Modded Tail lights - "JDM look"

[Facime]

Total cost for this project was 13 bucks! 1 can of plastic paint, 1 roll of masking tape, and 1 roll of shelf paper.



If anyone REALLY wants to know how to do this...I'll do a write up. I took pics as I went to document it just in case. Basically you have to take your tail lights apart (not easy to do actually as they are "pinned" and not meant to be taken apart) then mask the areas you want to remain open to light, and spray the rest black. There is a guy on Ebay who sells a vinyl applique that does the same thing, but his goes on the outside and I suspect it looks cheasy. My way, the outside of the lens remains plastic and therefore looks factory.



after getting em done and putting em on I have to say, the pictures dont do em justice. It was getting dark as I was putting em back on. I'll try to take some pictures in the bright sun so you can see just how damn cool this looks.

just to remind you how they look stock...

and this is what they look like finished....

Just the Tail lights on...

Tails and flashers (not easy to time the picture...lol)

WELL? what do ya think?



Ive got a spare pair of tails, gonna do em up the same way and Ebay em...lol! (j/k)

 

[tubbie]

I think it would look better if you didn't leave the reflector like that. Just make complete circles.

A friend of mine did that to his 12 years ago......... nice though... :bigthumb:

 

[Reign_Maker]

Ive got a spare pair of tails, gonna do em up the same way and Ebay em...lol! (j/k)

Or you could put them up in our F/S section... :icon_razz

They look good btw...

And welcome to SupraMania!

 

[Reign_Maker]

A friend of mine did that to his 12 years ago.........

Be nice... Come on, everyone has a friend, or knew a guy, or was related to some cat that did everything before...

 

[Insidious Surmiser]

what'd you use to make the circles?

 

[chedderknight]

nice, how long did the whole process take you?

 

[Facime]

I think it would look better if you didn't leave the reflector like that. Just make complete circles.

Well, the reflector is part of the outer plastic and would be near impossible to remove. Behind the lens there are two complete circles, but they might be kinda hard to see in the pics I posted. Tomorrow Im going to do this to my "better" set, today was just a run through to see if I could do it without breaking anything.

I tend to work slowly and methodically, so the whole process took me about 6 hours. The hardest part and the most time consuming was scraping all the old crusty hardened butyl rubber that is used to seal the lens to the back.

I made the circles with the shelf paper I listed as a supply. Its sticky backed and I just used a coffee cup of the size I liked to trace a circle then cut it out and stuck it in place as a mask. For the signal bars I just used regular masking tape.

Anyways, glad you guys like em...Im thrilled with em and I think they really improve the looks of my ass end! Afterall thats the most important part of my car to make look good, as its what most people only ever see...hehe

 

[turbotank88]

looks good too me...If I knew how to make these a few years ago I would have done the same!:slap: But I somehow still like the look of the 3 piece tails, props you on the work though :bigthumb:

 

[supramike7m]

thats already been posted by someone in the tech tips section long time ago, but it looks good anyway:bigthumb:

 

[Facime]

thats already been posted by someone in the tech tips section long time ago, but it looks good anyway:bigthumb:

Well in all fairness, I havent been here for very long...what is this, like my 3rd post?

I was a Classic-Celica guy before I sold my 73Ra21, I guess now Im a Supra guy...

 

[darkandroid1234]

I like 'em. How much you want for your other set once you get 'em done? I'm too lazy to tear mine apart.

 

[cartel1_950]

those look great man

 

[westonboege]

yeah.. they look awesome... might look into that... looks kinda like the rx7 turbo II tails..

 

[91T breezen']

those look great man

Ditto! I think it's great, that instead of just baggin' the 87-88 tails, you took some initiative, and made them look good.:love: I took the easy way out with my 87, and just put 89+tails and wing on it.:icon_razz I still have my 87 tails, if I get real bored some day, I might try that...nah, I'll probably just watch TV!:biglaugh:

 

[Insidious Surmiser]

for those that like the 3 piece tail design... check out dylanwiggins.com... he did a pretty neat and really easy mod to his tail lights... remind me of the fc rx-7 circle tails

 

[s383mmber1]

Yeha, you wanna mod my tail lights?

Serisouly


-William

 

[NJsupraA70]

Since this is a taillight modding thread, Id like to share my buddy Polobai's(Ray) method to modding the taillights. He actually seperated the taillight lenses and sprayed them from the inside, as opposed to spraying the outside like most people do here. It comes out looking much better when spraying the inside.

Here is a quote and pics:

what you need to do is remove the taillights from the car, then preheat your oven to 350 degrees. place one taillight on a cookie pan, and put it in the oven for 3 mins. this will melt the glue holding the lense onto the housing. take the tails out of the oven, and slowly pry up the edges of the lenses, be careful because if you dont pry evenly, it will break the lenses very easily. pry all the way around until the lens is separated and the clear peice inside will just come out, along with the amber peice. it helps if you have a heat gun to keep the glue melted long enough to get the lens out.