hynrgee

Hi James...I'm José. I'm not at home but can take some photos for you if you like when I get return later tonight. I am attaching Googled images that reflect what I was pretty lucky finding at junk yards. You can see that the units are complete and include both the rabbit tails and the red plastic face.

The units I got included working bulbs so really the only tools or parts I needed were about 8' of 16 gauge wire, a soldering gun and related supplies to solder the wire to one tail light unit, and the male (or female, I can't recall which but provided the part number in one of my posts) adapter that would connect to the third tail light after I wound the wire through the trunk to the rear. 

Once the unit was connected I considered using Velcro to hold it in place on the rear window shelf. I didn't have Velcro handy and never got around to actually using it since I have carpets over the shelf that actually do a good job of keeping the third tail lights in place in both of the 02s I did this with. I didn't have a rug in my Schwarz but found a small and thin black mat at Home Depot for less than $20 that I cut to size and actually looks pretty good. I ran the wire under the carpet to hide it. It's not as good as what a professional upholsterer would do, but it's acceptable to me.

If you still want photos, please let me know which.

Good luck!

Hi Jose,

Yes, please send me some interior pictures. The ones I've seen on eBay look like they don't have a cover for the back side that is exposed to the interior of the car. Or am I looking at the bottom of the light unit?

Thanks, James

Hi James,

Focusing on your comment that " The ones I've seen on eBay look like they don't have a cover for the back side that is exposed to the interior of the car. Or am I looking at the bottom of the light unit?" If I understand your question correctly, perhaps the following image from an E34/E36 installation will help.

As you can see, the rear of the third tail light is designed to attach to the split level shelf. Since the 2002 does not have a split level shelf, you can either design a workaround or learn to live with it as is. Thus far I have learned to live with it as is.

Following is a picture from outside the car showing how the third tail light aligns with the lower rear window. I centered the third tail light as best I could inside the car and pushed as close to the window as possible. The rubber surrounding the red plastic does not actually touch the glass.

Yet, from outside the car it appears that it does and looks like a natural fit. Prior to this I had an LED strip that was mounted at the top of the rear window. I much prefer this setup. It's bright and, with the addition of LED bulbs to my square tail lights, is very visible day or night.

The following picture is of the inside of the car and the mat or rug that came with the car. 

You can see the wiring that I normally hide under the mat. The car is Sahara colored and the mat matches the color pretty well. The contrast makes the third tail light noticeable, but I don't find the way this looks to be distracting and no one has ever commented on it. Best of all, the third tail light stays in place even with spirited driving.

I considered fabricating a birch or plastic stand around the unit to hide the rear extrusion, but have never gotten around to it. I don't believe it would be hard to do. If that's the path you decide to go down, I would be interested in photos of what you design.

Here's a rear shot of both cars before I installed the third tail light on the Sahara colored car. With the Schwarz the third tail light in black is barely noticeable given the black interior except when it matters: apply the brakes and the light is very visible on a car that I just lowered 1.5 inches.

I hope this helps and answers your question.