Where does the trunk light switch mount? At this point, I'll guess it goes in the hole where the alarm system trunk latch was installed. Also, I've got the harness and wire clips. Could anybody shoot me a picture of the trunk wiring set up.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/markx22/SSRS/th_DSC00902.jpg (http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/markx22/SSRS/?action=view&current=DSC00902.jpg) the light goes in the square cutout .

here is complete trunk wiring diagram

http://www.carsbyjim.com/storage/Trunk/69Trunkwires.JPG

There is no separate switch for the trunk light. The assembly has a mercury switch inside, triggered when the lid is up.

Are you asking where to mount the light assembly and route the wire?

I don't have great pics, but maybe they'll help.

You should be able to see the light socket in the rectangular cutout in the deck lid bracing to the driver side of the latch on this photo. If it is a GM deck lid, there should be an existing hole for the mounting screw.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/ekammerer/122_2249.jpg

The wire then runs inside the bracing to the oval hole at the driver side of the lid (bottom of this photo, wire visible behind another one of the holes but the plug is not sticking out of the lower hole like it should):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/ekammerer/122_2248.jpg

The wire was clipped to the opening in the deck lid brace, then the wire just ran down the outside of the hinge, clipped in two places to the hinge. For a coupe it connects as Mark's pic shows. For a vert there is a pigtail off the body harness at the back of the inner wheelhouse.

All shown in UPC U25 (for RPO U25) in the AIM.

Oh man! My picture doesn't show the original setup. Be right back,,,,,,
Whew! OK, here ya go. Everything is original including the bulb.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/188.1.JPG

Note the three clips. Never been touched.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/188.2.JPG

The clip on the well and wire route. Never been,,,, you know.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/188.3.JPG

A close up of the mounting method.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/188.4.JPG

Same of the trunk clip. Note the cleaver owner installed vinyl tube to drain the rear window channel into the wheel well.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/188.5.JPG

Nice pix Fred....very cleAver indeed:) One question tho, looks like the wiring runs towards the back like it would for a vert !?!? or maybe it's a 69 thang :confused:

actually the headlight switch is the trunk light switch when you turn your park lights on and open the trunk the light comes on ,,

Nice pix Fred....very cleAver indeed:) One question tho, looks like the wiring runs towards the back like it would for a vert !?!? or maybe it's a 69 thang :confused:
Sorry, no idea.:noway:

Fred, Would you share on the drain tube setup? That is great. If I've fixed 1 I'll bet I fixed 20 cars with studs rusted off and holes in the channel. How does the drain tube stay in place under the molding?
Thanks
Daniel

Great photos. Thanks for posting them.

Thanks men, but it's what I get paid to do.;)
T, Drain tube;
At the low point on each side of the rear window channel, drill a hole the size of the outside diameter of 1/4" copper tube. Then use a larger drill bit or similar device to dent the hole into the shape of a funnel. Cut copper pipe and flair one end. Two inches long should do it. The flared end become a funnel. Drop it into the window channel. Secure with JB Weld or similar epoxy. When setup, connect vinyl tube and insert into hole above tire as in photo. This also stops that annoying water seeping onto the rear deck after washing.

Thank you so much Fred. That should be easy enough. I just wish I had known this about 30 years ago. LOL

Thank you so much Fred. That should be easy enough. I just wish I had known this about 30 years ago. LOL
Daniel, funny you should mention 30 years. That's when I installed it. To the day? Close.:yes:

That is not what I received from Ricks. I received a light fixture very similar to the ones under the dash, wire with connectors and the three clips. Not sure at this point how or where I'll mount the switch.

Huh. The one I see at Rick's looks the same as what has been posted.

http://www.rickscamaros.com/product.asp?pf%5Fid=73100&dept%5Fid=3470

At the risk of being a dumba$$. I don't see that fixture. It appears to be a lens that covering the rectangular hood on the bottom oof the trunk lid. What about the mercury switch? Was he jerking my chain?

That is the one I ordered and received.

No chain jerkin...there is no lense, the assembly fits up in the square cutout in the trunk lid. The mercury switch is the little round black gizmo on the end the bulb socket, that the wire comes out of :yes: Yep, even the General had some cleAver ideas ;)

Where does the switch get installed?

Where does the switch get installed?

