Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck? - Interior Forum - j-body.org

Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck? - Interior Forum

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Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck?

Sunday, June 04, 2006 2:24 PM

Soon I will be getting the spoiler removed from the trunk lid of my '02 Sunfire GT. I don't want to give the cops another reason to pull me over so I want to move the third brake light to the rear deck. My plan is to get a rear deck with a third brake light from an older Sunfire or Cavalier Coupe. I want everything to look original to keep with the "theme" of the rest of the car.

My questions are: How would I go about re-wiring the third brake light from the spoiler to up under the rear deck? Is it easy to re-wire it or should I let a professional do it since I don't have the slightest clue about wiring? Also, (if anyone happens to know) are the rear decks in Cavalier Coupes and Sunfire Coupes the same size?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck?

Sunday, June 04, 2006 2:30 PM

Ender_Wiggin

I would think you could move the harness up, and plug it into the housing for the rear deck.

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Sunday, June 04, 2006 2:36 PM

Kardain

Yeppers.... exactly that. Just reroute the harness from the trunk lid back to the rear deck.

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Sunday, June 04, 2006 2:58 PM

Carrie B.

Thanks for the quick responses guys

! I'm going to go take a look at it right now.

So, now all I need to know is if the rear decks in Cavalier Coupes and Sunfire Coupes are the same size? I would just get one from a Sunfire Coupe, but in three years I have yet to see one with a third brake light in the rear deck in any of the junkyards I go to. There are always plenty of Cavaliers with third brake lights in the rear deck though so hopefully they're interchangeable *crosses fingers*.

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Sunday, June 04, 2006 3:26 PM

Kardain

They should be, the interiors are interchangeable.

If not, just yank the 3rd light out of a Cavi that's the same color as the interior of your car and mount it up to your rear deck.

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 05, 2006 8:28 AM

Carrie B.

Yeah, I have been assuming they're the same, but we all know what happens when we assume things

.

As far as getting just the third brake light out of a Cavalier, I would except for the fact that the rear decks with third brake lights are different in that they have a little hump that covers up the backside of the third brake light housing. In other words, it will look ghetto if I just put the third brake light back there without the proper rear deck

.

As far as the rear deck question is concerned, I am going to answer it for sure soon. A while back I gave my friend a rear deck for his Cavalier so he could get rid of the car seat hooks. I am going to meet up with him one day soon and test fit it to see if it will fit in my car or not.

I also went out and took a good long look at the wiring yesterday. I looked at my car and my mom's car (since hers has a third brake light in the rear deck already). I see what I need to do and it's going to be uber easy so all I need now is my Cavalier rear deck question answered and a quote from the body shop on welding and re-painting the trunk lid and I will become the newest member of the spoiler-less Sunfire club

!

Thanks again for the help

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 05, 2006 8:40 AM

DaFlyinSkwirl (Pj)

the harness for both locations should already be in the car

you shouldn't have to re run anything.. I know in my 02 base model cav, I not only have the harness in the deck for my third brake light, I also have the harness on my trunk lid for a spoiler taillight (even tho mine didn't come with a spoiler) I know because I've plugged one in there before when i was toying with putting a 3rd brake light in my trunk.

its going to be easier than you think

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 05, 2006 1:13 PM

99fireSE

welcome to the spoilerless club

be nice if the cavi rear deck would fit, i did a custom 3rd brake light when i removed my spoiler, its nice, but id prefer the factory look

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 05, 2006 3:19 PM

Carrie B.

TheFlyingSquirrel (PJ) wrote:The harness for both locations should already be in the car. You shouldn't have to re-run anything. I know in my '02 base model Cav, I not only have the harness in the deck for my third brake light, I also have the harness on my trunk lid for a spoiler taillight (even though mine didn't come with a spoiler). I know because I've plugged one in there before when I was toying with putting a 3rd brake light in my trunk.

It's going to be easier than you think.

Yeah, I realized that yesterday when I was taking a closer look at my car and my mom's. My mom's has the third brake light in the rear deck, but there is also a plug on the trunk lid. Maybe GM's not as bad we all thought

. It's good to know that this part is taken care of since I thought it was going to be the hardest part.

99fireSE wrote:Welcome to the spoiler-less club .

It would be nice if the Cavi rear deck would fit. I did a custom 3rd brake light when I removed my spoiler. It's nice, but I'd prefer the factory look.

Thanks, although unfortunately I haven't removed the spoiler just yet

. Soon though, very soon. With any luck it will be before the Bash. Since I first got my car I have despised that damn spoiler. Once it's gone it will make washing and waxing the trunk lid much easier

.

Hopefully I am going to be meeting up with my friend who has a Cavalier this Thursday. I am going to test fit his rear deck in my car and see how it fits. I will definitely post here with my findings on whether or not it fits for anyone else who may want to do this to their Sunfire or Cavalier.

