My guess don't go there that's not the harness you seek.

The center bar is mounted to the rear bumper itself so any connector powering it will be part of that assy like the license plate light or the rear parking sensors and camera which all have a connector from the bumper harness to the main harness...

 

I would agree but the GTS has a wide fanny whether it's a 2GTS or 4GTS. I have a duck tail and wing. I think it would look awesome because it would light up just beneath the duck tail and wing.

 

any 4/S owner know which fuse the center tail light is on, is it the same one as the license plate lights?

 

I spoke with my Porsche downtown LA service rep again today. The modification is definitely doable. The light is functional. I did not get into specifics about how the modification works, electrical input-wise - sorry Larry Cable! - but I will get the skinny when I get the modification done in mid-September. I will speak directly with the technician who installs the light so I can glean as much information as possible. After seeing the bumper-removal video in this thread, I have opted to forego the DIY route and rather let a trained Porsche service professional do the installation for $450. I am afraid the DIY could morph into a horrendioma (a term we use in the medical field, for, well, you get the idea). I will be back with further information ASAP!

 

(my guess)
its a different wiring loom on the rear bumper itself, the light strip and some screws, make sure you at least get a list of the part #'s used in the conversion so that any DIYer can order the bits ...!

 

Will do - according to the rep, the only part needed is the replacement light. Could it be as simple as a plug and play? Maybe there is some sort of connection off the license plate light cable - as you suggested - that plugs in to the rear tail light. Maybe Porsche includes this standard whether it be the 2 or the 4 GTS. Time will tell. Keep you posted. Will even see if I can somehow get some pics when the bumper is off! Thanks Larry!

 

Or might be a tap-off from center brake light. Thanks, keep us posted

 

The plot thickens - the Porsche service rep who said that Porsche could install the center tail light in the non-4 GTS was mistaken. He meant that the clear center tail light could replace the red center tail light in a 4 GTS. That being said, in a recent forum, raman-gts mentioned that he had his non-4 GTS rear grill modified to the clear center tail light by his Porsche service department. In his post, he mentioned that a cable was needed to plug the light into the car. I private messaged him to get the location of his dealership so I could get the details on the part (I am still waiting to hear back from him). Disappointingly, my Porsche service department does not know the rear light wiring of the GTS and the 4 GTS well enough to know exactly how the wiring is different in the two cars, if at all. They offered to take off my bumper and look but if the necessary components were not there to attach to the light, they were going to still charge me for the look-see labor. I passed. I told them that I would continue to look into it. Do any of you RL'ers know the specifics of the rear light wiring of the GTS and 4 GTS? Or, do you know of a Porsche service department in the USA or perhaps overseas who knows every bit of minutiae about the GTS and 4 GTS? I am surprised it has been this hard to figure out but the quest continues! Thanks for your ongoing input!

 

The swap is not easily done, I have come to discover. You cannot simply swap the non-4 rear tail light harness for the 4 harness. It is not compatible with the car's main harness. The only way to do it would be to swap out the car's entire electrical harness for a 4 harness.

This is not the case with Canadian and European cars. For some reason, the wiring in these cars is different.

Live and learn. I am quite content with my GTS just the way it is! Thanks for everybody's input on this vexing modification.

 

Thank you for letting all of us know. I do appreciate your effort, time, and money.

 

It is doable. Someone from Taiwan has done his 991.1 GTS Center tail light modification. http://iphone4.tw/forums/showthread.php?t=220289. the website is written by Traditional Chinese with pictures.

 

Thanks for the follow-up Slin818! Now, only if I could read Chinese! Any Chinese speaking RL's out there who can translate? The service department at Porsche Downtown LA told me the electric wiring is different between the US and European/Canadian 911s (which, they claim, is why a European GTS was able to make the modification, as seen here on RL). If this is the case, perhaps the Asian market also has wiring that makes the modification possible. Or, perhaps it is possible with any 991.1 GTS, no matter its country - that is where having the text interpreted would be so helpful. I will see if I can somehow translate the text on Google translate. Thanks again!

 

Couldn't you just tap into one of the taillights (Specifically the running light wire) to power it on? Or will the CANBUS flip and throw a code since it's drawing more than expected?