So I was actually smart about this. The stock harness for the taillights hadn't been butchered, so I save it and just cleaned it. I cut off the stock 5 (or 6?) pin connector and soldered on a new 6 pin connector I'd bought so I could connect the old harness to that section of my newly created harness. I waited to do this when the back body was back on so I could be sure all the wires were the correct lengths. This lead to some interesting soldering conditions....
Installing the taillights themselves is a very easy process, the frames actually have "R" or "L" on them to help you figure out which hole they go in, but even without them it's fairly easy to figure out what goes where. The extra beauty of them is that the lenses screw on after the frames are already bolted onto the car, so you can install the bulbs and test everything before you finish them off, not that taking back out those two screws would be a huge deal.
After they were installed, with new bulbs, and the lenses were cleaned and installed I turned on the ignition and tried all the lights. Brakes lights: check, reverse lights: check, license plate & outer running lights: check. The left brake bulb didn't come on at first but it was simply due to a slightly bent contact on the socket, you can see the contacts on the back of the frame if you look from inside the trunk. Simply remove the bulb and gently push the contact forward, then when you install the bulb it'll push the contact but remain in contact, problem solved.
I repainted the trim pieces that go around the the lenses black because the silver on them was fading and frankly looked kind of silly with the white.
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