Thanks for the help guys

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 05, 2006 6:12 PM

sndsgood

cavalier dash should fine fine carrie, im on about my 4th rear deck and half of them have been from cav's i actually just picked up one that has the rear deck opening for the 3rd brake light, i dont have the light but have the rear deck. was going to shave that piece off and smooth it out because i owe it to spyder since he gave me his with the child seat pieces, if your intrested let me know and we can just trade out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 11:36 AM

Carrie B.

sndsgood wrote:The Cavalier rear deck should fine fine Carrie. I'm on about my 4th rear deck and half of them have been from Cavs. I actually just picked up one that has the rear deck opening for the 3rd brake light. I don't have the light but I have the rear deck. I was going to shave that piece off and smooth it out because I owe it to Spyder since he gave me his with the child seat pieces. If you're intrested let me know and we can just trade out.

So the Cavalier rear deck will fit for sure?

Thanks for the offer, but I really hate messing around with having to ship stuff, especially big stuff. I am going to go to the junkyard this weekend and see what I can find. There's always plenty of Cavaliers with third brake lights in the rear deck there so I shouldn't have a problem finding one.

Thanks again though

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 7:55 PM

Laffs00GT

Pffffft spoilerless. Lol j/k

I have a cavy rear deck in my fire, fits fine, you should have problems with the swap

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 8:14 PM

98sedanz24

ill trade you rear decks. im lookin for one without the brake light in the deck

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Wednesday, June 07, 2006 4:26 AM

sndsgood

4 door rear decks may have issues, im not positive on that one though.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Wednesday, June 07, 2006 6:52 AM

Carrie B.

Laffs99GT wrote:Pffffft spoilerless. Lol j/k

I have a cavy rear deck in my fire, fits fine, you should have problems with the swap

I know! Who in their right mind would take the spoiler off a Sunfire? I know it will look like a$$ but I'm going to remove it any way

.

I figured it would fit, but I wanted to make sure before I went and got one from the junkyard that I couldn't do anything with.

98sedanz24 wrote:ill trade you rear decks. im lookin for one without the brake light in the deck

Thanks for the offer, but Coupe and Sedan rear decks aren't interchangeable. The Coupe rear deck goes back much further since the rear window on a Coupe is bigger.

sndsgood wrote:4 door rear decks may have issues, im not positive on that one though.

Yes, you're correct

.

Thanks for the help guys

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:00 AM

Stephen (manta z)

J TO ENVY wrote:
TheFlyingSquirrel (PJ) wrote:The harness for both locations should already be in the car. You shouldn't have to re-run anything. I know in my '02 base model Cav, I not only have the harness in the deck for my third brake light, I also have the harness on my trunk lid for a spoiler taillight (even though mine didn't come with a spoiler). I know because I've plugged one in there before when I was toying with putting a 3rd brake light in my trunk.

It's going to be easier than you think.

Yeah, I realized that yesterday when I was taking a closer look at my car and my mom's. My mom's has the third brake light in the rear deck, but there is also a plug on the trunk lid. Maybe GM's not as bad we all thought . It's good to know that this part is taken care of since I thought it was going to be the hardest part.

Yes he is correct.. so i thought i would show you what he is talking about.. I shaved my trunklid on my cav with third brake light on the trunk.. and right now my interior is all tore out cuz im redoing it so i got ya a pic of the inside by the window.. it actually looks like GM was smart.. by the looks of it they ran a extension peice from the original spot to the spoiler. And it just disconnects and u can plug in the new 3rd brake light..

I dont plan on mounting a 3rd brake light in the back window.. i mean hell i just rewrapped my rear deck so i dont wanna have to tear it apart or redo it on a new one with a brake light.. less hassle for me anyway

but here are some pics for ya
Under the trunklid after i removed the spoiler..

Rear Deck

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Wednesday, June 07, 2006 1:53 PM

Carrie B.

Manta Z(The Primered One) wrote:Yes he is correct.. so i thought i would show you what he is talking about.. I shaved my trunklid on my cav with third brake light on the trunk.. and right now my interior is all tore out cuz im redoing it so i got ya a pic of the inside by the window.. it actually looks like GM was smart.. by the looks of it they ran a extension peice from the original spot to the spoiler. And it just disconnects and u can plug in the new 3rd brake light.

Awesome! Thanks so much for the pictures. They really helped out since I haven't felt like removing all the interior stuff just to get a good look under the rear deck

. I can't believe GM did something intelligent for once. Thanks again

.

I am definitely going to the junkyard this weekend to get a rear deck and third brake light assembly. Next week I will be getting quotes from body shops to weld the holes from the spoiler and re-paint the trunk lid. I can't wait to finally be rid of that damn spoiler for good w00t.

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Wednesday, June 07, 2006 2:54 PM

97cavie24ls(™)

dam woman , i told you all about this weeks ago

only thing i wasnt sure of was the cav package tray fitting

also i found the 3rd light from my cav , so if you want it pay shipping and its yours , i dont think i have the harnessor bulbs , but the light is still in good shape

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Thursday, June 08, 2006 11:25 AM

Carrie B.

97cavie24ls wrote:DamN woman, I told you all about this weeks ago. Only thing I wasn't sure of was the Cav package tray fitting.

