calais rear bar insert

[dmar]

hey guys, in my quest to blacken my car to hell i want to put some calais tail lights in it.

the problem being its an exec so by removing the stock lights i will be removing the rear facing reflectors, thus making it illegal.

so i was thinking, maybe i could stick two reflectors onto the bumper but that would look fairly shite. then i thought, maybe i could affix the calais bumper insert onto my bumper ftw!

so my question: does anyone know if this is an order-able part or is it just the calais bumper ill need? also, would anyone happen to know how its fitted to the bumper (clips, tape, glue etc)?

cheahs.




fyi:

Division 15 Rear reflectors
118 Rear reflectors
(1) A motor vehicle with 4 or more wheels, and a trailer, must have a rear-facing red reflector towards each side of its rear.

[Calaber]

To fit the Calais lights, you have to either fit a Calais/Berlina bar, or alter your existing one to enable the lights to fit. They won't fit with the Exec bar in its standard form.

Then, if you fitted the Calais bar, you could add the insert. It's made up of three separate parts, (centre black strip and two reflectors.) Reflectors are about $30 each and the strip was about $70.

You could fit them to the exec bar but it would look crappy. The Exec has that black centre panel low on the rear bar and the Calais has a narrow recess in the bar to accommodate the strip. When the strip is fitted, it's pretty well flush with the bar.

To fit it to the Exec bar, you would have to run it higher up the bar in the painted section, above the black insert.

Wouldn't bother unless you do the job properly and change all the rear parts.

[dmar]

haha every time i hear about calais lights in exec rear end the story changes.


ebay - calais fit in exec
ls1 - calais fit in exec
holmart - calais dont fit in exec
here - calais dont fit in exec

ss/sv6 - dont fit in exec


thanks for the input though

[PaulSV6]

I can tell you, what you have just been told in the second post is spot on!

[dmar]

i'm talking about vz calais lights in a vz exec just to clarify


ebay store:

TAIL LAMPS VZ CALAIS SUITS ALS BERLINA GENUINE NEW-PAIR - eBay Tail Lights, Lights, Indicators, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 16-Mar-09 00:04:09 AEDST)

GENUINE HOLDEN VZ CALAIS SEDAN DARK TINTED TAIL LAMPS
SUITS:
VY CALAIS & BERLINA
VZ EXECUTIVE ACCLAIM CALAIS BERLINA COMMODORE - BRAND NEW


so this would hold true if Calaber is referring to VYs

not wanting to sound argumentative at all, i guess ill just get whoever i buy them from to give me a guarantee theyll fit and if they dont ill just return them or get a calais bumper

[naf33n]

i can tell you by parking my old sv6 side by side with my brother berlina, there is a big difference in size, deffently wont fit

[dmar]

what wont fit?


from what ive heard:

interchangable: calais, berlina, executive

interchangable: ss, sv6

[80shovelead]

calais tail lights dont fit in a exec, i know vy/vz calais lights are interchangeable

i guess as naf33n said the berlina would be the same deal as the calais and will fit

with the exec i believe the ss/sv6 lights will fit as there the same size from wat ive seen, but dont quote me on it though

[Calaber]

what wont fit?


from what ive heard:

interchangable: calais, berlina, executive

interchangable: ss, sv6

Hi Dmar

My avatar isn't the best, but it is a VY2 Berlina fitted with VZ Calais rear lights and bumper insert and the lower rear quarter extensions.

The VY came with two basic rear bumper facias on the sedans, and two basic sets of tail-lights, with slight variations according to trim level.

Executives, S, Acclaims had one bar, with the large black insert in the lower centre of the bar. The S insert was slightly different to the other two.

Berlinas and Calais had the other style of bar, with the recess running across the lower part of the bar. This recess was treated differently for Berlina and Calais depending on whether they were Series 1 or Series 2.

Series 1 Berlina had no insert in the recess (although many were fitted with them.)
Series 1 Calais had a single plain black strip fitted.

