Blacked Out Tail Lights for 05
Feb 17, 2006, 04:49 PM
#18
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i know u want a guide for tails, but eh heres a guide on the headlights so u basically have a concept of how to do em.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=164475
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=164475
Feb 17, 2006, 05:01 PM
#19
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partstrain.com or parts-train.com keep checkin' ebay, they pop up now and then. doesn't rrm have blacked out lights now for the 05? I'm probably wrong. . . oh I know I am cause I was thinkin' headlights. sorry, I'm probably wrong twice
Feb 17, 2006, 06:21 PM
#20
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Originally Posted by joberk3
i know u want a guide for tails, but eh heres a guide on the headlights so u basically have a concept of how to do em.
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=164475
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=164475
you will melt them. i've seen it happen. they are sealed differently than headlights and baking will not release the glue. only way is to cut them.
Feb 18, 2006, 08:47 AM
#23
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If you want ones here is the australian site:http://www.burgdesign.com.au/catalog...oducts_id=1215
Says 299 but thats au currency should be alot cheaper but shipping will be expensive.
Says 299 but thats au currency should be alot cheaper but shipping will be expensive.
Feb 20, 2006, 09:35 AM
#24
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This is what Twisty posted up a while ago. (Saved the page cuz i want to do it)
----------------------------------------------------
tools needed:
hand drill or dremel.
circular dremel cutting bit w/ about a 1/2inch diameter
masking/painters tape
black spray paint
clear or black silicon sealant, perferably in the small tube w/ the screw cap.
phillips screw driver
Any hand drill or dremel tool will do for this project. u are basically cutting open your tail lights with the dremel bit, painting them and resealing them w/ silicon sealant. make sure your circular cutting bit has about a 1/2inch diameter so u can cut all the way through the black plastic. the bit looks like a pizza cutter that u put on the drill. you can buy them at a hardware store for a few dollars. they come in metal(1 in a pack) or this weird sand paper stone material(a whole bunch in a pack). get the metal one if you can because it won't break. the sand paper like ones are brittle and will break if you bend them.
Removing your tail lights:
pop open your trunk first. you will see that there are two screws holding the tail light in place. unscrew those. after that gentley tug on your tail light and pull it straight out. you will here a pop. that is just it popping out of the connectors. don't pull it too far out though because there is a cord connecting it. look behing the tail light for a black clamp. press down firmly on the clamp until you here a click. when it clicks you will be able to easily pull it apart. now your tail light should be completely removed.
Cutting them open:
Here's where we seperate the men from the boys. get your courage up and make sure u have some ***** cause here we go! j/k it's not to hard. make sure your drill has plenty of power and pop that dremel pizza cutter thing in there. when you look at your tail light from behind/side you will see that it is two pieces. a clear outer lense and a black plastic casing. the ideal way to cut them is right between the two where the lense and backing meet. you want to take into account the thickness of the cutting tool though and cut more on the black backing side so as not to crack the lense. begin cutting through the light carefully making sure not to scratch the clear lense or red bulbs on the inside. you can look through the lense to see if you have made it through. when you are cutting the plastic is going to pile up a bit. wait for it to cool and then pull it off. you'll know what i mean when u do this. after cutting around the tail light the lense should come off easily, if it doesn't that means that it is still attached somewhere. don't force it apart.
Painting and prep:
Now you should have two pieces. the clear lense and main assembly. put the lense aside so a sec and focus on the main part. now its time to paint. this is where you get to make a few decisions. first off if you look at the light u can see that the red triangle reflector to the side of the big red bulbs is removable.
take that off and you will notice that there is chrome underneath. the decision here is whether or not to paint the area underneath. i like to paint that area black also because when you put that piece back on the red looks darker and deeper. if you don't want to paint this area then put the reflector back on and tape it up using masking/painters tape to cover it from paint. the next decision is the turn signals/reverse light. i choose to leave that whole part chrome so i just taped from the straight part all the way acroos and down to cover it. you can also paint just the outer corner that is just below the red triangle reflector. if u decide to paint the whole bottom you will have to take out the bulbs from the back so u don't get paint on them. i wouldn't do this because you will lose a lot of light output from the turn signals. after those two decisions the last thing left is the red bulbs. tape these as best you can. the trick here is to tape the bulbs so that there is just a hair gap of red showing between the tape and chrome. this is to ensure that you paint all of the chrome black. if you tape a bit too cloe to the chrome, when you pull off the tape you will see the unpainted chrome spot and it will stand out. after taping everything up get ready to paint. i like to use a flat black paint on my tails. if you decide to use a gloss black you are going to havea harder time trying to get the gloss to look even throughout.
