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Light harness parts

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:55 pm
by ericjon262
Does anyone know if the tail light, brake light, turn signal, and side marker light sockets are available new, with pins that aren't pigtails? I have a few repairs I need to do, and I really don't want to splice in pigtails, I would much prefer to crimp everything and make new harnesses.

Re: Light harness parts

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:40 am
by pmbrunelle
I won't directly answer your question with a source of bare connectors, but...

When I did buy pigtails for the rear 2057 bulbs, I was able to take apart the sockets and get to the terminals.

I then cut off the wires from the terminals, and soldered my own wires onto the terminals.

So, there's a solder joint at the terminal, which isn't ideal, but it's supported by the plastic and doesn't see flexing.

Like this I didn't have the typical pigtail splices outside the socket.

For the other sockets that are overmolded, it may be tricky to do that right...

Re: Light harness parts

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:42 am
by The Dark Side of Will
IME, typical configuration with light sockets, because they get exposed to weather, is that the sockets seal or are molded over the wires. For bayonet sockets like the front turn signals and tail lights, I haven't seen the pins available separately, and they would be weird compared to everything else anyway. Just splice in the pigtails with crimp splices and shrink tube and you'll be fine. Use LEDs if you're worried about getting enough voltage to the lights ;)

Check this out for Notchies: http://www.fiero.com/forum/Forum4/HTML/078724.html
I'm thinking about these for my Formula.

For the side marker lights, the terminals should be more "normal" compared to other connectors, BUT I don't recall seeing them available separately or a buildable socket. If you find one, let us know. I've never seriously searched.

I bought some of the former Top-Line Group now Black Top Racing's LED side marker lights. They don't offer them anymore, which is probably a good thing.
They bought new repro marker light housings from The Fiero Store, split the plastic halves apart and installed an LED strip, then glued the halves back together, with a pigtail out the socket interface that would plug into the Fiero socket. That sounds great, except that they used white LEDs for all locations, so the fronts come out yellow instead of amber and the rears come out pink instead of red. I've been thinking about buying a set of housings and building my own the right way.

Re: Light harness parts

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:00 pm
by ericjon262
pmbrunelle wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:40 am I won't directly answer your question with a source of bare connectors, but...

When I did buy pigtails for the rear 2057 bulbs, I was able to take apart the sockets and get to the terminals.

I then cut off the wires from the terminals, and soldered my own wires onto the terminals.

So, there's a solder joint at the terminal, which isn't ideal, but it's supported by the plastic and doesn't see flexing.

Like this I didn't have the typical pigtail splices outside the socket.

For the other sockets that are overmolded, it may be tricky to do that right...
yeah, I was kinda thinking this might be the route I have to take, like it or not...

The Dark Side of Will wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:42 am IME, typical configuration with light sockets, because they get exposed to weather, is that the sockets seal or are molded over the wires. For bayonet sockets like the front turn signals and tail lights, I haven't seen the pins available separately, and they would be weird compared to everything else anyway. Just splice in the pigtails with crimp splices and shrink tube and you'll be fine. Use LEDs if you're worried about getting enough voltage to the lights ;)

Check this out for Notchies: http://www.fiero.com/forum/Forum4/HTML/078724.html
I'm thinking about these for my Formula.

For the side marker lights, the terminals should be more "normal" compared to other connectors, BUT I don't recall seeing them available separately or a buildable socket. If you find one, let us know. I've never seriously searched.

I bought some of the former Top-Line Group now Black Top Racing's LED side marker lights. They don't offer them anymore, which is probably a good thing.
They bought new repro marker light housings from The Fiero Store, split the plastic halves apart and installed an LED strip, then glued the halves back together, with a pigtail out the socket interface that would plug into the Fiero socket. That sounds great, except that they used white LEDs for all locations, so the fronts come out yellow instead of amber and the rears come out pink instead of red. I've been thinking about buying a set of housings and building my own the right way.
I saw those tail lights the other day, I'm not sure how I feel about them, the also don't fix the initial problem of the damaged wiring as they are "plug and play". LED's are in the plan for all of the lights eventually, but probably just as plug in bulb replacements.

Realistically, I'm probably going to end up just crimping in new pigtails and using quality shrink boot, to fix it, along with the front light harness.