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This is probably the easiest mod you'll ever do on this car or any other car really.

Before and after:







Tools Needed:



You can probably use any type of pliers or prying tools. This is just what I had available at the time and they worked pretty well.




Pop open your trunk.






Remove this grey cover and the black plastic piece that pops out holding all your lighting.








Here you can see the orange lens that needs to be removed. Or rather, ripped out and thrown away.






You need to push on it to pop it out of place. Use the prybar or screwdriver or something to pry it out a bit so you can get a good grip on it with your pliers. Then just use a combination of prying and yanking to get it out. You will probably hit your elbow or arms on something in the trunk when this thing finally breaks loose. I did on both arms and a few curse words soon followed. So be prepared for that.

Just as a warning, you'll probably break both of these lenses so I wouldn't plan on putting them back in if you're going to do this unless you want to remove the whole assembly and take the light apart. You can probably remove it without damaging it that way but it would be more time consuming.










Now repeat for the other side.






All done! Very nice, eh?

Final step: Go to an auto store and buy amber blinker bulbs to replace the white ones

Of course! How could I forget.

I'd be curious to see if the beam pattern does not reflect all the way across the blinker face.

That's a rather wide area for the one bulb to cover....maybe it can....I don't know. I'd like to see some video of one side removed with orange bulb and one side not removed....if someone wants to do this and show a comparison.

Too bad I don't have my old broken tail light lense any more. That would be the way to do it if anyone has a spare tail light lense....

I just did mine yesterday and it looks awsome. It does seem to reflect the whole way across the blinker face with the amber bulb.

Do you have the means to take a video?

Yes! and I can't do this with 92-94 right?

No I don't believe so...

Ask and ye shall receive

This is just with my cell phone, so it's not very good, but you get the idea.

I just did this about an hour ago while doing other stuff to my car, and it looks a lot better and...

... seems to be brighter as well.

The clear turn signal is on the left, the original amber turn signal is on the right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMf-It3BlAo

Here's just the original amber from the side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxPZP__-mNg

Here's just the clear from the side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx2Y5J1DDFM

I couldn't really tell the difference with those videos lol. Was that with the same bulb or did you get an orange bulb for the clear one?

good right up Kimo, very much in the spirit of the internet

Just a friendly reminder for those in Washington (and probably elsewhere):

[url=http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.37.200]RCW 46.37.200 - Stop lamps and electric turn signals displayed[/url]. wrote: ...The lamps showing to the front shall be mounted on the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable and, when signaling, shall emit amber light: PROVIDED, That on any vehicle manufactured prior to January 1, 1969, the lamps showing to the front may emit white or amber light, or any shade of light between white and amber. The lamp showing to the rear shall be mounted on the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, and, when signaling, shall emit a red or amber light, or any shade of color between red and amber....

Just an easy reason for a cop to pull you over...

ericem wrote:Yes! and I can't do this with 92-94 right?

you CAN do this with 93 and 94 taillights, the 92s were virtually amberless. I did it in my 93 sedan.

However, it is not that simple, maybe because the postlift taillights are lower, and secondly the light pattern is not that great afterwards, it's more like a point, not like a strip. The amber lense is for light dispersion.

Yeah I would definately not do this unless you buy the orange bulbs for them or I guess red will work too but might look weird, I dunno.

I hate it when people have white blinkers, they're way too bright.

Yeah, they sell amber 1156 bulbs at virtually every auto parts store.

Thats awesome!

Thanks for the write up!

Thanks for the video Michael.

Did you have an amber bulb in there? Can't tell too much from the video, but did light evenly distribute across the turn signal lense with the amber piece removed?

Well I did some looking, and I found the broken tail light lense that I replaced when someone backed into the car. I pulled the amber piece out....broke the main lense, but glued it back together just for demonstration purposes.

The amber lense does serve a purpose and helps distribute the light across the entire portion of the outer lense.

Here's some pictures and the last two are movies.

http://main.experiencetherave.com/subar ... taillight/

Here's direct links for the movies

Amber Lense Removed Movie (10mb)
Amber Lense Installed Movie (20mb)

Someone should do a write up on the wagon turn signal lenses. I did it on my 90 L wagon but I forgot exactly how long to put them in the oven for.

Anyways, you have to preheat your oven to 150 degrees and set both your wagon tail lights inside I think for 5 mins but it may be 10 mins but just in case, check it in 5 mins.

The problem I ran into was that my oven was either a minimum of 200 degree or 250 I can't remember I think it was 200 though. Anyways, I melted my first set after only like 5 mins because it was too hot. So be careful. After hitting up the junkyard, I got another set for $30 and checked it like every minute in the oven and got it out right on time.

You have to put it in the oven to melt the adhesive that holds the lens to the housing. Once it starts to melt a little you can use a screwdriver to CAREFULLY pry it open enough to remove the lens. It shouldn't be difficult to get out like the sedan lenses are. Mine came right out with no problems. I didn't even remove the outer lens from the housing completely, just enough to get the orange lens out.

Then quickly put it back on and press it into place. You probably need to put it back in the oven for a minute or two if the adhesive dried up too much just to make sure it's nice and gooey and gets a good seal, don't want that thing leaking and getting water inside.


Here's some pictures I just found. You can see where I melted the lenses pretty bad the first go around. Check them often while they're in the oven by opening the door and giving them a little pry with your flat head screwdriver to see if the adhesive it loosening up. Take it out as soon as you think you can pry it off or they WILL melt.

Looks like your tabs are expired.

AWD_addict wrote:Looks like your tabs are expired.

Thanks for the reminder! Mine are expiring soon too I need to take care of that...

I don't have that car anymore. I can't make out what year those tabs are from but I sold that car to my mom a year ago and she gave it to my sister for free. Those pictures were from a long time before I even sold it.

I think he was talking about the tabs on your SS haha.

Oh, the SS I think has 06 tabs lol. I have never driven it and I still don't know when it'll be running so I haven't gotten tabs for it yet.

asc_up wrote:Final step: Go to an auto store and buy amber blinker bulbs to replace the white ones

And...one year later I finally bought amber bulbs for my turn signals! lol