LED third brake light

[Vintalage]

I used an LED third brake light from the 2000+ Impala. I disassembled the Impala's brake light. I also took out the grand am's brake light and disassembled it. I then put the led circuit board into the grand am brake light housing and stuck the power connector through 1 of the bulb holes. I connected the led wires to the power connector. I then used the diffuser and Impala brake light lense and stuck it in. And now I have a led third brake light.

Some things I should note however. The Impala lense doesn't seem to fit very well against the trunk lid. There is a very small gap between the edges. And because i'm using the diffuser (or whatever you call it) and the impala lense, the housing isn't secured to the trunk lid. The screws could not tighten due to the added items. I think i'm going to dicth the diffuser and just use the grand am's lense.

Other than those things mentioned, it fits and works pretty well. Here are the pics.


http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/ledoff.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/ledslit.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/powerleadled.jpg

[Vintalage]

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/ledinon.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/alllightson1.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/alllightson2.jpg

[Vintalage]

I'll get day time pics in the morning. Some of the pics posted didn't come out to well. I should have used manual focus but wasn't thinking.

[Rba007]

So the LED's are red? Can you clear the housing then? I know eblend did it, but im wondering how.... Thanks for the info!

[Vintalage]

The leds, when not lit, are clear. When lit, they are red. So clearing the lense would look cool.

[Rba007]

Sweeeettttttttttttt!!!!!! Anyone know how to clear the lens?

[UNCTYPE-S]

lol, nice reverse fogs, looks just like mine.

[iceman]

eek I just did a how to, I didn't even see your thread, woops :)

looks good :)

[AaronGAGT]

How much does one cost?

[Rba007]

It was a bit less than 40 shipped from gmpartsdirect

[Vintalage]

Originally posted by UNC0808
lol, nice reverse fogs, looks just like mine.

Those are jamstrait 194 white leds. Same with the license plate bulb. :)

Originally posted by iceman
eek I just did a how to, I didn't even see your thread, woops :)

looks good :)

Your setup is better though. I didn't have the nessarsy tools so I just stuck it in there. Later on, I plan to drill 2 holes (as you did) for the power wires, file the edges of the circuit board so it can sit lower then tie it down.

Did you use the diffuser?

[UNCTYPE-S]

^ mine are huge 194 socket bulbs from home depot, used for sidewalk lights that actually fit our sockets. how cool is that. probably in person urs are brighter cause u have leds but in the pic mine look exactly like that.

ok back on topic, sorry.

[Vintalage]

Originally posted by UNC0808
^ mine are huge 194 socket bulbs from home depot, used for sidewalk lights that actually fit our sockets. how cool is that. probably in person urs are brighter cause u have leds but in the pic mine look exactly like that.

ok back on topic, sorry.

Not exactly. During the day, you can barely see the lights. But at night, they are ok. If only they made 921 leds.

[UNCTYPE-S]

yeah during the day u cant see mine, but at night their sweet looking. $ 1.50 for 2.

[iceman]

Originally posted by Vintalage


Did you use the diffuser?


newp... Was late and didn't feel like cutting it to fit :)

[papiogagt]

Iceman, you did a nice how-to. good job. I took mine out however. I ddin't like the way the led's looked with the "prizm" style housing. the red part made it look all weird. If i could just get a straight red cover w/ no design in it, i would have loved that. oh well. good job though

[Vintalage]

Day pics:

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/ledday1.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/ledday2.jpg

[hipfan39]

Looking good man!!!! Great looking MOD!!! I love the LED 3rd brake light MOD. I did an, animated 3rd brake light......
http://members.rogers.com/hipfan39/LED3rdbrakelight.gif

[Kdawg207]

Originally posted by hipfan39
Looking good man!!!! Great looking MOD!!! I love the LED 3rd brake light MOD. I did an, animated 3rd brake light......
http://members.rogers.com/hipfan39/LED3rdbrakelight.gif


OK

I have to know how you did that
Please PM some info

[iceman]

good ole 555 timer.. google for "led chaser" you will find all you want on the subject

[Kdawg207]

Ice...I'll try that, but yur post was all french to me.

[hipfan39]

Acually a buddy in the club made it! Just a circuit bored, with high intensity LED bulbs, and plug-n-play right into the factory wiring harness........

[Vintalage]

Finally finshed it up on Wed. Drilled holes, cable tied it, routed the wires through two holes I drilled, finished! Very similar to Iceman's setup. Difference is that I drilled my holes for the wires in the center instead of at the side like ice did. That's about it.

[Phantom Phoenix]

do you have pics

[Vintalage]

Pics of it complete? no. I'll get some today.

[Phantom Phoenix]

well unfortunately i'll be here til 7 tonight, so i'll be waiting

[Vintalage]

ok, the pics will show the how it is connected, and the cable ties. Since it's already back in the trunk, you can't see all of it.

[Phantom Phoenix]

that works for me

[Phantom Phoenix]

dude, is your car forest green?

[Vintalage]

Black...you missed my sig?

[Phantom Phoenix]

oh sorry, i saw that it just didn't register, it looks green like mine in the avatar

[Vintalage]

Oh, now I see it. It's just the trees reflecting off the side of the car. :)

[Phantom Phoenix]

yep that could be it

[lightningGA]

damn that looks sweet!!!!!

[Vintalage]

I'm a little late with the pics. Was busy most of the time yesterday. But here are the pics:

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/3rdbrakeconnector.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/3rdbrakehousing1.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~vintalage/images/Cars/My%202002%20Pontiac%20Grand%20Am%20GT1/3rdbrakehousing2.jpg

Forgot to mention that I also put electric tape around the leads for the led wires.

[lightningGA]

Originally posted by Rba007
It was a bit less than 40 shipped from gmpartsdirect

what was the part # from gmpartsdirect????

[Vintalage]

Originally posted by lightningGA
what was the part # from gmpartsdirect????

http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17198

Info in there.

[Vintalage]

The diffuser is clear, and in the pics, yes I did. I am not using it now since it doesn't fit properly and I had to use the impala lense. Now, i'm just using the GA lense and it looks the same with or without the diffuser.

[Vintalage]

Originally posted by Black4drGT
I just finished the LED third brake light. It looks great. :thumbs: I used the Grand Am's setup to hook up to the power. I just made the wires coming from the Impala LED longer and wrapped the wires around the metal strips where the bulbs used to snap into. Black on the bottom metal strip and red for the top strip. It look totally stock.

Another converter. :thumbs: It looks far better than the old stock setup. Even though I don't see it much. But it's needed if you put leds in your taillights.

[silverpenguin]

Vintalage, i have a quick question (or anyone who knows..)

Well, my mom has a 2003 impala, and she wouldn't notice AT ALL if i were to trade my brake light for hers....

so my question is..

what kind of modification is needed for the wires to work? Because the impala and grand am have different connectors to the wiring for the brake light.

They both only have 2 wires that go into the connector though...the grand am has a black and white wire, and the impala has a black and green wire (i think)...

so if you just bypass the connector, and match the wires up (black-black, white-green) will that work?

[Vintalage]

Well, if you look closely in my pictures, you will see that the impala led wires are black/red and the Grand am wires are black/blue. And in the pics, you see how I matched them up. Black--->Black, Blue--->Red.

I stuck the impala led wire leads into the grand am connector and covered it up with electric tape. It's been working great since July when I did this mod.

[lightningGA]

I did the same but soldered them to where the bulbs use to connect to. You can't tell it's any different then the stock one until it lights up:D

[oldsy]

i ended up buy hipfan39s 3rd brake light and i get soo many looks from people...