European taillights

Hey Doc! I've done the same switch from US to amber Euro tail-lenses. Easiest thing to do is simply switch the bulb sockets' positions in the tail light assembly.

 

1) I removed the tail-light assembly from body (careful with removing wiring and rubber boot). Push rubber socket-boot a couple of inches back along wiring to facilitate re-assembly. Write on blue tape either 'brake' or 'turn' and place on the appropriate wires to facilitate re-assembly.

 

2) Push out the bulb assemblies from the back, switch their positions, re-insert into opposite socket hole, reattach to body, rubber boot and wiring.

 

To facilitate removal of bulb sockets I placed a 13mm socket on the back of bulb socket and gently tapped with your choice of hammer until bulb socket started to move out of the tail light assembly.

 

Hope this is helpful! 

Jim

That was my original plan.  Just seemed like bulb sockets were pretty fixed in place.  I'll give it another try.  Thanks.

When I went to Euro I just put on the new lenses.  I liked the look, but didn't like having the brake lights in amber, so I swapped the wires.  Now the running lights and turn signals are amber but all four brake lights (I have two extra) are red.  I didn't change any sockets.

 

Hmm, this got me wondering about the regs in California, so I looked it up. The relevant section of the vehicle code seems to be this:

 

Section 24600(e)

 

...Taillamps shall be red in color and shall be plainly visible from all distances within 500 feet to the rear...

 

 

http://tinyurl.com/mh2rhd4

 

 

 

Has anyone ever been busted for this? They don't seem to enforce all parts of the vehicle code with equal vigor. For instance, I'm pretty sure the law still requires you to signal a lane change. But the last time anyone signalled before cutting in front of me on the freeway was around 1993.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim, is your tail lights assembly the original one from Kirk, or did you add a new one that came with the  new amber lens?

Mike - those were the light assemblies from VS. Originally red but I switched out to amber Euro lenses.

 

Cognizant of the CA DMV code that Mitch referred to, I switched the bulbs to be in the correct positions (red brake light). Didn't want to give the CHP any more reason to pull me over.

 

 

…… just tail lights (amber) illuminated here. 

Hi Guys. I'm not 100% sure why you guys are doing this (I'm in the UK so have european rear lights) Why do you have amber side lights ? For europe we have "RED" stop and tail lights, i.e. twin red filament bulbs. The amber bulbs are for indicators = flashers, so single filament bulbs. I'm just a little curious that amber side lights are acceptable.

The outer, two-filament socket is covered by an amber part of the lens, hence the setup I described.  I suppose it would be possible to take the light fixture parts and reposition the sockets, but it looks like a lot of trouble and might not even be possible.  I wondered myself why the amber lens didn't have the single filament socket under it.  That would certainly make more sense.

Jim or anyone else.  The new lights I ordered have amber on the outside.  My best solution would be to just get some lenses with amber on the inside as in Jim's picture.  Does anyone know where I can get lenses with amber on inside and I can return the ones I bought.  

UK Dude:

 

This goes back a long way (to the '60's) to when 356 owners (original cars) over here in America thought it would be cool to have "Euro-Style" trim bits on their cars.  One of the easier things to do was simply swap out the tail light lenses for the Euro ones, not realizing until they got them on that the original Euro lights had the sockets swapped such that directional light was the outermost segment with a single wire socket (with the parking and stop light towards the inside).

 

Many years have passed since then, and many Euro countries are now following the TUV spec for light placement and color (we even followed it in the Computer hardware biz), which says brake light red only and "annunciator" (meaning directional lights) will be Amber and farthermost to the corner of the vehicle (or something like that - Spec reading is pretty dry).

 

So that's it, and no, it doesn't make any sense to have a stop light that's Amber in a world trained to think "Red means STOP!"  IMO it's just asking for an accident to happen.

Thanks Gordon. Just wondered. My names Steve by the way.

My bad! My Euro lenses were the usual amber/outer and red/inner. I mis-labeled my picture as "…taillights (amber) illuminated". This particular picture was posted to show the new license plate frame that incorporated a better (LED) license plate light as well as LED brake light in frame.

