How To: DIY Tailights Part 1
As promised I continued with the DIY tailights today and I am very happy (other than the crack I made last night) with the results....look below
So back on track for those who are looking to do this yourself, once the chrome housing is removed I scuffed the housing up with a "red" pad as I like to call it
Once I sanded the housings I cleaned the dust and residue off with some paint safe thiner/cleaner. Soap and water would be fine, being that I have the access to a body shop all week I used the "proper" supplies. I then gave he housings 1 coat of primer....you can skip this step if you choose but I decided since the lights were open might as well do it
As that was drying I went ahead and started to do the amber turn signals. The hobby store didn't have any of the paint in a spray can so I bought the small $2.50 bottle (which is more than enough) and painted the lens via paint brush. This actually worked out better than I though. Below is a picture of the first coat.
Now back to the housing, it's dry now and I gave it 3 coats of Satin Trim Black paint.
Here it is with the reflectors in place...
Back to the turn signals, I ended up giving them 4 coats of the orange. I really like the deep yet amber color. If you want it darker add more layers if lighter do the opposite. Here are the finished coats
Since they were all dry I masked them together. The following 2 pictures are with the lenses just held over so I could take a picture. Later on tonight I glued them together using 3M windshield glue and I clamped them together to create a seal. This is a rough yet close idea of what it will look like
Tomorrow I will get pictures of them officially glued together and the seal. I plan on painting approximately a 3/8" strip around the outer edges of the satin black to cover up the roughness.
Overall I am very very happy with the results and can't wait to get them on the car.
I also did side markers as well and will be sure to get pics of those tomorrow.
-Ray
So back on track for those who are looking to do this yourself, once the chrome housing is removed I scuffed the housing up with a "red" pad as I like to call it
Once I sanded the housings I cleaned the dust and residue off with some paint safe thiner/cleaner. Soap and water would be fine, being that I have the access to a body shop all week I used the "proper" supplies. I then gave he housings 1 coat of primer....you can skip this step if you choose but I decided since the lights were open might as well do it
As that was drying I went ahead and started to do the amber turn signals. The hobby store didn't have any of the paint in a spray can so I bought the small $2.50 bottle (which is more than enough) and painted the lens via paint brush. This actually worked out better than I though. Below is a picture of the first coat.
Now back to the housing, it's dry now and I gave it 3 coats of Satin Trim Black paint.
Here it is with the reflectors in place...
Back to the turn signals, I ended up giving them 4 coats of the orange. I really like the deep yet amber color. If you want it darker add more layers if lighter do the opposite. Here are the finished coats
Since they were all dry I masked them together. The following 2 pictures are with the lenses just held over so I could take a picture. Later on tonight I glued them together using 3M windshield glue and I clamped them together to create a seal. This is a rough yet close idea of what it will look like
Tomorrow I will get pictures of them officially glued together and the seal. I plan on painting approximately a 3/8" strip around the outer edges of the satin black to cover up the roughness.
Overall I am very very happy with the results and can't wait to get them on the car.
I also did side markers as well and will be sure to get pics of those tomorrow.
-Ray
The paint I used was Tamiya Clear Orange Paint. I bougt it at my local hobby shop. They use it to paint the bodys of the cars and like I said it usually comes in a spray can but they didn't have it and rather than ordering it I applied it using a paint brush.
looks really good 
once you get that outer 3/8" painted it will really clean it up...I did the same diy mod on my VIII and it came out great w/ no fogging, like you said if you take your time and do it all the right way w/ out rushing then its a great alternative to spending $350 - $400 for the JDM ones...
once you get that outer 3/8" painted it will really clean it up...I did the same diy mod on my VIII and it came out great w/ no fogging, like you said if you take your time and do it all the right way w/ out rushing then its a great alternative to spending $350 - $400 for the JDM ones...
looks really good
once you get that outer 3/8" painted it will really clean it up...I did the same diy mod on my VIII and it came out great w/ no fogging, like you said if you take your time and do it all the right way w/ out rushing then its a great alternative to spending $350 - $400 for the JDM ones...
once you get that outer 3/8" painted it will really clean it up...I did the same diy mod on my VIII and it came out great w/ no fogging, like you said if you take your time and do it all the right way w/ out rushing then its a great alternative to spending $350 - $400 for the JDM ones...
I used 3M windshield glue...meaning the glue they use to glue windshields to cars. It's very adhesive and water resistant. I glued them tonight and will post pics once it's dried tomorrow.
