Hi guys I wanted to start a post about parts from other cars/manufactures that will work for our cars, at least I have made them work on my 70 Fury.
Now if you are a purist and want your car to look 100% like all factory parts this isn't for you.
Lots of times manufactures don't completely redesign the parts and they use an old design and just change it to improve it or make it cheaper. Or many use the same supplier for a part and just use a different connector. Most of the time they are not designing a new part from scratch. If you look up the part say on rockauto or something it will say the part is not available just because the wiring connector is different or something like that.
Some parts for my 70 I was having a hard time finding or when I did find them on fee bay were NOS and they want 10 times what I want to pay.
Here is my list so far
Brake light/cruise control switch, I used one from a 1985 Chevy Caprice, I had to change the connectors on the harness but it works.
The next one is the turn signal switch for a tilt column. I found this one at summit. The wiring is the same but the connector is just slightly shorter than the one in the car so I used a pick to release each pin from the new connector and they fit prefect into my original connector. I suggest changing one pin at a time so you don't mix them up.
The next is the power window motor. You can still get the originals but they are expensive and you have to send your core back to get a refund. I used the window motor from a 1985 Dodge truck for one of my rear regulators. It is plastic but it bolts in and is much faster than the original motors.
The last one is the power seat switch. The center knob and internal parts were broken on mine. The switch is really 3 switches put together. I found that the 1984 - 89 corvette used the same switch. Be vary careful disassembling the switch. This one is from a site called zip corvette
Now if you are a purist and want your car to look 100% like all factory parts this isn't for you.
Lots of times manufactures don't completely redesign the parts and they use an old design and just change it to improve it or make it cheaper. Or many use the same supplier for a part and just use a different connector. Most of the time they are not designing a new part from scratch. If you look up the part say on rockauto or something it will say the part is not available just because the wiring connector is different or something like that.
Some parts for my 70 I was having a hard time finding or when I did find them on fee bay were NOS and they want 10 times what I want to pay.
Here is my list so far
Brake light/cruise control switch, I used one from a 1985 Chevy Caprice, I had to change the connectors on the harness but it works.
The next one is the turn signal switch for a tilt column. I found this one at summit. The wiring is the same but the connector is just slightly shorter than the one in the car so I used a pick to release each pin from the new connector and they fit prefect into my original connector. I suggest changing one pin at a time so you don't mix them up.
The next is the power window motor. You can still get the originals but they are expensive and you have to send your core back to get a refund. I used the window motor from a 1985 Dodge truck for one of my rear regulators. It is plastic but it bolts in and is much faster than the original motors.
The last one is the power seat switch. The center knob and internal parts were broken on mine. The switch is really 3 switches put together. I found that the 1984 - 89 corvette used the same switch. Be vary careful disassembling the switch. This one is from a site called zip corvette