now for actual painting. hopefully u have at least some experience with spray paint before doing this. the trick to this is using super LIGHT coats. since u are painting on super smooth surface it is very easy for the paint to run especially if you put too much on. for the first coat put just enough paint so it starts to stick to the surface and not entirely cover it. also don't try to move the tail light. move aroung it to get all the angles or wait til the paint dries a bit before moving it to get different angles. on each coat use about the same amount of paint making sure u are spraying from at least 12inches away to get a nice fine mist. after you have a very even looking paint job(5-8 light coats) let it sit and dry for a while. drying time will depend on how much paint u used, but even if it looks dry don't touch the paint. you don't want to leave a big fat fingerprint on your nice paint job. wait for that to dry and then slowly peel away the tape.
The Lens:
now to paint the clear lense. why you ask? you paint a black border around the edge to cover up where you cut through, any sealant , and to give it an overall cleaner appearance.
this border is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch wide and is painted on the outside of the lens. tape up up whole lense making sure it is all covered, only exposing the border that is going to be painted. make sure you tape as straight as possible leave a nice even border all the way around exposed. paint the border just as you did the inner tail light with light even coats. let it dry and then remove the tape.
Sealing:
make sure that you clean the inside of the tail light of derbis because that will be stuck inside when you seal it. also make sure you clean the back/inside of the clear lense so there isnt any fingerprints. now grab your silicon sealant. i'm using a clear Liquid Nails silicon sealant in the small tube w/ the screw cap and not the giagantic cualk gun sized stuff. it is easy to apply this way. now put a very light bead of sealant all the way around the main tail light assembly. use it very sparingly and try to apply it more towards the outer edge than the inside because it is going to spread quite a bit when u press it together. give this a secong to get tacky and then grab your lense. line it up before u put it on. with it lined up press it straight down. as you are doing this make sure no excess sealant it squeezing through on the inside. if you see this happening pull the lense off and wipe off the excess. let the sealnt set for about 20 min leaving the light face down on something that wont scratch it. don't worry about fill all the gaps on the first seal. after 20 min go back for round 2. find all the gaps you missed and apply the sealnt to them. try not to squeeze the sealant into the gaps, but over the gaps so it doesn't seep through and drip inside. on the second sealing you should have pretty much all the gaps sealed. let it dry the same way face down, and if this is the final seal let it dry for at least an hour before handling it.
----------------------------------------------------
tools needed:
hand drill or dremel.
circular dremel cutting bit w/ about a 1/2inch diameter
masking/painters tape
black spray paint
clear or black silicon sealant, perferably in the small tube w/ the screw cap.
phillips screw driver
Any hand drill or dremel tool will do for this project. u are basically cutting open your tail lights with the dremel bit, painting them and resealing them w/ silicon sealant. make sure your circular cutting bit has about a 1/2inch diameter so u can cut all the way through the black plastic. the bit looks like a pizza cutter that u put on the drill. you can buy them at a hardware store for a few dollars. they come in metal(1 in a pack) or this weird sand paper stone material(a whole bunch in a pack). get the metal one if you can because it won't break. the sand paper like ones are brittle and will break if you bend them.
Removing your tail lights:
pop open your trunk first. you will see that there are two screws holding the tail light in place. unscrew those. after that gentley tug on your tail light and pull it straight out. you will here a pop. that is just it popping out of the connectors. don't pull it too far out though because there is a cord connecting it. look behing the tail light for a black clamp. press down firmly on the clamp until you here a click. when it clicks you will be able to easily pull it apart. now your tail light should be completely removed.
Cutting them open:
Here's where we seperate the men from the boys. get your courage up and make sure u have some ***** cause here we go! j/k it's not to hard. make sure your drill has plenty of power and pop that dremel pizza cutter thing in there. when you look at your tail light from behind/side you will see that it is two pieces. a clear outer lense and a black plastic casing. the ideal way to cut them is right between the two where the lense and backing meet. you want to take into account the thickness of the cutting tool though and cut more on the black backing side so as not to crack the lense. begin cutting through the light carefully making sure not to scratch the clear lense or red bulbs on the inside. you can look through the lense to see if you have made it through. when you are cutting the plastic is going to pile up a bit. wait for it to cool and then pull it off. you'll know what i mean when u do this. after cutting around the tail light the lense should come off easily, if it doesn't that means that it is still attached somewhere. don't force it apart.
