GTR 993

Do you have to remove the rear window to install a 3rd brake light over the window? I want to install the light buy it would be a royal PIA <img border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" title="" src="graemlins/cussing.gif" /> to take the window out to do it. Anyone done this on their car switching from a basket handle or stationary wing? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

Jeff 993TT

I haven't done the conversion, but at first thought I would say no.

One of the failure points of the brake light over the window is the contact points/wires wearing out. You can push a wire through the insulation and glass to reconnect the circuit.

I believe you can do the same for your conversion.

Here's the diy link to that: <a href="http://p-car.com/diy/glass/" target="_blank">http://p-car.com/diy/glass/</a>

N105DVV

Hi

I will need to do a similar conversion for my car.

However the RS has not been prewired for 3rd brakelight. Can anyone tell me where the power for the 3rd breaklight is normally sourced from? Pedal swith? Fuse/distribution box? Rear breaklight?

Any thoughts?

Regards

Phil...

Jeff 993TT

I think that it might be easiest to use the wires to the basket handle light.

If that is not available, then I would guess that you can trace it back to the fuse box.

Get a set of service manuals and take a look at the wiring diagrams. If you were closer, I'd offer to lend them to you.

GTR 993

Thanks for the info. I will give it a try and hopefully it will work out. Thanks again.

Caveman

I had the window spoiler brakelight put on my car and they said that most cars (probably not the RS as it uses lighter glass??) should have the brake wires wired into the glass and it hooks straight up. Unfortunately, some window installers cut these wires off when putting new glass in as they are not aware of the significance of the wires (doh!). Maybe this is what your garage is referring to?

Cheers,

David
<img border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" title="" src="graemlins/drink.gif" />

A.J. - 95 993

I eliminated the basket handle brake light, and had the holes filled in. I installed the 3rd brake light, and it went very smoothly. I had some concerns about the epoxy used to anchor the 3rd brake light, since the type called out in the Porsche documentation was not feasible. It's sold in a large quantity, and requires a special tool to dispense. Pretty expensive for one job. I used a 2 part epoxy from Home Depot that is sold in a "syringe" and dispenses easily. I'll provide more details if necessary.

The thing I dreaded was routing the wires through the weatherstrip in the back window, and pulling the rear trim panel off and figuring out which wires went to the old basket handle light. Lo and behold, when I removed the outer weatherstripping on the rear window (which was joyously easy - the outer weatherstrip is designed to be removed, and easily reseats into the original position), there were the factory wires for the upper 3rd brake light! I twisted the wires to check if they worked, and they did. I don't understand why the wires are there, why the extra money was spent for the glass when that option wasn't available for that year(?). There is a possible explanation, though. There is evidence that my car has been repainted in the past, and it's possible that this window was replaced. But if that were the case, I wouldn't think anyone would have taken the time to wire it up to the brake light system. So I don't know if all 95's have these wires.

But for a job that I wasn't too sure about, it turned out to be refreshingly uncomplicated. That doesn't happen often!

By the way, for those of you who do have to route wires through the back glass, as usual, there are excellent DIY's on this on <a href="http://www.p-car.com" target="_blank">Robin's site</a>

Jeff 993TT

Btw, there's somebody on the PCA classifieds who is _actually_ looking for a basket handle light for his car.

GTR 993

Thanks Jeff I replied to his ad to see if he still needed one.