe nipple for some extra weight while the silicone dried.
The end result looked like this
While apart, I gave the taillight reflector surfaces a coat of chrome paint to help brighten up the lighting. I also chrome painted the mounting area for my new LEDs for the word backlighting.
I mounted red LED strips on acrylic pieces as shown.
I secured them with silicone. The wires were run through a small hole drilled in the light body to exit close to where they connect to the rear wiring.
I added some silicone to secure wires and as insurance for the 3M tape on the LED strips.
I made up some aluminum reflectors to mount where the back-up lights meet the word lighting area. This should stop the red led light from showing through into the back-up light area.
This is where the reflector was mounted using silicone.
This is a shot of the back side of the assembly. The wire exit point is sealed with silicone and the connectors I got from the wrecking yard.
Next, the lights had to be put back together. I figured it would be a good idea to use the same type of adhesive as original. It was relatively easy to take apart, even after 27 years! I called several body and paint shops and found it in 12” lengths, but not in longer rolls. I happened to bring up what I was looking for at a local glass shop and they had exactly what I wanted. It was a 20 foot roll of dum-dum for $10. It was a bit larger diameter than needed, but the glass place said “just stretch it”. They were right. You can stretch that stuff into whatever size you need
So I filled the little trough around the outside edge of the taillight back half and put the pieces back together. Then I mounted the lights back on the car. Here is the final result.
Here is a shot with the parking lights on. The sequential lighting looks even better with the lenses back in place. I will try to post a video of the sequencing lights soon.
A real nice job..
