Does anyone know how the 3rd brake light housing attaches to the glass? Mine is intact and firmly attached so I don't want to break anything. I'm removing the glass and it would help to not have to work around this obstacle. Thanks.

 

So I put my glasses on and the answer was obvious. There are 2 clips below the buttons you push to remove the cover. Just lift the spring clips and slide the housing upward along the windshield.

 

Yes, but just be very careful. The sun has a way of making that plastic very brittle and I have
seen my share of Third light assemblies crumbling into pieces or cracking severely.

 

While you have the back glass out, you may want to take this opportunity to detach the 2 mounting tabs, clean it throughly then reapply with new windshield mirror adhesive from 3M so you won’t have to mess with it in the near future. Having it positioned just right and cured prior to reassembly would be very convenient. It’s the old adage: “While your in there”. 😃
Legit Street Cars on YouTube is currently using that adage with a Ford Lightning and he needed to do a head gasket. Next thing him and his team did was pull the body and bed off the frame and did about a 3/4 of the way restoration on it. 😂😂 To be fair though, he did find a heavily damaged piston so the engine needed to come out anyways.

Are you removing the back glass because your fixing rust or something else?

 

Good advice, so I yanked on the clips - they're solid as a rock. This car has been a garage queen all its life, so I think the lack of UV exposure has helped. The plastic housing is actually compliant! The donor car for my Mark 2 project was 2 years newer, and that plastic was brittle as toast.

 

Doug,

If your headliner is sagging, it would be a great time to recover it while the backlight glass is out. The headliner board can be removed via the rear passenger side door, but it's easier to pull out through the backlight opening.

Cheers,

Don

 

I have never had much success with headliners, but I am certain that information
could be useful to some with more success.

I suspect I don't prepare my bonding surfaces adequately.

 

What works for me is to clean all the old foam and failed adhesive from the headliner board with M.E.K. and a small brass-bristle brush, working in a well-ventilated area. Then use a high-quality high-temperature headliner-specific spray adhesive such as the ones from 3M and Permatex (rated for 170°F), carefully following the manufacturer's instructions, to adhere the new fabric to the board.

Suitable foam-backed headliner fabric is available from JoAnn Fabric Stores in limited color choices, or online from sources like yourautotrim.com, from whom you can order an inexpensive sample board to choose the closest color match.

Cheers,

Don

 

OK, while riding an old work chum (expat Brit) about so he could marvel at my VDP, the cover fell off my third brake light and landed on the package shelf. Closer inspection showed the passenger side (US) outside edge cracked, dropping the rubber pin onto the shelf.

Timing is everything. I am off in the morning to a Brit car show near the DC area and am in some Jag sedan class of some sort.

So, I tried to use some crazy glue-like stuff to get the two pieces of the far side of the light back together. It had not split completely. I also was able to slip the rubber pin pack into place. What I could not do was get the external housing to Re-latch with the two prongs on the underside. There must be some kind of special incantation that is recited while holding incense in one hand and the cover in the other. So, some packaging tape is currently holding the cover in place.

The light fixture itself remains firmly attached to the glass. For all but the last two years of its life it has lived in a garage when not being driven. I don’t have that luxury.

Anyone have any guidance on getting the cover to seat properly?

Eliot