For Series 2, the Series 1 Calais strip was fitted to the Berlina, and the Calais had its own new strip, made up of two reflectors and a mesh pattern centre black strip.

On the basic bar, the tail-lights were shorter (that is, the bottom of the light sat higher up the car by about 20 mm or so, and the bumper was moulded with extra height in that area to meet the smaller tail-light.

The Berlina and Calais had a deeper light assembly and the bumper was slightly shorter in that area. Series 1 had the same lights for both Berlina and Calais, Series 2 Berlinas were unchanged but the Calais had its own design.

As far as interchangability goes, you cannot swap Berlina/Calais lights into the base model without either cutting back the basic bar, or fitting the Berlina /Calais bar.

You can fit the Exec style lights to a Berlina/Calais, but will be left with the 20 mm gap between the bottom of the light and the bumper (and who would do this anyway?)

[Lumps of cheese]

In the vz's the calais/berlina lights will fit in an exec. You guys are thinking of the vy's. My mother has a vz exec. and they are the same size as the calais/berlina lights.

[Calaber]

In the vz's the calais/berlina lights will fit in an exec. You guys are thinking of the vy's. My mother has a vz exec. and they are the same size as the calais/berlina lights.

Dead right. My bad. I was thinking we were talking about VY's.

The VZ facelift was nice and cheap for the General, just use VY Berlina and Calais bits for the Execs.

To the OP - cancel all I said earlier. Calais lights will fit straight in where your existing Exec lights are, but you will need to add the reflectors and insert into the recess in the bumper to keep your car legal. The Calais lights don't have in-built reflectors.

[dmar]

hahah oh boy

thanks calaber/everyone

sucks about the reflectors though

adding a rear bar turns a nice $400 upgrade into a ~$900 upgrade

[Calaber]

hahah oh boy

thanks calaber/everyone

sucks about the reflectors though

adding a rear bar turns a nice $400 upgrade into a ~$900 upgrade

Dmar

If you have the correct VZ rear bar, the recess for the insert should already be there, in which case the inserts are only about $100 complete with reflectors. The VZ base models just used the VY Berlina rear bar without some of the trim like the reflectors.

My apologies for the earlier confusion. I should have realised I was on the VZ forum, not the VY. "Duhh!"

[dans_vz]

Dmar

If you have the correct VZ rear bar, the recess for the insert should already be there, in which case the inserts are only about $100 complete with reflectors. The VZ base models just used the VY Berlina rear bar without some of the trim like the reflectors.

My apologies for the earlier confusion. I should have realised I was on the VZ forum, not the VY. "Duhh!"

Just to hijack the thread...
So if i'm correct with what your saying, I should be able to fit the inserts into my bar since it already has the recess? (VZ exec bar). Do they just clip in or glue in? And a question to all does anyone know what the part numbers are for the inserts and the reflectors.
Cheers guys.

[Calaber]

Just to hijack the thread...
So if i'm correct with what your saying, I should be able to fit the inserts into my bar since it already has the recess? (VZ exec bar). Do they just clip in or glue in? And a question to all does anyone know what the part numbers are for the inserts and the reflectors.
Cheers guys.

If you have the proper VZ exec rear bar, it is the same part as a VY Berlina and the insert will fit in after you drill a number of holes for the clips that retain it. I have attached a couple of photos of a standard Berlina insert I still have sitting around to show what the back of the insert looks like - the VZ one is different at each end and has less clips holding it on. You could probably cut them off and stick the insert on if you wanted to.

The reflectors are retained by two screws each. You will need to drill the holes for them.

You could probably cut them all off and stick the insert on if you wanted to.

The VZ part numbers are:

Reflectors: 92174544 and 92174545 List price $27.50 each
Insert: 92174549 List price $23.10 (cheaper than I thought)

Sorry forgot the photos - check next post.

[Calaber]

Photos as promised

[dans_vz]

Cheers for that, Calaber