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My DIY MR taillights.

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Old Nov 21, 2005, 06:46 PM
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My DIY MR taillights.

Thought I'd post my most recent mod. This was my first attempt at painting any sort of lights and I think they came out OK. Took a while, had to cut between the lense and the housing with a dremel. I tired the oven, was a no go. I think next time I would try a heat gun. I may buy another set off ebay when I see them for cheap and try again and make it a little cleaner, but i still think it looks better than stock. Feel free to critique.
http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=11/32420452183.jpg&s=x12
Old Nov 21, 2005, 06:48 PM
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wow that looks pretty nice. Good job
Old Nov 21, 2005, 06:50 PM
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Originally Posted by HiRevnVIII
Thought I'd post my most recent mod. This was my first attempt at painting any sort of lights and I think they came out OK. Took a while, had to cut between the lense and the housing with a dremel. I tired the oven, was a no go. I think next time I would try a heat gun. I may buy another set off ebay when I see them for cheap and try again and make it a little cleaner, but i still think it looks better than stock. Feel free to critique.
http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=11/32420452183.jpg&s=x12
Not bad at all! If you can perfect that, I think you will have some customers if you chose to go with that path. The only thing I noticed is that the amber is a little lighter that the real thing and the black seems to be glossy (maybe it's just my eyes). I bet from far away, you can't even tell though.
Old Nov 21, 2005, 06:55 PM
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yeah, I used gloss paint, I thought its what people were using, Next time I will use Flat , maybe satin. I know the Amber is a little light, Its actually the darkest I could find, anything darker was just a really ugly shade of orange.
Old Nov 21, 2005, 06:59 PM
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Originally Posted by HiRevnVIII
yeah, I used gloss paint, I thought its what people were using, Next time I will use Flat , maybe satin. I know the Amber is a little light, Its actually the darkest I could find, anything darker was just a really ugly shade of orange.
Don't settle yourself short though, that is probably better than 9 out of 10 people on average.
Old Nov 21, 2005, 07:04 PM
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wow what did you do for the amber part. looks kinda real.
Old Nov 21, 2005, 07:11 PM
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I think you did a great job

any tips for somebody who might want to try this later?
Old Nov 21, 2005, 07:15 PM
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i used grange porcilian paint on my tails to give them a gsr look. it came out pretty good try that next time. good job man
Old Nov 21, 2005, 07:15 PM
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any tips for somebody who might want to try this later
Yes, DO NOT RUSH IT. It is a PITA to separate the lense from the housing, take your time, be careful. like i said I used a dremel, It wasn't fun, and next time I'll use a heat gun.

I used stained glass spray paint for the amber. Im going to keep my eyes open for a more orange color. It was a little more yellow and to make it darker I used 4 or 5 coats.
Old Nov 21, 2005, 07:23 PM
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Good job!
Old Nov 22, 2005, 01:47 AM
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I just did this to my tails and yes it is a PITA. I used a heat gun, utility knife, and it takes awhile to seperate the clear lens from the housing. Then its a ***** to get the inner part(chrome section) out of the housing. I kept trying and at times thought I was going to break the piece and have to buy a new headlight. Luckily I figured out how to remove it better on the second taillight.

Good job! Yours looks good, but mine look better. I'll try and post a pic tomorrow.

I used flat black and it came out GREAT!!! I ended up using 3m tape and black silicone for extra sealing. I would NOT recommend this to somebody who is not somewhat mechanically inclined. If you can't take things apart without gettting frustrated then don't even think of tackling this kind of project.

You have to go REALLY slow when seperating the lens from the housing. I heated up about 6 inches at a time and went slow using a utility knife to seperate the two. You MUST keep the heat gun a good distance away from the lens and housing or else you will melt it. The heating part takes awhile because you can't hold it in one spot, if you do it will definitely melt. You need to go back and forth over a short 6 inch area.
Old Nov 22, 2005, 10:13 AM
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Originally Posted by Evo VIII
Not bad at all! If you can perfect that, I think you will have some customers if you chose to go with that path. The only thing I noticed is that the amber is a little lighter that the real thing and the black seems to be glossy (maybe it's just my eyes). I bet from far away, you can't even tell though.


not to jump onto his thread but here are some i have done and if you guys are looking to do this i can help ya out ...that is what i do for a living...done over 300 sets of evo lights . I offer a lifetime warranty and the pricing is way less then half the price of the factory jdm MR lights. There are lots of options and things i have tried also... you guys are right though. It is a pain to do these. I literally have 1-3 sets of month that come here already started that people give up on realizing its just not worth it. I had about 5 sets i went through before i got them decent enought to sell . Now its cake months later.






black with red signals



graphite gray /amber signals




BTW: i can make the amber lighter or darker...

Old Nov 22, 2005, 10:27 AM
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good way to advertise
Old Nov 22, 2005, 10:49 AM
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i don't do this often, but i know the guy isnt' selling anything so i figured i would throw pics out with ideas...if he doesn't want me to i can pull them down but i didn't see any harm.
Old Nov 22, 2005, 11:03 AM
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No its cool, I just did it to see if I was any good at it and I thought id post my results. I do want to try again just for kicks though.


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