The Camaro Club (UK)

Easiest and best way to do the indicators on the rear is to keep the original red indicators but take a tap off the indicator wire and drill some small holes on the inside of the reverse light housing. Put 1-4 super bright amber LEDs in there and wire them in. That way you have reverse lights and there will be no orange showing as the LEDs are clear but when you put the indicator on, the reverse light housing will all be Amber the way god (or the UK) intended

Peter

Hi folks, thanks for the responses.

I was out looking at the car last night and it dawned on me I have to have the headlights changed anyway to dip in the correct direction so may as well incorporate the side lights at the same time. This allows the upgrade to new Xenon headlights . Although the car had a new wiring loom installed when it was restored I believe it was to the original design so I appreciate it should have relays installed to cope with the extra load.

I can then convert the driving lights at the front to just indicator operation (as they already have orange bulbs) .

I was very surprised last night to realise that the inboard rear lights are only for the reversing lights (the outer red ring appears to be a reflector only) - is this correct?????

The outboard rear lights do everything else – ie side, brake and indicator.

Your suggestion re incorporating the indicator LED’s into the reversing light unit definitely seems the way to go. I understand this might mean I will have to change the indicator unit - I can do basic electric wiring but am not a motor electrician so I think I might seek proffesional help here to make sure everything works in harmony!

Unfortunately it’s all a bit “Catch 22” here as I can’t take the car anywhere as it is not registered and I can’t register it until the lights are done and I get an MOT. So hopefully I can get a mobile service to come to me.

I live near Romford, Essex and look forward to meeting up with some like minded souls once I get her on the road!

Cheers

Barry

The led rear indicators should be easy enough. You shouldn't need to swap the indiator unit as all LEDs need is a 12v on 12v off and am earth. You Shoul be able to wire them in with the red ones to take the 12v supply from there so they will flash at the same time.

Couple of questions you made me think of pbryant_knight:

1) LEDs have no resistance - will this affect the indicator relay? I know that places sell flasher relays designed for LED circuits as the ones in the car will require a resistance to flash. Thoughts?

2) I have searched every youtube vid (or as much as i could find ) with a 70-73 camaro to see how the rear lights work but i still havent found one that shows it well - will the rear brake light flash when you indicate? will this happen as well as the indicator flashing? I think the brake light flashing thing is an awful design, very confusing!

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hi guys ye on the 70-73 camaros the inside lights are just the reverse and reflectors the out side do brake indercators and lights and when you have the lights on they are dim when you brake they get brighter like normal but when you indercate while haveing lights and brake lights on the indercators make it flash dimer hope this makes sense sorry if i make it sound daft lol and yes these are very confuseing when i 1st followed an early camaro i thort it mabe had a bad earth but then realised thats just how they are

Cheers buddy!

Ok i will have some fun this weekend

I'm going to try something, which in mind right now could work - the 79 and 73 harness uses the same connector in the trunk, but the bulb ends are different. The 79 lights work as they do in a uk car so i may merge them together i think and see what the result is. If it goes well, i'll attempt to create a wiring diagram and video as this may be anice solution for 70-73 owners to get the standard UK style lighting goin on.

Cheers,

Ray

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hi ray ye the 73 and 79 have the same conectors just different plugs for the lights if you need a spair rear wire loom for a 79 i have 1 you can have might save you messing with yours let me know thanks shaun

Hi Ray - I'm not sure if I have misunderstood your message but if you are talking about a harness connector in the boot I don't think this will solve your problem. I was having a look at the system last night. The problem is that the indicators and brake lights are operated via the same wire feed from the front of the car. To separate the indicator and brake light operation (so that you have the outboard lights as side / Brake lights and the inboard lights as indicator / reversing lights) you need to disconnect the feed from the brake light switch and then run a new feed wire from the brake light switch to the boot. I have yet to take the light units out but I am hoping I can then fit an additional bulb holder in the inboard light unit to act as the indicator.
You then disconnect the old indicator / brake light feed from the outboard lights and connect it to the new bulb holder in the inboard light. You connect your new brake light feed to the terminal on the outboard light unit that you just took the old indicator /brake light feed off.
I hope this makes sense.
I want to get the light inits off tonight to see if I can get a second bulb holder in the inboard units. I hope I can as I want to use a good old fashioned bulb rather than LED's inorder I don't have to worry about changing the indicator unit etc.
Running a new brake light feed from the front of the car is going to be a real pain as I will have to remove / move trim / carpets etc and in my experience they never go back the way they came off!!

Hiya,

I skim read that as im at work so will need to read a couple of times to digest, but i think i know what you're saying. As for the housing, you have plenty of room the light housing should be easy to install a new bulb into as it is a plastic housing. While this link is for installing dakota digital lenses, at least its a nice way of seeing different angles of the housing before you remove: http://www.camaroperformers.com/camaro- ... skets.html As the bulbs install from the bottom, i reckon drilling into the back of the housing, off centre should allow 2x bulbs in there. will have a proper read tonight and think about the wiring system for you, sucks about the feed being on the same wire

just an after thought, use the sidelight wedge style bulbs like the ones in the front fenders to ensure enough space in the reverese light holder. rather than having 2x big bulbs. you should be able to get orange ones of these.

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How to post youtube vids: Click on the 'youtubeHD' button at the top of the message box and in the middle of the ][ brackets that just appeared, copy and paste everything from the youtube web address that appears after the = sign i.e if this is the url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 just copy "K2cNqaPSHv0").

Cheers Ray. Thanks for the link - very useful - The way the Dakota Digital LED's are mounted has made me think even more about how to do the mods!! I reckon it would be possible to make up a mounting plate to mount 2 normal bulb housings within the light casing so that you don't have to cut more holes in the casing. I know it would mean having to actually remove the casing to replace a blown bulb - but they don't blow that often do they??? I just hate cutting around the original bits if I don't have to.
I don't think the wedge style bulbs are a strong enough wattage to be used as indicators - I think they are only about 5w or something.
Cheers