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Since there has been a couple people ask about my 3rd brake light in another thread I thought I'd start a new thread to not hijack the other. I feel that a 3rd brake is pretty much a must in today's driving world. I know before I installed the 3rd brake light there were more than a few close calls in getting rear ended. Ever since I installed it, I have only noticed one person that didn't seem to be paying attention and get close in a panic kind of way. Yes I do pay attention to what is going on behind me when I am stopped, I also leave space between myself and the car in front of me in case I need to roll forward, again this has also helped in saving the rear end of a few of my cars, you know defensive driving and all of that. Anyway, onto the meat and potatoes of this thread. I started with a Safari/Astro van 3rd brake light. Jimmy/Blazer should also be the same. Years seem to be 1995 to about 2003. This particular light seems to fit the space above the hatch window perfectly as you will see later in this thread. Alternatively you could install this near the rear edge of the roof, which will make wiring much easier. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the install and did it a few years ago. I started by measuring out to place the light in the center, and marking mounting hole and wire pass through locations. I then drilled the three holes, two for the screws and one for the wires. I then moved to the inside where I drilled a hole to pass the wire into the interior, but there was a problem, there was a re-enforcement plate between the two holes. So since I was at the point of no return, I decided to forge on and drill a hole through this plate from the outside. Then through some creative use of wire, string and pick tools passed a fish wire through from the outside of the hatch to the inside. I had to remove the connector that is on the 3rd brake light in order to pass the wires through. I also had to add some extra tape around the wire where it passes through the inside re-enforcement plate to act like a grommet. I tried to get it so that the wire was actually secure and not able to move around to reduce the chance of chafing. The other holes can use a grommet. After that it's just a matter of running a wire to the brake switch. Something to note here is that on my '73 with the 3rd brake light attached to the brake switch the 3rd brake light will also flash with the hazzards (4 ways) on, which is something that I wanted so this was a bonus for me. If you want it to work more conventionally, where the hazzards will not turn on the 3rd brake lights you will have to add a diode to remove the feedback from the hazard switch. I think the next time I do this I will try to pass the wire all the way along the panels that surround the window of the hatch and use contact switches at the turtle deck, or some other way, that I haven't thought of yet. Onto the pictures, because everyone likes pictures. Fits that space like it was meant to be: Wire as it passes to the interior: Lit up:
