WICruiser

I have an '85 that has three of the four mounting points broken out of the tail light housing where the mounting studs anchor to attach the light to the rear bumper.

Has anyone salvaged / repaired this type of failure? It appears originally there were slots molded into the housing that the studs slid into but in my case the slot area is sheared off of the housing leaving the studs attached to the bumper and the light free to roam.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Podguy

I am not sure if you have the bumper cover off or not, but this is the first place to begin.

I have repaired the tail light housing on a couple of cars simply by using some epoxy and then drilling and embedding some bolts. I also sprayed the housing with some chrome paint. It all worked, but took a bunch of time and is still not as clean as if I used new or used lights. The 78-86 cars are plentiful and you can generally buy used light fixtures for not so much money.

Steve out in Ohio just bought a 79 parts car. He might be willing to part with a tailight housing. His user name is 10:38 PM juvius. Tell him I sent you.

Good Luck

Dan the Pod Guy

Optimator

I have to agree - considering the amount of work in removing the bumper cover, you are probably better off just replacing the whole light assembly. I did this on my car using a nice set from 928 Intl. for $75 apiece. If you use a taillight housing from an OB, check the bulb sockets. On my car, the PO had used 20w bulbs for the taillights, which had caused the plastic sockets to melt! The later cars have pressed-in metal sockets for the taillight bulbs, presumably to prevent this problem from occurring. Incidentally, my replacement light assemblies also had the incorrect bulbs installed, which had caused the lenses to melt just a bit.

WICruiser

Thanks for the insight. I do have the bumper cover off and now that I have the light assembly in hand the plastic is in rough shape in several areas so I will need to purse a replacement.

Thanks again.