Well, with the finishing of the backup lights (reverse lights) I thought, why not the tail lighting assemblies next? So I tore into them dreading what they may look like from experience of backup lights. It was about as bad. Maybe the other lights being below them helped shield them a little. I only found about 1/8 inch of rust this time, yay!
But on the upside, when cleaning these parts, it’s a great sense of appreciation for the project or vehicle. The backside where the bulb goes looks okay except for all the rust around the rest of the housing. Now when cleaning these, I didn’t clean the bulb area with the wire wheel because they were not bad enough to use it on. Also, it’s too fragile of an area to use the wire wheel on. When I had the rust cleaned off both taillight housings, I taped off the taillight sockets after cleaning with a fine steel wool pad. So I can protect them from the primer paint coating I’m using on it next. Just as I did with my reverse lights. As I had seen on my other lights, the original GM markings! So cool!
NOTE:
After the back is dry, I turn my attention to the bulb section. I had taken the mounting screws and put them in my vise and cleaned them up, so there is no sign of rust
I kept his original bezel I didn’t see any reason to get rid of it. It was in good shape the only damage was on the inside.
Looks as if I went out and bought new housings.
No sense to get rid of these either until I really need to.