There's no separate switch - a mercury switch is integral to the lamp; when you open the deck lid, the liquid mercury moves inside a small tube and closes the circuit. All the lamp needs is the 12V feed wire, and it's grounded through the screw that attaches the lamp to the deck lid inner panel.

:beers:

So are you telling me that little fixture has a built in mercury switch?

Yes, for the tenth time, the switch is in the end of the socket. You supply 12V via the single wire, the socket assembly grounds to the deck lid where it is attached, and when you raise the deck lid, the mercury (or whatever conductive element they use in the repros) connects the 12 V to the deck ground, and current flows, lighting the bulb. When the deck lid is lowered, contact is broken and the bulb goes out.

if you had the light/switch assembly in your hand and had a 12 volt battery handy you can put positive on the wire and touch the body of the light to the negative and by rotating the body the light will go on and off as the mercury moves around ,
underhood light is the same way my 67 has both the under hood light and trunk light ,,

Okay guy's I'm riding the short bus now I guess. If I'm comprehending this correctly. I've been told that the fixture is equipped with a mercury switch and when the trunk lid is lifted the movement of the mercury activates the fixture. Now I'm understanding the trunk interior light is tied into the parking light circuit. So, anytime the parking lights or headlights are on the light is on in the trunk? I guess this is sos the spare tire and jack want be afraid while traveling in the dark. Is this a Fiber optic ashtray light thing going on?

No... the trunk light power wire is "hot" all the time. You dont need any lights on in the car for the trunk light to work. Its totally independent. If you want to get something out of your trunk at night in the parking lot, you open the trunk and the light comes on, presto.
You dont have to turn on parking lights or anything at all.
Its really that simple.

No... the trunk light power wire is "hot" all the time. You dont need any lights on in the car for the trunk light to work. Its totally independent. If you want to get something out of your trunk at night in the parking lot, you open the trunk and the light comes on, presto.
You dont have to turn on parking lights or anything at all.
Its really that simple.

my 67 has original wiring and the trunk light only work's with the park light's on , it WOULD WORK if the wire was ALWAYS HOT maybe they changed after 67 but that is the way my 67 is set up from the factory ,,,

to answer again the above response WILL THE LIGHT STAY ON SO THE SPARE WON'T BE AFRAID :confused: NO !
the mercury run's away from making the circuit when the trunk lid is down ,,,

I can't resist ! this respone

CHEVROLET ORIGINAL SPARE TIRE'S ARE VERY BRAVE :D THEY ARE NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK ;)

Okay, I'll do some testing and evaluation before I install it. Thanks for the help.

sorry, I was going by the elec. diagram I posted earlier. The brown wire is 'hot' all the time. If you wire a trunk light from the brown wire it will work anytime. The chart I posted was from 68-69 so I guess 67 didnt use the logical wire :)

so, what happens under hard braking w/ the lights on? kidding... couldn't resist...

Wow! For a simple subject, this has gotten really complicated in a hurry. If you look at the link from Rick's that Eric posted, you will see that their kit includes a small section of wire that forms a 'Y' with three connectors in addition to the trunk light assembly and its associated wire. Look in the trunk towards the top of the wheel well on the driver's side and you will find a set of wires coming from up front. There is a male and female connector. Disconnect these two, plug in the single end of the 'Y' connector to the wire coming from the front. Plug the wire from the trunk light into one of the 'Y' ends and plug the other wire you disconnected at the wheel well into the other. Fasten the trunk light to the deck lid, making sure you use a star washer or some other means to ensure a good ground. That's all there is to it. Lid open, light goes on. Lid closed, light goes out. As many others have said, you don't need to turn on the parking lights or anything else. You just need a live battery. If you need to turn on the parking lights, then someone has messed around with your wiring.

This wiring scheme I described is what is shown in the 1967 AIM, it is not something I dreamed up on my own. By the way, on my '67 the brown wire goes to the license plate lamp, so if someone is tapping into that, it makes sense that you would need to turn on your lights for the trunk light to work.

