Rear Amber Turn Signals in '86 Cutlass

[popeye1978]

Part 2 of 2 ...

REAR TURN WIRING
WIRE COLOR
For colors of the new wires I chose:

• Left Rear Amber uses gray wire with yellow stripe (Gray/Yellow)
• Right Rear Amber uses gray wire with green stripe (Gray/Green)

My reasons:

• I wanted a “matching scheme” for the new wires so it would be easy to identify them as the Rear Amber lights
• Stripe color matches the “side” of the car; as Left Taillight uses Yellow then when working in the trunk I only have to look at one of the taillights to reconfirm that Gray/Yellow wire is for Left Rear Amber
• Gray is the only complementary/base color I liked that couldn’t be confused with the existing wiring in the rear of the car

RUNNING the WIRE
I ran the new wires using the same conduit/pathway as the existing Rear Light Harness; this involved removing the rear seat cushion, Driver (door) sill plate, Driver kick panel, and the trim on the rear of the Driver’s door opening before using fishtape to get the wire through the conduit and into the trunk.


TRUNK & CONNECTORS
The Gray/Yellow and Gray/Green wires run from the Adapter Harness to the trunk and then through the car body via a new grommet installed behind the Left Reverse Light.

​

Figure 4.3-1. Grommet & Location

The amber lights themselves have three wires:

• Yellow for the amber LEDs
• Red for the white LEDs
• Black for ground

… so 3-circuit Weatherpack connectors are used for each Rear Amber Light:

• A WeatherPack “blank seal” is used for the connection to the “white LEDs” wire
• Ground wire goes into the trunk through the grommet, to the ground screw used by the other rear lights

GOAL EVALUATION


GOALS

1. Add amber turn signals to rear of the car (Rear Amber Lights)
   DONE
   
2. Make appropriate modification(s) so in each Taillight Filament 2 operates only as a stop lamp
   DONE
   
3. If necessary, restoration to Stock [Lighting] Configuration requires minimal effort
   To restore to Stock Configuration, simply undo the Adapter Harness connections & connect EF1 to EM1

 

[hangar401]

I always thought brake lights have to be red to be legal here.

Ihave Left side for 79 Calais and have not found a right yet

 

[hangar401]

In March there was a discussion here that Cutlass Supremes built for export in the late '70s had rear amber turn signals, as a "see if I can" project -- and as I couldn't find a thread here on that topic -- I started looking-into what would have to be done to add them to my '86 ... and success! Here's an "after" video I finished last night, I still have to edit/post a "before" video -- so non-car-people family & friends can understand the issue -- and finish a write-up for it.

Ihave acquired a leftside for my79 Calais still looking for right side