tail light lens help

[professor229]

It's such a simple question... but when I bought my car, a 1971 240Z, the previous owner had already started taking it apart including the rear tail lights and lens structures.... The car is painted and I am now putting it back together. Today I cleaned up all the bulbs and checked the sockets. I know which two bulbs are the brake lights... I know which bulb is the backup light.... but I don't know where to place three of them into the lens structure... Are the brake lights the top two sockets? Is the turn signal on the bottom? I would have a clue if one of the lenses was "amber" but all three are red like the picture... Can someone with a 1971 240 Z tell me what part is supposed to light with brakes? running lights? and turn signals so I can put this together tomorrow? Thanks....PS... One of the bulbs was "amber" on one side, and on the other side there was not an "amber" bulb.... Are the turn signal bulbs supposed to be amber when the lenses are red? or did someone use the wrong one? Thanks again....

[Arne]

For a '71, it depends on the build date.

[professor229]

Arne! Thanks!!! I couldn't ask for more... and pictures to boot!!! I have a few friends here in Minnesota that would laugh at me and tell me that I do better with pictures rather than words..... This is the third problem I have run into, since I did not take the car apart... but got a big box of parts with it... I realized after a week of inventorying the parts, that the rear bumper was not there... probably just as well because someone had painted the front one green....Everything else is coming together on the car... I might need to ask about the front wiring but now the back wiring makes sense... and the wiring harness up front looks kind of intuitive too.... PS.. When I went to You Tube videos to try to figure out the lights, there was one that had the same lens, but the bottom lights were amber and white.... white obviously the backup, so the other one on the bottom, amber, was obviously the turn signal... but, since all three of mine were red I simply didn't know... Thanks again.... and have a good one....

[professor229]

Arne... thought you might like to look at the final coat of paint on the car, which is the sixth and final coat of single stage enamel... It has been sanded down twice after the second and fourth coats to eliminate the orange peel... wish I could get farther away to take a better picture, but our part of the state got 12 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday so the doors have to stay shut to the shop.... Have a good one...

[professor229]

Ahhhh just one more post on this.... Arne.... the plate on the car said it was manufactured in August of '71 which makes it a "series 2" I believe..... if I did the research right... When I order parts, I order for a 1970.... if I order for a 1971 there are a few clearing houses that understand the break in the model year beginning on September 1, 1971 and many parts were changed at that time.... This has been a problem twice now, so I just order for a 1970... and it is right all the time... I am going to put the two brake lights on the two top sockets, the back up light in the obvious white lens socket, and the other bulb in the lower socket, number three on your picture.... Thanks again...Dennis