well ive just finished this mod the other day its relitively simple provided you solder and properly insulate the joins youll have no issues with it

**NOTE THIS IS A GUIDE ONLY IM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ISSUES THAT MAY ARISE FROM THIS**

what youll need:
2x stop/tail globe holders i cut mine out of an old honda from the wreckers i got them for free
2x stop/tail globes bout 5-10 bucks
soldering iron
solder
drill if you really want
insulating tape or heatshrink
silicone gasget sealer


first pull out the tail light and unplug it from the wiring harness the inner lamp hole isnt cut for our models so itll have to be cut out you can use a drill to drill around the top to cut out the hole but i found just melting it out was much easier.
Click to view attachment
this is the part that needs to be cut out

Click to view attachment
this is the side i tried drilling i needed to clean it up with a soldering iron on the edges

Click to view attachment
the plug i used 3 wires one for earth, park and stop

Click to view attachment
the wires off the plug needed extending the wiring goes as follows
white/green stripe= earth
green/white stripe= brake
green= park lamp
these wires i refer to are the wires on the the tail light that you need to hook the extra light socket onto.

do not cut the wiring on the tail light just strip back the insulation and wrap the additional wires around them and solder them and either tape them up so they dont touch the other wires or use heatshrink if youve got it

Click to view attachment
putting in the globes seeing as theres no nodules to clip the globe housing into the tail light so i just melted the tabs off the sides of the globe holders
then i ran a bead of silicone gasget around the part where the globe holder goes into the tail light and simply pushed the gobe into the hole and waited for it to dry then reinstalled the tail light.

Click to view attachment
heres one side done

Click to view attachment
and both sides done

could this be similar to do on a sedan ?

That is awesome!

A trip to the wreckers this saturday!!

yes i do belive its possible

Cool, thanx. looks awesome!

how long did it take?

oh and you have pm

Yuri

well it took roughly an hour a side depending on how long the silicone takes to dry

oh man just did this today, i used some bulbs i had lying around, but their friggen huge, ended up cutting the whole face just to get the bulb in

tip: buy small bulbs

write up helped me alot, thanks! i was about to do it with the lights still on the car, lucky i took them off, took me about 2 hours too

Nice write up T.J
JDM ftw

Good job john, now you can do it for my car

hey i dont mean to play devils advocate here.....

BUT..... What re you gonna do when the globe fails? I mean you've just glued the thing into the Tail light assembly!

i didnt fully seal mine only had abit of silicon, its easy enough to cut open with a thin knife


haha phan, you and luke now

thats why i used silicone cause you can pull it out easily enough just give it a twist and pull and it should come loose then just silicone a new one in trick is to use new bulbs so you wont have to change them for a while

just curious..if its all LED bulb..lets say 24 or 36 on each of em..
will it be abit too bright?

just compare intensity with the bulb from your first light
make sure its a dual filament bulb or equivalent led, or itll look weird

im a bit too lazy to look at moment lol, im guessing the upgrade model is the same in relation to individual chambers so i could do mod also ?

if noone knows thats cool ill just look when i can be bothered

cheers

yeah it is, when you pull off the panel inside the car, you can see where you need to cut
you can take the light out without pulling part the rear, just need nimble hands

sweet might pop them out tonight or this week and do them inside in the warm

nice easy DIY

Hey guys, quick note, i have the upgrade corolla sportivo and from popping the back part off as if replacing a globe, i already have the "socket" spot there all wired up with (21w) written on it meaning it will acts as just a brake light. So all i have to do is drill the hole in the back so can fit globe............easy as and then it will work as a brake light. So to make it work as a tail light also i just have to splice into one wire from the other lens and bring it across to create the constant power when headlights on and thus acting as a tail light 21/5w.

Cheers guys,

im guessing the pre facelift isnt the same ? if so why did everyone do it the hard way and scrap the back casing/plug holder and do it all different ?

looking forward to the quicker and easier DIY than i thought

1 = Exising brake /tail light (21/5w)
2 = Indicator
3 = Reversing light
4 = currently says 21w, just need to drill the hole in casing for globe, then splice into number ones wire enabling tailight and bring across to number 4 to make it the same function

In the picture all the globes connect to the back plate that seems to be hinged sort of up near number two and clips in below three, it swings out in direction of arrow allowing you to change globes etc and also see that number 4 socket already exists with wiring (can feel springy wire/electrode when stick finger in hole, where would normally push globe and twist to secure).

i didnt understand a single word you just said
our tail lights are exactly the same cept for the look

all i did was make a hole for the globe (in an existing template that isnt cut)
and tapped the lines for the other globe and bought them over, so the whole unit comes out as one like normal with the one plug

yeah ill take pics when i do mine tonight or tomoz...........you dont have to run any wires though.......what im saying is yes you have to drill out the hole for globe but the socket is already there and wired as a 21w brake light .........so all you have to do is pop in globe

