Removal of rear taillight surround!?!? Its killing me!!!!!

[Supercharged Vipermad]

OK...who has the notes on this??? I have:

1) removed all four (2 each side) outter screws up in the vents.
2) removed the bolts behind the plate.
3) disconnected the latch assembly.
4) disconnected the wire connectors and pushed grommets through (not all the way...Thanks WIZARD!).
5) tried and tried and tried to "bow" it in from the outside ends.
6) given up and went to ******* for dinner

Now what? I remember the front being "tricky"....one of those things where once you do it...it is easy from then on.

I'll bet the new ZO6 comes apart easier than this!!!!! LOL!!! (uh....thats a joke...... )

 

[Viper Wizard]

Tony, did the phone call this morning help you get it apart?

If you lean on a Z06, it just falls apart!

 

[Ulysses]

Did you remove the keyhole/lock?

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

Chuck...your comments helped me get the grommets pushed through...those definitely would have held the thing in there!!

Ulysses...I disconnected the lock mechanism on the inside, to the point where I can push what IS there OUTWARD and it does not seem to be holding the surround back one bit.

 

[hemibeep]

a. The lock cylinder should unscrew from the inside then remove completely from the outside leaving an 1" hole.
b. The license plate lens lights are also wired and can be taken out with 1/4 turn out from the sockets
c. unplug 3rd brakelight, then remove the clip by sliding it down
d. your problem may be the third brakelight area. directly behind the mounting hole there is a male tab that probably has urethane gluing the light panel to the rear of the car. other than the license plate bolts, the glue is the only thing holding the top of the panel into position....when the glue is broke free the top of the tail panel is flimsy.
let me know if this helps

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

GOT IT!!!!

I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post to this thread. A couple things:

I did exactly as I stated in my initial post...no more, no less. When I took the remote latch assembly apart, the piece that remained did NOT hinder the removal...nor did I have to remove the lock assembly itself. I did not have to take ANY light assembly out. The third brake light remained, untouched, and I disconnected that wire when I unplugged the two plate lights.

Thanks Hemibeep...you did confirm a suspicion. I'll have another look tomorrow and get a good, detailed write-up here.

I must say that the GT2 wing sold by Partsrack is installed as if it were meant FOR GOOD!! It is quite impressive...and now that I have mine apart I will take pictures and post.

Rick.....you out there???? You might want to come by and take a look at this!!! I'll have tons of pictures for you, and I'll call you tomorrow to make sure you see all of this before I finish up and put it back together.

I was worried I'd have a sleepless night, laying there, ********** because I couldn't get the darn thing off.....Thank goodness I can sleep now!!

Thanks Chuck, Ulysses, hemi! Now I have MORE of my car in parts, on the living room floor, than I do in the garage!!! OK...maybe I exaggerate.

 

[IEATVETS]

Forget the taillights, tell us more about your trip to *******!!

 

[Tom Sessions]

I see how you are Tony.I work on your car 1 time and you don't call anymore.Thats just fine I could have told you how to remove the rear panel also but now I'm not

 

[Y2K10 SRT#39]

Tony...
What are you doing???
Living room parts are not right!!
PBR 10 of 50

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

IEAT...it is a rough life when one's 16 year old son works at Hoters. He had to be there for some reason....and I had to give him a ride. And since the roads were somewhat icy....we had to hang out for a while for everyone to get home from work and stay off the roads. By the time we left there were few cars out.....mostly wrecked.

Tom...brain-fart, what can I say? I seem to recall that BUGEATER dude telling me you were on the road. How was the trip?

Paul...the car is undergoing a bit of change right now. Wing is off, side splitters and sills are off, rear surround is off. Doing some top secret power stuff, then having a few paint issues resolved....by March it will be running/looking back at 100%!

 

[Mark Red GTS Cooper]

Tony,

Please post some pics,, When are you coming up this way, and I am planning the anual ******* day for the end of March, or beginning of April,,

Mark

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

******* day is a definite!

Tonight will be devoted to detailed pictures...now that I have the darn thing off!! Hardest part was getting it to "break free"...meaning, I just had to get one end bowed in a bit, to clear the vent area...then it was a matter of peeling it off (kinda like the front).

DO NOT remove the upper latch assembly. It will be clear in the pictures what I am talking about. I went through the stage of taking things apart that I thought was what the book was talking about. LOL!!!

Now is the perfect time for Rick to come and take measurements!!

 

[VPRVENM97]

Tonight will be devoted to detailed pictures...now that I have the darn thing off!! Hardest part was getting it to "break free"...meaning, I just had to get one end bowed in a bit, to clear the vent area...then it was a matter of peeling it off (kinda like the front).

Tony,
Ok, so after you get done posting pics and describing your night at *******, can you please get back on track...

Jeez, what kind of moderator are you??? Allowing this kind of material to be posted on the Gen I/II forum? Take it to the Snake Pit! Maybe the FNG was right!

 

[Andrew/USPWR]

Vipermad, I feel your pain. I had to pull off a rear tail light surround myself last week and ran into similar problems. I even helped Tom Session take mine off last year and had Larry Macedo explain it to me again the day before, and it still didn’t go as smooth as I would have liked. At the time I was really wishing there were instructions in the “Howto” section of the forum. Hint hint.

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

OK.....so I got a little side-tracked. That, and I go to take digital pictures with my old Mavica and the battery lets me take 3 pix on a fresh charge. Go to buy a new battery...they don't have it. You know what THAT means in man-talk, right??? Yep...had to pick up a new digital camera! NOTHING fancy...and I'm a bargain shopper (gotta save money to spend on important things....things that are VIPER related)!! This Pentax OptioMX, 3.2 Megapixel, MPEG-4 with audio, swivel screen....on the clearance shelf for $199.99. Took the $50 saving and spent half on a 128MB SD card.

Anyway, I digress. HERE are the Illustrated Instructions for this evolution. ANYONE having trouble with the link....drop me a note. There *should* be no problems....I made sure of that before posting this link.