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OH MY GOD, sorry...i would have answered alot sooner if i seen the post. sorry dude! Anyway, the change-over is SIMPLE. it's been over a year and i'm trying to remember all the things i had to do. this should be about 99% accurate. Here's what you need:
-Eclipse tailights (preferably euro, or clear)
-a drill with an assorted range of bits
-4 small L-shaped brackets (get a consistancy that won't rust)
-Eclipse bumper
-about 6 feet of both, red and black wire
-reverse lights from the correct year eclipse
I did not dry fit the new bumper first, i had it painted and assumed it would fit, it works with the OEM mitsubishi bumper, however i would not recommend this with an aftermarket bumper.
-First you wanna take the old assembly off (tailights and bumper). you should probably use Cyan's directions on removing the rear bumper from his website. Such a great guy, isn't he? It's pretty complicated. i would recommend labeling (with tape or whatever) which bulb is which as you take them out of the tailights. (ie. left blinker, outer brake light, etc.) this will save some confusion.
-Next you wanna cut the talon's reverse light's wire and make it longer, about 3 feet longer. this is because the talon has built in reverse lights in the actual tailights, but eclipses have them in their bumper. make an extension so the wire is long enough to fit in the bumper slots. make sure you test it, to make sure it works. after you have done this, just tuck the wire away into the trunk compartment, you don't need this right yet.
-Now you can put on your eclipse bumper. if it is a 99 (or any OEM year really) eclipse like mine, it'll fit perfect. no bending, reshaping, twisting, pushing required. FOr this step you will need a friend to hold the bumper in the correct place while you make markings on the bare metal where to attatch the L-shaped brackets to the upper lip of the bumper (directly beneath the tailights). You may not understand why these are neccessary, but when you have the bumper off, you will see that the Talon bumper is lower due to the Talon's wider tailights. The stock mounting brackets are too low. Use about 4 brackets on the upper side and it will hold tightly. Once you have the upper brackets screwed in, you can connect the rest of the bumper, but remember to run the reverse light wires to the correct spot BEFORE you connect everything. if i'm ont mistaking, there is a hole in the sheetmetal specifically for the reverse light wire. if not, MAKE ONE.
-Now, you have to drill holes for the screws of the center piece of the new tailight. if you hold the center piece up to the metal where it goes, you will see that at the factory they have already made a specific location for these holes to be drilled. They just never drilled them. Go ahead and drill the holes, i think there is 6 or 8. connect the center piece. once this is done, you can go aheadand put the outer tailights on. plug in the bulbs, they will fit nicely. (thank god the eclipse light sockets are the same as the Talon's)
-For the last step you simply sit in the driver's seat, start the car and floss your new setup on the streets of your town. This is the fun part. I hope this helps you. oh yeah here's how much it cost me:
Mitsubishi 1999 bumper - $180
Paint - $80
L shaped brackets - $8
Wire - $2
Clear tailights -$200
eclipse reverse lights - $30 (junkyard)
Total - $500. not too bad, right? it's a BIG differance in appearance.
1996 Talon Esi - Eclipse rear end
-PJ
'96 ESI-NOS Talon / '02 Subaru WRX
"Making Dreams Reality"
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