Also, I found the 3rd light from my Cav, so if you want it pay shipping and it's yours. I don't think I have the harness or bulbs, but the light is still in good shape.

Yeah, I know. Too bad the way you explained it was completely vague and confusing

.

Thanks for the offer on the third brake light assembly, but I should have no problem finding one in the junkyard this weekend. If I can't, I'll definitely take you up on your offer though. Thanks again.

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Thursday, June 08, 2006 2:13 PM

sndsgood

dont think it was gm being smart it was just most likely cheaper to order all the wiring the same versus switching one for the other as it rolled down the assembly line.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Thursday, June 08, 2006 2:25 PM

97cavie24ls(™)

what part of there is plugs already on the package tray for the 3rd brake light didnt you understand the first time ???

and i told you gm wired them for both window and spoiler

silly girls , trix are for wabbits

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Friday, June 09, 2006 1:42 AM

Carrie B.

sndsgood wrote:dont think it was gm being smart it was just most likely cheaper to order all the wiring the same versus switching one for the other as it rolled down the assembly line.

That's true. Either way it works out good for me

97cavie24ls wrote:what part of there is plugs already on the package tray for the 3rd brake light didnt you understand the first time ???

and i told you gm wired them for both window and spoiler

silly girls , trix are for wabbits

Whatever

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 12, 2006 12:00 AM

Carrie B.

So, I went to the junkyard this morning and got my rear deck and third brake light assembly. I was getting a little worried because every Cavalier I saw as I walked through the yard was missing the rear deck. Finally, I stumbled upon one that still had it and I think I know why... first off, it was about three feet off the ground (they put the cars up on old wheels so people can drop the engines and all). For whatever reason this one seemed higher than all the other cars around it though. Next, I opened the door and saw that the rear floorboard had about six inches of West-Nile-Virus-infected-mosquito water standing in it. Of course this was the only Cavalier and/or Sunfire with a rear deck with a third brake light, so I climbed in and had it out in less than five minutes. It was really dirty, but was in excellent condition as was the third brake light assembly. I ended up paying about $16.00 for both which was a pleasant surprise since I thought it was going to be more.

I got home and used some packaging tape to get all the hair and bugs off the rear deck. Then I used my handy dandy Bissel Little Green Machine to shampoo it. I set it in front of the fan to dry while I washed the car. Once it was dry it looked brand new, nice and dark.

I removed the spoiler in preparation of getting quotes from body shops tomorrow.

Finally, around 11:30 last night I went to work removing the rear seat, rear seat panels, etc. so I could install my new rear deck. I was disappointed to find there was no third brake light plug under the rear deck as was promised in this thread. I am thinking the second plug under the rear deck must have been a '95-'99 thing or else my car is just missing it. Either way I had to spend an extra ten minutes removing electrical tape from the wires so I could pull them down from the trunk lid and up under the rear deck to the third brake light assembly. I got the wires moved around and hidden and then got the interior put back together.

I will post before and after pictures later today when it gets light out. I must say both the spoiler-less trunk lid and the rear deck with the third brake light look amazing

. Definitely one of the best things I have done to the car so far.

Thanks again for all your help guys (even though you were wrong about the plug under the rear deck

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 12, 2006 3:56 AM

Stephen (manta z)

sunfires with shaved trunk looks hot..

interesting on the 3rd brake light connector.. do sunfire without spoilers from factory come with a 3rd brake light in the window? the only reason i would think they wouldnt have that connector is maybe 00+sunfires they didnt offer without spoilers... so they didnt have to worry about the connector since it was all goin straight to the wing and they wouldnt have to worry about a rear deck light..

glad you got it figured out tho.. lets see some pics!

Re: Moving 3rd brake light from trunk to rear deck

Monday, June 12, 2006 12:57 PM

Carrie B.

Manta Z (The Primered One) wrote:sunfires with shaved trunk looks hot..

interesting on the 3rd brake light connector.. do sunfire without spoilers from factory come with a 3rd brake light in the window? the only reason i would think they wouldnt have that connector is maybe 00+sunfires they didnt offer without spoilers... so they didnt have to worry about the connector since it was all goin straight to the wing and they wouldnt have to worry about a rear deck light..

glad you got it figured out tho.. lets see some pics!

I agree

!

When I pulled the rear deck out and didn't see a connector, I thought oh $hit

! I got it figured out though and it wasn't a big deal, it just took me a few minutes to get that damn electrical tape off all the wires running down from the trunk lid.

Some '95-'99 Sunfires did come from the factory without a spoiler and therefore had a rear deck with a third brake light so the double connector must have just been in the older models since all '00+ Sunfires came with spoilers.

Me too. I snapped a few quick pictures. I will get good scenic ones once the holes on the trunk lid are filled.

On a side note, after looking at the car yesterday while I was waxing it I have decided to keep the mirrors and door pillars black and paint just the door handles to match the color of the car. The last thing I want to do is overdue the silver and ruin the flow of the car.

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