If you want it as a tail/brak like i do i have to just see which extra wire the exisitng brake/tail has and splice into that one wire.......easiest way to say is it will end up looking completely factory as the globe sits in its own pre exisitng wired socket

pre facelift and facelift corollas are different. checked it at the last meet. the facelift corollas has a ready to go socket/platform where you can just twist the globe in. the AUS spec are just missing the hole, thats where mario and his handy skills made a hole for mine

but when simon takes photos and posts them up, you'll understand

left: JDM tail light
right: AUDM facelift tail light
top right: socket/platform for facelift tail light



JDM tail light with sockets

Hey guys, have taken heaps of pics.....and yes, it is all there ready for it to work as a brake light, which is what i want.......after thinking about it i would rather it just work as a break light, so during day driving along......no light....hit brakes.....get the two lines. At night driving along have the 1 line "tail light" brightness, hit brakes and you get the 2 lines at full brightness, nice and bright and good definition for cars behind you.

I made the hole, put in the globes and no go

had a look and easy fix, although they have connected up the globe so its a plug n play socket it only has the earth connected. Need to connect the "brake" power wire....see pic below with info

Drew one in paint.......tells the story

All done.....easy as pie......17$ all up

Bit of a run down of what you need to do for the upgrade tail lights

Stock tail light - can see there are 3 screw that hold the taillight in



Stock tail light with socket plate removed




Can see the socket is already there ready for a 21w brake light to go in



Place where hole needs to be made for globe to fit



Easiest way to make hole is with soldering iron.....can make it exact size needed then through melting the plastic.....bad smell though



Went to fit and realised didnt work as wire 3 (counting top to bottom) is plug is non existent




Therefore no power of any sort is getting to cicruit 3 (counting top to bottom) on socket plate.




Figured out that circuit 5 (top to bottom) is brake light wire and therefore need that to be connected to circuit 3, cannot connect to actual circuit as solder wont stick and therefore need to connect to actual electrode as sticks fine to that, tidied up loose wire some some strong tape so not in way at all.





Back in and cant tell difference nice and neat




All finished and work very well.......about 2 hours all up.........so ne one doing upgrade lights should do it easy as now.

Looks like its going to be a pain in the ***** doing the pre-facelift ones .....

um guni the car i did this tech guide on was a pre facelift the ones jaderd has done on his are facelift so the pre facelift is easy

Prefacelift easy ?............upgrade is heaps easier.......socket already there.......only work is one wire soldered to two points and one hole cut thats it......and best part when globe blows, pop out socket plate and change globe just like stock......bit easier than silicone etc

either setup you have the end result is the same..........good looking taillights

I have already done mine on the pre-facelift too, used a whole bunch of duct tape instead of silicone.
still holds just as good i rekkon

When cable ties & WD40 dont do the trick, there is always duct tape

But don't you have to silicone the bulb holder in or something? Doesn't that make it a little more "messy" or "painful"?

well its either that or cutting slots to hold the holder in

Just did this today to my face-lift levin. All up it cost me less then 8 dollars. Looks really good.

Great tutorial

I wonder if it will affect insurance, like if you were rear ended, could they blame the modification for the accident?

Cheers

All it would do is make the people see your car more...

Really makes your car stand out amongst the rest of the corolla's floating around the streets. Especially when you rock up next to a few at a traffic light~ It makes you stand out from them. =)

and for less then 8 dollars (assuming you have a solder iron already)..? come on! hahah

what i found hard to find was the bulb housing for pre-facelift..

where do you find bulb sockets?

or is the local auto electrician the only way to go..

Autobarn

is that universal sockets or specific models they sell..

i'll head to one of those shops during the week, cheers

they're a bayonette style... and buy STOP/PARK globes there will be 3 wires, Earth and 2 power wires..... just mate them up to the existing wires on your factory globe mount.

easy peasy

haha no autobarn for the westie.. prob have to check out repco and supercheap

Hey guys,

I would really like to do this mod, but i wanted to ask, how do we remove the tailights? cause i think mine is stuck in with some sticky stuff, i dont know, but any help would be good

Evo

anybody with a sedan done this?

yeah someone did it in the owf freeforums in electronics and electrical

I Think I Will Be Giving This A Go This Weekend! Anyone Willing To Help Me Or Wants To Do It Together With Me? LoL

LOL held on "by sticky stuff"

there are 3 bolts on the inside of the car... you'll have to undoe them... its fiddly but they are there... 1, 2, 3, of them

what size are the bolts in mm btw.. im thinking of giving this a go soon aswell..

Pretty sure it was a 10mm socket that you will need.

okay cheers for that..

pretty similar size bolts to the front strut bar then..

10-11 or 12

Be careful when your taking them off though, if one falls you have lost it foreeeeeevvvvvvvverrrrr

...






...





...


Until you take your rear bar off.

just as long it doesnt involve a bulb falling inside the housing, then it should be all good.. had to do that to my dads camry the other week and that was an experience i wouldn't want to relive again

Hey guys,
I just took a quick look at the light fixtures, and BKS, you are right
But is there anything else that would be holding these lights in, cause i want to be able to do it by 1 weekend?
I have located the bolts, so when i go to take them off, should i do it slowly so i dont lose any bolts?