 

These pictures were taken BEFORE I did the bulb-socket switch. The picture is actually showing the red/inner tail-lights illuminated. The amber/outer are not illuminated. The taillights appear 'amber' because of white LED bulbs.

 

After switching the socket locations, the replacement brake-light LED bulbs were changed out from (white) to (red) for less color wash-out and more bright red appearance upon 'braking'. 

 

That would be the easiest solution.  I wouldn't mind going that route too.

OK.  No one makes lenses with amber in the center.  This is likely due to Gordon's commemts about having to see the flashing amber lens from the side.  So the only real option is to switch the bulb sockets.  Looking at my pictire the socket for the single filament bulb seems to be a lot smaller than the socket for the double filament bulb.  Hmmm???

I might be wrong, but even though those sockets may look different sized, the 1156 & 1157 (brake & tail) bulbs should have the same base.

Nope.  The bases have to be different as one is a two filament bulb and one is a single filament.

Jims are amber on the outside not inside.

 

On my car, I have all red lenses; Parking light and directional on the outside (directional to the brighter filament), brake light only on the inside (single filament).

 

So, all regulatory BS aside, let's help Phil, here......

 

"Nothing is ever easy.  OK.  This is my new left rear taillight that I would like to install.  Parking(head) lights and turn signals on outside with double element bulb, black and red wires.  And braking light, one element and one black wire on inside.

Of course this is not just a simple switch.  Current setup, all red, has parking(head) lights and brake lights on the outside with double element bulb, black and red wires.  And turn signals with one element and one black wire on inside.

Not too swift on electrics.  Help appreciated"

 

OK, so go to the lights you have.  You have one red wire and two black wires on those current lights.  I'm gonna guess and say that you want to just swap the two black wires on each light and you should be OK, with the end result of moving your brake light to the inside and the directionals to the outside.

 

But I can't be sure what color was used where on your car, so I need your help.

 

Have someone sit in the car and step on the brakes.  Next, you'll need a voltmeter to probe both wires going to the outside of one light to figure out which color wire is the brake wire.  Once you figure that out, swap that lead coming from the harness with the one going to the inside bulb (currently the directional).

 

Do that, and you'll end up with parking and directional on the outside and brake only on the inside, which is what I think you want.

 

No socket swap, just a wire swap in your case.

Sorry Gordon, I'm not 100%clear. The base of the twin fillament bulb has two connections , the single a single connection. If you don't change these out, i.e. reverse them, how can the bulbs work ?

Gordon

Thanks 

Yes, brake only on the inside is what I want.  Currently with turn signals only on inside.

Only free time I have is on weekends.  I will take your advice and give it a go this weekend.  I may PM you if I get in a jam.

Phil

Steve wrote" Sorry Gordon, I'm not 100%clear. The base of the twin fillament bulb has two connections , the single a single connection. If you don't change these out, i.e. reverse them, how can the bulbs work ?"

 

I assume you mean reverse the sockets, but that's not what Phil needs to do in this case.

 

All he wants to do is swap his brake circuit for his Directional circuit to get the bulbs to light where he wants them to light because he still wants two functions on the outside and one function on the inside, just different functions, that's all.  What I provided will do just that with no socket swap (he's just swapping directional and brake)

 

Now, giving it further thought, I also don't know what wattage bulbs Phil has in either socket, so he may have to play with different bulbs of different wattages (once he gets the sockets re-wired) to get the brilliance right (for his taste) for each circuit.  Least bright is tail light, twice as bright (or so) is both directional and brake light.  Just don't go too wild on increasing bulb brilliance unless you go the LED route, as a bigger bulb will burn hotter and may melt your lens if on for an extended period.

 

Still.......I think what Steve is probably concerned with is that the car will, after doing what I told Phil to do, have amber tail lights.  I know that, Phil knows that, Steve suspected that and now you ALL know that.  

 

I don't judge - I just tell people how to do what they want to do.  

 

If he wants to do it the way MUSBJIM (correctly) did it, he'll have to swap the sockets and Jim has already covered that.

Just did what most folks interested in the euro lens, just did the switch and nothing with the  proper bulb set up. Looking over Jim's instructions and using a volt meter that all looks very straight forward. Knocking out the bulb sockets maybe the most challenging task; I'll look at using Jim's approach and try this out this weekend when I take the challenge to move the bulbs to their proper lens color.

