Rear grab handle light lens removal

I'll be taking the wagon in on Friday for a new headliner and I'm removing as much as I can to make the job easier for the upholsterer . Is there any trick to get the lens off I know that these are no longer reproduced and mine are mint so I don't want to risk breaking them . Any help would be appreciated Thanks !

Wojtek wrote:

I'll be taking the wagon in on Friday for a new headliner and I'm removing as much as I can to make the job easier for the upholsterer . Is there any trick to get the lens off I know that these are no longer reproduced and mine are mint so I don't want to risk  breaking them . Any help would be appreciated  Thanks !  

very carefully. mine removed themselves over time apparently.. i found two halves of one in the floor when I got the car. But they appeared to just snap into place with little tabs.

And that's the reason for this post I don't want to break those tabs off . I picked up set of grab handles with the lights from a junked car and the tabs were broken off an glued to the handles

Grab them at the small, rounded end. Gently pull towards the flat end and pull down slightly. It should disengage the clip. Then pull the light away from the flat end and down. A little lock tab is on the rounded end and two little arms on the flat end.

Good luck. I'm always nervous when I pull mine.

You can assist the "hook"in the front with a small screwdriver. As stated above, be careful.

If you do break one just go here.

https://www.3gsperformance.com/gallery-3-1

I checked them, and they look nice.

Thanks again I was hoping somebody with a 3D printer would start repoping these.My wife's nephew is just getting into this 3D printing and I mentioned making these to him maybe once he gets a little more expierence he will try

If you want to pay the price, these are excellent.

Rev Bob wrote:

If you want to pay the price, these are excellent.

People charge more for used ones they may or may not shatter when you try to install them. If my case, they did.

What I want is for someone to start printing lower dash panels so I can maybe find one for less than $1200.

If you use the price/size of the lens (about 3 sq in) vs the dash (about 700 sq in), it will be about $10,000.

If someone 20 years ago, told you these lenses would be $50 dollars or more, you would have probably laughed in their face.

""If someone 20 years ago, told you these lenses would be $50 dollars or more""

Beggars can't be choosers.

Buickman1 wrote:

If someone 20 years ago, told you these lenses would be $50 dollars or more, you would have probably laughed in their face.

same with the flyaway panels and other unobtainium parts.....

Not really. The fact that they stopped making these cars 26 years ago and they are cars that will never have an aftermarket presence let us know finding parts would be hard and expensive at some point.

Some parts are still out there today but we have to deal with the "what's this worth" folks in order to obtain them. I choose not to and resort to "make it work" or I just go without. My lower dash pretty much shattered in my hands. Not interested in paying for a replacement so out cam the Epoxy. The tube that Etchus provides with their double din kit is simply amazing stuff.

Not faulting used parts sellers by the way, you do you because some are more than willing to pay. I normally get kind of lucky at the pick n pull yards if I get there quick enough.

The getting there first is why the parts prices are so high. It takes dedication to go to the yards and carefully pull the parts so they can be used, instead of being destroyed by idiots, or sent to the crusher with the car.

Parts are high because the people on eBay are high and only care about getting as much as they can. Same goes for the nitwits on FB marketplace. Most of them are the people that buy up all the unwanted cars and rip them apart and the others are junk yards. Back when I started messing with these cars I scored some big deals but those don't exist today. Still remember my $10 LTZ hood ornament.

I said kind of lucky because this is Florida and the sun and temps aren't exactly nice to the interiors of these cars. Even more so if the windows were never tinted. Back in KY I would see a car in the yard and ask myself, "why the &*^% is this even here"? Not so in Florida, the cars are there for good reason. Dash panels here are destroyed, dashes cracked, most of the door panels on these cars started cracking when they were only a few years old. I have signed up for all the junk yard notifications and keep tabs on what is coming in but nothing in the last few years has been worth my time. Thankfully I only really NEED a couple of parts but I know that I will never get them.

Besides the dash, what are you missing?

I get the price increase. I'm sure the guy has time and money invested on making the parts, and is trying to sell them to an ever shrinking market.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

Besides the dash, what are you missing?

Thankfully nothing is actually missing. Just a completely screwed lower dash. The driver door arm rest is barely hanging on and I foolishly removed and installed my dash pad ALONE and it split right open. More epoxy has the dash together and a cover will go on the dash. I know not to touch the arm rest. There is a decently priced one in good shape on eBay that I really should buy.

I have to believe that the sellers are seeing what these cars are going for and figure if a wagon is in the 10 to 20 grand price range my parts should be worth more especially on stuff that's hard to find . I looking for almost a year to find a clean inner fender and lucked out because the place where I work part time was dismantling a clean Impala SS . They got another one in recently and I picked up another so now I have a full set of clean inner fenders which I'll be putting on in the spring

Wojtek wrote:

I have to believe that the sellers are seeing what these cars are going for and figure if a wagon is in the 10 to 20 grand price range my parts should be worth more especially on stuff that's hard to find . I looking for almost a year to find a clean inner fender and lucked out because the place where I work part time was dismantling a clean Impala SS . They got another one in recently and I picked up another so now I have a full set of clean inner fenders which I'll be putting on in the spring

The 91-93 wheelhouses are slightly different from the 94-96. The Roadmaster sedans are different from the wagons, Caprice, and Impala parts.

94Woody wrote:

Fred Kiehl wrote:

Besides the dash, what are you missing?

Thankfully nothing is actually missing. Just a completely screwed lower dash. The driver door arm rest is barely hanging on and I foolishly removed and installed my dash pad ALONE and it split right open. More epoxy has the dash together and a cover will go on the dash. I know not to touch the arm rest. There is a decently priced one in good shape on eBay that I really should buy.

What color is your dash? Pardon my uncertainty, but is it the same as a 96 and is it the part with the ac vents? I still have my blue one that is in nice shape

Serendipity96 wrote:

94Woody wrote:

Fred Kiehl wrote:

Besides the dash, what are you missing?

Thankfully nothing is actually missing. Just a completely screwed lower dash. The driver door arm rest is barely hanging on and I foolishly removed and installed my dash pad ALONE and it split right open. More epoxy has the dash together and a cover will go on the dash. I know not to touch the arm rest. There is a decently priced one in good shape on eBay that I really should buy.

What color is your dash? Pardon my uncertainty, but is it the same as a 96 and is it the part with the ac vents?  I still have my blue one that is in nice shape

If you have a spare Caprice dash then yes a 96 will work.

Dear Wojtek.

I see several people already answered your question in regard to the rear cargo handle light lens.
I use a very small flat screwdriver. At the football shaped end, just slide the blade between the housing
and lens, push in gently to release the hook and pull-down gently. the front of the lens has two bayonets
tabs that just pull out, no hooks. Hope this helps. The bulbs burn quite hot which is hard on the lens, I
changed my over to LEDS. Cooler and better lighting. I hope this helps. As for the lenses they can be a tad hard to come by. I checked out the site that 94Woody posted. 3gs 3D printing. Way cool, a tad pricey but way cool. Thankx 94Woody for the tip. Regards WhiteBird.

BY the way, I still have a blue cargo security cover in very decent condition.... I have to get a $100.00
for it (that's what I paid for it) plus whatever it cost to ship it. I am in the eastern panhandle of WV

Quote :

If you have a spare Caprice dash then yes a 96 will work.

D'Oh! sorry, no it's a roadmaster dash.