i have recently got a set of the corvette tail lights for my 88 GT. What i would like to do is wire the tail lights so they operate just like a corvette, i want both bulbs on the one side to illuminate when i put the turn signal on and i want all the lights to illuminate when i put the brakes on. The problem i'm facing is when i have the turn signal and the bake lights on at the same time the lights dont blink they just stay solid, how can i wire this to operate like i want?

bump, can anybody please help?

I don't have the wiring diagrams in front of me, but if memory serves me correctly the GT's & the SE's are wired differently. I'll try to dig up the books later, but it sounds like you are starting from a GT. Is this correct? Also if I understand what you are trying to do, it sounds like you want the lights to work like an SE. Again correct?

If I remember right the corvette uses a 1157 light which is a dual filament bulb. The lower wattage is for running or park lights and the higher wattage bulb is for brake lights etc.

When you turn on the turn signals a seperate circuit then flashes the higher filament in the bulb and if the brake lights are on then you have a constant bright light on the side that is not flashing with an alternate flashing bright light on the side where the direction turn signal is on.

Now our GT's are different, we in effect have 3 illuminated fillaments in 2 seperate bulbs..The turn signals are dedicated and flash on their own regardless of brake application. The brakes then use this 1157 bulb which is dedicated for running/park and brake lights respectively.

so the question is how to convert our 3 filament type of lighting into the 2 filament type of lighting found in the se models or the corvette.

Depending on where you live the easiest way is to purchase a european to north american trailer/towing electrical assembly. Any u-haul dealer or automotive supplier should be able to get you one for about 8-10 bucks.

This adapter will have 5 wires on one side and 4 wires on the other. The 5 wires consist of ground, left, right, brake and running lights.

It will then adapt the wiring to work as ground left/brake right/brake and running lights.

To wire it in take a good ground for input, a seperate connection of both the left and right turn signals, a seperate connection from the brake and running lights. I would splice into my sockets with good 14-16 gauge wire and leave the sockets in place in the event you change back to the gt lights.

As for the output of the adapter, you will run seperate grounds to all 4 lights. You will then run the left and right wires to each of the two respective lights being the brighter of the two elements, you will then run 4 wires to the lower or dimmer part of each of the four lights. which will give you your running/marker lights.

You are still missing the back up lights, which if I can recall you could remove your reflector assemblies and replace them with white reverse/back up lights. I cannot remember where but I did see these somewhere.

I thought of doing this to operate as reverse fog lights with bright yellow lights to prevent me from being rear ended in heavy for or snow.

food for thought.

I do know that the se vehicles do this conversion automatically and someone might even know where to find the correct outputs on the vehicle.

However for the price of the adapter versus the time and wiring to do the conversion directly from the firewall, not to mention the ability to switch back to stock lights in the event that you find 2 mints lights,

I think this way is easier and faster.

Tim

My .02 cents here....

The difference between GT and SE is the lack of a single wire between the brake switch on the pedal and the turn signal switch assembly located in the column. Connector C210 has a spot for a white wire that supplies power from the brake switch to the turn signal switch assembly. Pin A on the brake switch will feed power to the turn signal switch assembly. I looked in my coupe to be sure, the white should go to steering column, but I don't know where exactly it makes connection. It has to at some point, I don't know the wiring of the column exactly but Jazzman would know it and have an exact answer for you.

The lack of that wire is what makes the SE and GT wiring different. The addition of that power feed from the brake switch will cause the turn signals in your GT to act just the turn/stop lights in the SE cars. The turn signal units are the same between GT and SE so there is no additional load placed on the flasher unit than what a SE car sees daily in normal use. Check out these links for details.

http://www.euronet.nl/users/fo_elmo/fiero19.pdf
http://www.euronet.nl/users/fo_elmo/fiero20.pdf

These are real good pages that show the GT and SE tailight system clearly. PM Jazzman and he should be able to tell you which connector to use to supply power to the signal unit at connector C210. He seems to be the resident steering column guru.

Hope this helps.
88Ironduke

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Pilots with out maintainers are just pedestrians with a cool jacket and sunglasses.
I.Y.A.M.Y.A.S.

The harness you want is for a trailer. Thsi will be the easiest no matter what your electrical skills are.
here's one example from JCWHITNEY CLICK HERE

I used this as an example for the picture. But no matter what type you get you need one side to have Green Yellow and Red OPTIONAL wires will be BROWN and White or black. and on the other will be all the other wires EXCEPT the red.

Here's the hook up
INCOMMING SIDE / CAR SIDE
Brown = Tail lights This wire doesn't matter to the converter. If your tails work Leave it
Green= Right Blinker
Yellow = Left Blinker
Red = Brake
White or black = Ground If this is there GROUND IT

Outgoing side / TRAILER SIDE
Brown = tails
Green = Right Blinker and STOP
Yellow = Left Blinker and STOP
White or black = Ground This gound won't matter too much to hook up.

I tried the trailer converter thing already, after wiring it in everything worked fine except i still had the problem where the turn signals didn't flash when i had the brake and the turn signal activated at the same time, you guys know exactly what im' trying to do though, essentially make the GT tail lights work like SE ones. thanks for the help so far

88IronDuke posted the electrical diagrams that you need. That white wire to the brake lamp switch is a key item. I did exactly the opposite of you (i.e. went from GT rear light wiring to SE style). re: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000001/HTML/20050818-2-060074.html

[edit] Just noticed that you got it working. Congrats!!!

[This message has been edited by RTNmsds (edited 11-29-2005).]

Glad to help