I think you have that wrong at least for a 67 my 67 has never had the wire harness in the rear bothered and it has the trunk light hooked up to the park light's from the factory , now 68 69 may be different ,,,

67s do get the power from the tail light wire back by the gas tank sending unit wire and tag light wire

the wiring diagram that click shows in post #3 does not have the hot wire for the trunk light in it. if i'm not mistaken ( i could be ) i think it gets tied into the orange wire for the interior dome light. that wire is hot all the time and runs down the ds rear sail panel. i'm checking this in the AIM now. if i'm wrong i'll repost the correct location.

well i found it in the AIM and saved it as a PDF file but it's to large to upload to this site and i'm not sure how to downsize it. it is UPC U25 A1 on page 417 of my AIM........it does get connected to the dome light orange wire.

the wire diagram click posted in post #3 is for either a 68 or 69 it give's reference to MARKER LIGHTS of which 67's don't have , the 67's trunk light is wired in with the park light's if someone could post a 67 only wire diagram would be great ,

yea......my post is for 68 and 69....not sure about the 67. but if yours was untouched and is hooked to a parking light wire, not sure what you would need the 67 wiring diagram for unless you're not 100 % sure. wish i could help ya but i don't have that diagram.

My 67 vert also has a factory trunk light unmolested.It only lights up when the parking lights are on also...kinda dumb if you ask me.
So if I installed a 68-69 style switch and wired it to constant hot it would light up when open rite?
Im still not getting the part when it was said the switch is intergral with the bulb a few posts back...never seen a bulb like that before...:D

Well,just went and checked mine.It does have a mercury switch..so the spare and jack are in the dark when the parking lights are on :confused:must be a 67 thing and makes no sense.You go to your car at night from the store open your trunk to put things and no light.Never tried it at night so never noticed.
Just remembered it works only with lights on and never shut it with lights on to see what happens.
I guess I'll rewire what the factory did so it's useful..:( jeees learn something new everday

Not necessarily just a 67 thing...68 verts have the wiring going to the license plate lamp (park lights) also. 68 coupes are powered from the dome light (hot all the time) as mentioned above. I suspect 69 is the same ?.?. but then there's Freds coupe with the wire going to the rear...:confused:

i saw that on freds also.......not sure whats up with that. it should go the other way ....

Looked on my 67 RS and sure enough wired to license light harness connector. Turn the parking lights on and with trunk open light comes on. I assume GM meant for this to be used as lighting if you had a flat or other road emergency and not a daily convenience for loading groceries. Seems kind of silly to think you would have to turn lights on first and then load the trunk:confused:

yea it don't make real good sense but I knew that 67's were wired that way , I have had two 67's with the factory trunk light and both were that way , I am not gonna change mine but it would be easy to do if anyone wanted to make it hot all the time ,,,,

I double-checked my 67 AIM and you guys are right. It shows the trunk light connecting into the license plate lamp connection. The diagram I had in my head that I THOUGHT came from the AIM was actually the installation instructions that came with the add-on trunk light accessory kit from GM. I picked up an NOS unit on eBay several years ago. The only part I had to get elsewhere (American Auto Wire maybe?) was the 'Y' connector that Ricks shows in their kit.

At any rate, I plugged mine in as per my post of a few days ago and it works off of the battery whenever the trunk lid is opened. There is no messing around with turning on other lighting circuits. As hard as it is for me to say it, this might be the ONE thing where GM did not get it right the first time on the 67 model. Perhaps somewhere between the 67 and 68 model years one of the designers had a flat tire at night and decided that running off of the license plate circuit was not such a great idea. Now, what about the under hood lamp? That runs off of the battery right? I don't have one (yet), but I believe the AIM shows it connected to the horn relay.

Yeah, well...so it only took the General a year to work out the bugS :D

J/K, yep, underhood light comes on as long as you've got a 12V batt....for 68 anyway..http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp266/garfieldsmaro/unsure.gif

YEP those were an option if you got the trunk light then you got the under hood light it is just wired in with 12 volt + all the time ,

this post is three pages long ! and after thinking about this ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I'd say that GM wired the 67 trunk lightin with the park light's for safety , just think about it ,,,,,,, if you were beside theroad at night and you had your park light's on other motorist's could see you better GM made it where you HAD to turn the park light's on to find the spare and jack in te dark ,,,,

If it was my daily driver I think I would wire constant 12V to it, but as a sunny day car probably gonna leave it along. I am just glad mine was actually all there and functioning. Previous owner must not have realized it was there otherwise he would of found a way to hack it all to hell too. Some people shouldn't be allowed to own classic cars and he was definitely one of them. :mad:

Wow, did this get crazy or what? Thanks guy's, I think several of us got "en-lightened" in this discussion.

....or wanted to see what it's like to ride on the "short bus" l:)

So ya got it hooked up yet ??... works wonderfull, eh ???:thumbsup: