Month: July 2020

The inner panel has one large hole that the light housing sticks through, plus two small holes for the mounting studs.  The large hole is 1-7/8” in diameter, and I didn’t have  that size, so I had to wait for that to arrive in the mail.

I made a wooden template from a 2×4 to locate pilot holes for the three.  I goofed on the orientation of the holes on the RH side and didn’t realize it until the first test fit with the lamp.  Oh well…two extra holes.

I had to grind the big hole and enlarge the stud holes a bit to get the lamps to fit properly,

a quick spray to seal up the bare metal, and on to final assembly.

A little touch up and… just need to hook up the wiring.

This was not originally an RS model Camaro.  I’m pretty sure it was a base model, and someone transferred parts to it from a wrecked RS.

The base model taillights have one red and one white lens.  The RS taillights have two red lenses, and the reverse lights go in the tailpan.

The base model tailpan has no holes…so I’m cutting holes.

To pass inspection, I had temporarily mounted the RS lamps to the bumper:

The left-right position is centered under each taillight.  I measured 47 times and got the center lines mapped out.

from there, I found some templates online that showed the top edge of the holes should be 4.25” below the ridge on the tailpan (behind the bumper)

Then I drilled holes in the corners, and cut it out with a cutting disc.

still to come: cutting the other side and drilling the holes in the inner tailpan panel