Has anybody removed their tail light lenses?

[Burninrock24]

I still swear they reversed engineered alien technology to weld cardboard to metal I bet the same stuff on plastic and glass is just as strong.

Hahaha. That's what they've been doing in area 51, engineering automotive adhesives for Ford.

 

[ttocs]

Hahaha. That's what they've been doing in area 51, engineering automotive adhesives for Ford.

I was amazed at how much my roof flexed to take it out. I was sure the paint was going to separate or the metal be bent wrong after.

 

[Burninrock24]

Well just an update here, not quite ready for a DIY thread yet, but yeah. Got these for $37 shipped to my door on ebay. The guy didn't know anything about them, and I imagine they had been sitting around for a long time before then.

Lenses came off pretty easy. I almost got one completely off at room temp with a small flathead but then it sort of fractured. It still seals completely and is entirely covered by the bezel, so I'm not worried. I'll have it sealed up nice and good by the time the install comes.

After this little incident I decided to bake them. I set my oven to 170 and cooked them for 2mins 30 seconds at a time and then worked at the glue. I bet I could have gone a bit hotter and longer, but I'd rather put in a little more elbow grease than a warped lens. They came off pretty easy after that and I'm excited to paint them up!

I'm undecided if I want to polish the reflectors off yet, or just leave them as amber reflectors. I've seen people sand off headlight fluting and reflectors so I know it's possible, but the reflector look could look kind of cool. We'll see!

 

[ttocs]

some ca glue and sillycone should adhere to it and seal it.

Still curious how you are going to change the color of the lense myself.

 

[OnyxCobra]

you don't have to change the color of the lens, you just need to put a colored bulb in there. otherwise you could put some colored film or even paint and it would change the color of the light.

 

[Burninrock24]

I read on a motorcycle restoration forum that stained glass paint works really great. I'll search around and find the right shade of red and amber. Then I'll paint the insides and outsides. With a little wetsanding and a lot of coats I think that it'll work great. The best part is that if I mess up a color the worst I can do is go back to clear and start over.

I'll use vinyl stencils for the area that I want to leave clear, and another for amber, then I'll use the reverse of those stencils for when it comes time to paint the amber.

They best part is that the tails already have a spot moulded in where the reflectors are to house a housing and bulb for the turn signals. They won't be in separate enclosures like the true exports are, but it'll still look very similar.

Onyx, I would like to use a film, but I'm afraid of how well it will go down on all the curves, and I'm also afraid of having it with a not-quite-gloss finish. I guess some clearcoat on top of the vinyl could work well?

 

[ttocs]

Idunno how I see this ending up although it is a cool idea.

a colored bulb will not even look close to the import lights when they are off and even when they are on. With out the turn signals separated from the main housing I am afraid that it will look pretty confusing with the brake lights and turn signals all blending into the same cavity. With out some kind of separation, and the orange/red lights that the turn signal lights are already will mix together. I am curious to see what color the two will combine to make on the way out although if you are painting the lenses the color should be constant. If I were you I would try to maybe cut either some abs plastic to put in between the two housings or some other material to block the light. Use a piece of cardboard to make a pattern and then copy that over to a different material and then glue them into place.

I know the stained glass paint sound nice and easy but I am willing to bet just like any candy paint application that it is difficult to get the layer even. With this having light go through it like it is I am afraid that any small difference in shading will be as easy to find as a fart in a compact car.

 

[Burninrock24]

With out the turn signals separated from the main housing I am afraid that it will look pretty confusing with the brake lights and turn signals all blending into the same cavity. With out some kind of separation, and the orange/red lights that the turn signal lights are already will mix together. I am curious to see what color the two will combine to make on the way out although if you are painting the lenses the color should be constant. If I were you I would try to maybe cut either some abs plastic to put in between the two housings or some other material to block the light. Use a piece of cardboard to make a pattern and then copy that over to a different material and then glue them into place.

I know the stained glass paint sound nice and easy but I am willing to bet just like any candy paint application that it is difficult to get the layer even. With this having light go through it like it is I am afraid that any small difference in shading will be as easy to find as a fart in a compact car.

Yep I agree 100% and thats what I planned to do as well. I talked it through with another member on my old forums account.

http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/4-6l-talk/412489-buying-just-tail-light-lenses.html (ignore the wiring part, I found a better solution)

I'm going to extend the divider between the tails and the turn signal as far as possible. They don't bleed too much as it is now, and removing the bottom reflectors will really help to eliminate the bleeding light.

Like you said, I'll most likely just JB weld sort of concoction made from ABS onto the existing divider in the stock housing to divide it as much as I can. Maybe a small foam seal on the end. Something to form to the lens, but leave a nice line where as an adhesive on the lens would look bad.