Painting and prep:
Now you should have two pieces. the clear lense and main assembly. put the lense aside so a sec and focus on the main part. now its time to paint. this is where you get to make a few decisions. first off if you look at the light u can see that the red triangle reflector to the side of the big red bulbs is removable.
take that off and you will notice that there is chrome underneath. the decision here is whether or not to paint the area underneath. i like to paint that area black also because when you put that piece back on the red looks darker and deeper. if you don't want to paint this area then put the reflector back on and tape it up using masking/painters tape to cover it from paint. the next decision is the turn signals/reverse light. i choose to leave that whole part chrome so i just taped from the straight part all the way acroos and down to cover it. you can also paint just the outer corner that is just below the red triangle reflector. if u decide to paint the whole bottom you will have to take out the bulbs from the back so u don't get paint on them. i wouldn't do this because you will lose a lot of light output from the turn signals. after those two decisions the last thing left is the red bulbs. tape these as best you can. the trick here is to tape the bulbs so that there is just a hair gap of red showing between the tape and chrome. this is to ensure that you paint all of the chrome black. if you tape a bit too cloe to the chrome, when you pull off the tape you will see the unpainted chrome spot and it will stand out. after taping everything up get ready to paint. i like to use a flat black paint on my tails. if you decide to use a gloss black you are going to havea harder time trying to get the gloss to look even throughout.
now for actual painting. hopefully u have at least some experience with spray paint before doing this. the trick to this is using super LIGHT coats. since u are painting on super smooth surface it is very easy for the paint to run especially if you put too much on. for the first coat put just enough paint so it starts to stick to the surface and not entirely cover it. also don't try to move the tail light. move aroung it to get all the angles or wait til the paint dries a bit before moving it to get different angles. on each coat use about the same amount of paint making sure u are spraying from at least 12inches away to get a nice fine mist. after you have a very even looking paint job(5-8 light coats) let it sit and dry for a while. drying time will depend on how much paint u used, but even if it looks dry don't touch the paint. you don't want to leave a big fat fingerprint on your nice paint job. wait for that to dry and then slowly peel away the tape.
The Lens:
now to paint the clear lense. why you ask? you paint a black border around the edge to cover up where you cut through, any sealant , and to give it an overall cleaner appearance.
this border is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch wide and is painted on the outside of the lens. tape up up whole lense making sure it is all covered, only exposing the border that is going to be painted. make sure you tape as straight as possible leave a nice even border all the way around exposed. paint the border just as you did the inner tail light with light even coats. let it dry and then remove the tape.
Sealing:
make sure that you clean the inside of the tail light of derbis because that will be stuck inside when you seal it. also make sure you clean the back/inside of the clear lense so there isnt any fingerprints. now grab your silicon sealant. i'm using a clear Liquid Nails silicon sealant in the small tube w/ the screw cap and not the giagantic cualk gun sized stuff. it is easy to apply this way. now put a very light bead of sealant all the way around the main tail light assembly. use it very sparingly and try to apply it more towards the outer edge than the inside because it is going to spread quite a bit when u press it together. give this a secong to get tacky and then grab your lense. line it up before u put it on. with it lined up press it straight down. as you are doing this make sure no excess sealant it squeezing through on the inside. if you see this happening pull the lense off and wipe off the excess. let the sealnt set for about 20 min leaving the light face down on something that wont scratch it. don't worry about fill all the gaps on the first seal. after 20 min go back for round 2. find all the gaps you missed and apply the sealnt to them. try not to squeeze the sealant into the gaps, but over the gaps so it doesn't seep through and drip inside. on the second sealing you should have pretty much all the gaps sealed. let it dry the same way face down, and if this is the final seal let it dry for at least an hour before handling it.
Feb 20, 2006, 10:28 AM
#25
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um EVODAVE! thats his business. mail him your lights and he does whatever you want on them. send him a pm, hes pretty cheap to and im sure faster than an australian company. i know some of you have heard about him.
Feb 21, 2006, 01:24 PM
#27
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Evodave's signature: "I am the headlight and taillights modification expert. Please PM me for details.... (btw i can pretty much modifiy the lights on any cars) Lifetime warranty !"
And a link to pics of his work: http://public.fotki.com/evodave/evo_8_taillight/
And a link to pics of his work: http://public.fotki.com/evodave/evo_8_taillight/
Feb 22, 2006, 08:04 PM
#28
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Originally Posted by drucea
Evodave's signature: "I am the headlight and taillights modification expert. Please PM me for details.... (btw i can pretty much modifiy the lights on any cars) Lifetime warranty !"
And a link to pics of his work: http://public.fotki.com/evodave/evo_8_taillight/
And a link to pics of his work: http://public.fotki.com/evodave/evo_8_taillight/