Anyone know what a European rear light assembly looks like?

 

I can't see how knocking out the bulb sockets and switching them will work properly, as the inner and outer backing shells are a difference size.  The outer shell is larger, as is the dual filament bulb, and the inner shell is smaller, to match the smaller bulb.

I can't see how switching them around will work properly.

 

Ron

Look at picture on original post.  You are correct about all above.  Going to try and switch electrics tomorrow.

Euro lights working. Tail lights and blinkers on yellow with turn signal brighter filament. Brakes only on red. Thanks to Gordon for showing me the light��. Being the technically inept mechanic I am I spent hours trying to set this up with lights not grounded. When the lights aren't grounded there are all kind of strange things that happen. Once I figured the grounding thing out and talked to Gordon it was very simple. Blinker wire switched with red hot filament wire. Done. Only thing is that tail lights burn yellow. Will hold on to red lenses in case someone decided to fail me on state inspection.

My old IM with Euro tailights on, not too easily seen, which is and was an issue. Ray

 

 

I sure like the colour of that car...

How bright are the brake lights?  (See you have a large 3rd brake light already).  Might want to look at multi element red LED bulb to replace the brake light bulb - not only brighter but cooler running too.

Brake lights and turn signals very bright.  Top brake light a great safety addition in these low cars.  Very satisfied.

Dave color is Mercedes Benz beige grey.

Yay!  They work!

 

Looking at my arrangement, euro lens with turn indicator/parking on amber and brake on red until I figure out how Jim switched the bulb sockets when they are different sizes and stick to driving during the day light only. I looking at enlarging the single bulb socket and machine an aluminum ring to press fit into the oversized hole that the sgl buld socket needs to be placed. These are just cool ideas. 

I looked up underneath last night and my sockets are both the same size.  That would make it as easy as Jim to swap them.

 

Take a look at your lights first (you can look right up there from under the fender) before you dismiss the socket swap as too complicated.  You might luck out.

Thank you Gordon, I'll pull the boots back and get a good view rather than from under the lens.

Jim, BTW, where did you find that 3rd brake light plate holder? And any leads to where I may find the red LED brake bulbs you mentioned earlier in this trail? Thank you

Michael - got that plate frame from Summit Racing. It has the 'brake light' as well as an additional light to illuminate the license plate. A little pricey but very good quality.

 

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bsp-55520/overview/

 

The LED bulbs I got from Pep Boys. They were $19.89 for package of 2. They look like these pictured. For best results, get the 'Red' LEDs for your brake light. White LED works fine for tail/parking light.

 

Jim, wonder if the led bulbs would fit my IM?

On my VS lights, the bulb socket was slightly too deep for these LED bulbs. The lip at the base of the LED bulb (in the picture it has a blue color) would prevent the bulb from being fully inserted into the socket for the bulb to make contact. Not sure about IM light assembly.

 

For my VS, I used the method I described on how to switch bulb sockets for Euro tail light lenses. Only had to tap the socket out (towards the bulb) about 1/8" for the bulb to make full contact with the socket. Hope that made sense. 

Jim, thank you. I'll put in the LED red light bulbs when I remove the tail lights and switch the bulb sockets to match the euro color sections correctly. Thanx as well for the plate cover with 3rd light link.

Well, I have come to a hault with the effort of switching sockets rear tearlamps; mine can not have their sockets switched as Jim did with his set up. Apparently, there are different mfg that Kirk used. I went as far as carefully cutting slots in the bevelled metal socket part inside the assembly to get the ring flexible enough for punching the sockets out from inside- I couldn't do it from the back side as Jim did for there is a metal ring, part of the socket that is solid  withthe stampled cylinderical portion (one piece).  Very tought to remove the socket. And to make things worse, the socket holes in the assembly are different sizes, by .065".  What a disappointment to find after all that work. So, I ordered a new complete Euro sets (retro) thinking they are built correctly to find out they are the same socket arrangement as to what I have on my car by Kirk . . . . !@#$%. Now, I'm stuck except switch the lens back to all red or never drive at dusk or dawn.