And concerning the lens paint. I'm capable with a paint gun. And if I'm not, my dad can do it since worked as an auto paint detailer in the 90s, or my uncle and aunt own a auto body repair shop that they can paint it at.

And if all else fails, I can go to a film.

 

[OnyxCobra]

if you're using those tail lights in the picture how is the light not already separated? those don't light up full like the stock tails, they only light up the red circles right? So if you add amber at the bottom i don't think it's going to mix with the red. by how those pictures look the bottom section already looks divided off, maybe it's just hard to see cause the chrome but it looks clear to me that the backup light is in it's own section and the part directly next to it is also. Even on the stock tail lights the light from the tail lights does not go down into the bottom part where the reflectors are, i bet if you put a bulb in the bottom it would light up separately from the rest of the tail light.

 

[Burninrock24]

if you're using those tail lights in the picture how is the light not already separated? those don't light up full like the stock tails, they only light up the red circles right? So if you add amber at the bottom i don't think it's going to mix with the red. by how those pictures look the bottom section already looks divided off, maybe it's just hard to see cause the chrome but it looks clear to me that the backup light is in it's own section and the part directly next to it is also. Even on the stock tail lights the light from the tail lights does not go down into the bottom part where the reflectors are, i bet if you put a bulb in the bottom it would light up separately from the rest of the tail light.

I think you misunderstood my original post, but I do see what you're getting at now.

I'm going to be putting these lenses on my OEM lights. The euro lights are going in the trash once the project is done lol. I needed these lenses because the stock lenses are red, and I can't paint the amber section onto them.

 

[OnyxCobra]

gotcha, that's cool. even if you use OEM tail lights the bottom section where the reflectors are is a separate section from the tail light bulb.

 

[Burninrock24]

There is a tiny area of the divider that doesn't follow the contour of the lens that lets a tiny bit of light through. But most of that is picked up by the reflector. So I imagine that if I shave the reflectors off a lot of that bleeding will be gone. I won't go to massive lengths to stop it, but I'll do everything I can to prevent it.

 

[OnyxCobra]

yeah, it's really not bad at all. when you hit the turn signal whatever bulb you have in the bottom section will easily overpower that little bit of bleeding.

 

[Burninrock24]

That's a very good point. I'll make one without modifying the dividers and just shaving the reflectors and see how that works out before installing them. I'm convinced the reflectors amplify the bleeding effect. Without them I really doubt it will be there.

 

[ttocs]

ah ok I thought you were trying to get the euros to look like the imports. There are two small spots on the back of those bottom section on my 94 where a bulb would go. Not sure what light you want to put in there though as it would take a little time to cut out the hole and the notch for the standard lights and then you don't have anything to keep it from spinning and locking into place. you might consider just getting 5-10 3-5mm led lights to put in the back of each section to light up the lower portions. All you would need to do there is drill a small hole, put the led mounting ring into it and then the led to the ring and your done.

I still think it will be harder then you think to polish out the reflectors and make it look good. Also be carefull to not scratch the outside of the lense any further while sanding those out. Put a layer of tape on it and it will keep any further scratches from needing to be polished out later. I think I would recommend you make one with the reflectors in and just do not glue it all back together to test it out. This way you will know what to expect from them being in there and you can keep them if they work. But obviously if you sand one out and end up not happy with it you will need to order another set of lights to start over again.

 

[Burninrock24]

Yep, we have one big lower section as opposed to two sections like the actual exports have. It's the same lower reflector molding as the euro lights I have pictured there. You can see the flat spot where I could drill for a bulb housing. But I might try to sneak 2 into there somehow.

I have been reading up on tons of different forums of people who shaved off the fluting (all those plastic lines) from their headlights. I know the JDM guys do it a lot because the headlight fluting was a US D.O.T requirement.

They all said the key was just to keep reducing the grit of sand paper and eventually just use a plastic lapping compound or polish to finally get the shine back to it. Since the reflectors are cast into the plastic really all I would be doing is shaving them down to a new layer of plastic and then polishing it flush and clear. Basically the same way that people get a mirror finish.

That said, I might try shaving them off on a junkyard lens to make sure I get the technique right.

 

[OnyxCobra]

you might consider just getting 5-10 3-5mm led lights to put in the back of each section to light up the lower portions. All you would need to do there is drill a small hole, put the led mounting ring into it and then the led to the ring and your done.

2 rows of 5 orange LEDs on each side would make a pretty sick looking turn signal.

 

[Burninrock24]

Yeah it would but I think I'm going to stick with the stock housing arrangement. Thats how it seems to be designed on the true exports.

 

[justinschmidt1]

I have no idea whats going on here.

 

[ttocs]

I have no idea whats going on here.

Its a ford thang