Installing Blazer Flushmounts

Editor's note: This is a long-lost article from 2002, but Blazer still makes these lights, and there's a good chance you can find them or something similar at a local auto or big-truck store. These are made as clearance or marker lights for heavy trucks. See here for Blazer's current selection.

If your OEM front turn signals are broken or you are just looking for a flushmount turn signals solution, here is one. It may not be the best or most beautiful one, but it's definitely the cheapest and fastest.

Needed:

A pair of Blazer brand truck marker lights #20-3472-0, C472FA.
Two bulbs, number 1156 - You can take them from the stock lights. Bulb #3497 should also work.
Six bolts with nuts and washers (three per light base). Chances are that you have them already laying around your garage.
Two nuts for the lens attachment (size unknown)
Hacksaw and scissors
Pliers and screwdrivers
Super glue

The marker lights come with very dim and small bulbs. Throw them away.

First, you need to modify the base in two steps:

Take the bulb socket out of the base
Cut the base so the bulb itself can slide through.

To cut the base, use a hacksaw and pliers. You should get something like this:

All those ugly cuts will be hidden. No worries. Next, take scissors and cut the foam pads that come with the lights. The idea is the same - the bulb should slide through.

Now, connect the wires to the bulb socket. These are sold as truck marker lights, and they only come with one wire (for the 12 volt 'hot' lead). On a truck they would pick up the ground from the metal on the truck cab. Since the fairing is plastic and doesn't conduct electricity, you need to run one of the bulb wires to a bolt that attaches the socket to the fairing. This wire will ground the socket back through the ground wire for the signal. And incandescent bulbs don't care about polarity, which means it doesn't matter which wire you use for 12v and which is ground.

Use the original signal wires if you can. Connect to the stock wires using crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing.

Connectors that are sold with heat shrink already on them are very convenient.

The rest is easy if you have the bolts.

The only thing is left to do is attach the lens. You need to find a nut that will fit under the housing and superglue it so it will stay in place. Remove the bulb, put a drop of superglue on the nut, and place it as shown in the picture below. Be careful with the super glue; Don't get it on the lens.

Put the lens in place, tighten the bolt, and wait until the glue is cured. Remove the lens, put the bulb in place, and attach the lens. You're done.