Almost right away, you notice the darkened driver’s side high beam headlight lens. However, if you look closer, you’ll see the slightly faded headlight bezels and cracked and faded lenses. A very common problem with these cars, we’re excited about replacing them with the hardware from GBodyParts.
photos by: the author
Continuing our Grand National’s Makeover with the Help of GBodyParts
It’s been a little while since we’ve brought you an update on Project Wicked6, but that’s not because we haven’t been working on it — quite the contrary! Our GN project has been under the knife extensively (both inside and out), and quite frankly, it’s almost a completely different car since the last time we spoke of it. Among which, is the recent replacement of our side marker lenses, front parking light housings and headlight bezels.
With fading bezels and cracked lenses being so common with the Turbo Buick Regal crowd, and with our example suffering from those very conditions, this is a welcome upgrade from GBodyParts that we look forward to.
We’ve ordered a slew of hardware GBodyParts over the last few months, and you probably caught our recent wheel upgrade, but we certainly felt that it was time to bring you a new segment in the saga of the ever-evolving boosted Buick. So follow along as we show you how to clean up the front end appearance of you ’84-87 Turbo Regal!
When we first picked up Wicked6 back in the summer of 2009, we were stuck with this scuffed and hairline-cracked (if you squint, you can see it) side marker. Apart from some cheap remakes on eBay, nobody made them. We even checked with the dealer, and they could only sell us the passenger side marker light, as the driver’s side had since long went out of production and were no longer available. Finally, we have a cure.
The driver’s side high beam is an issue we’ve been meaning to address for some time, but with the GBodyParts bezels and parking lights going in, we felt this would be the perfect opportunity to attack this thorn in our side, too!
Removing the ruined headlight, side marker and bezel couldn’t be easier! you simply remove all of the screws holding the bezel in place.
Like we said above, the bezel and side marker come out as one unit. Pretty simple!
Once you’ve removed the screws and the wire connected to the side marker’s bulb, you removed the bolts holding the side marking lamp housing in place. Since we were reusing our old hardware, we took the extra few minutes to do this step, otherwise, you could order all new hardware at an additional cost and assemble yours from scratch.
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- Pulling out the funky high-beam was easy, too, although ours had probably been in there for at least a decade or so, considering how much of a fight the top bolt gave us!
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- Once free, you simply pull it out slowly and pull the connector.
Whenever you swap your headlights, don’t forget to pull the chrome trim ring off of the headlight lens, as they’re an OE part and of course, don’t come with the replacement bulb. Just for FYI, the high beam is a halogen H4651.
The bezels, side markers and parking lamps all came to us as one kit for GBodyParts — they’re avail be individually as well. Since they’re prone to cracking, fading, stone ships and the like, it makes sense to order these together. A front grill is also available, if needed. Everything arrives at your door in the exact dimensions and style as the OE versions, so there will be no unwanted attention at your local Buick meet!
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- This is what a brand new replacement side marker light looks like from GBodyParts. Compare it to the earlier photos of our driver’s side unit and you can see the difference in finish and even color!
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- Have you ever noticed that one of your parking lights is darker then the other, or yours seem to be darker than other GNs in general? They’re not supposed to be. Chances are, you have a cracked lens and moisture has found its way in, making the lens appear darker then it should be! The parking lamp lens offered through GBodyParts os a direct replacement for your original.
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- Looking fresh in all of its satin black glory, these get installed as-is, and don’t require paint.
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- Pulling out the funky high-beam was easy, too, although ours had probably been in there for at least a decade or so, considering how much of a fight the top bolt gave us!
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- Once free, you simply pull it out slowly and pull the connector.
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- Replacing the bumper-mounted parking lamp housing is a pretty straight-forward procedure, involving two screws and a trim piece.
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- As soon as the lens is free from the bumper, simply pull the bulbs out of the housing…
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- …and reverse the steps. That’s it!
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
