Clear Taillights

carlos e

This how they do it in Japan.

FullThrottleFreak

Where do u get the clear lens though???

ragenasian

I was using the plastic they use for the lights in drop ceilings. The ones you see in all the office buildings.

BillBoard

ragenasian wrote: »

I was using the plastic they use for the lights in drop ceilings. The ones you see in all the office buildings.

Thats what it does look like, that plastic isnt usually very strong and after a few years gets super brittle and yellow... I would be interested to know exactly what plastic they are using to make these...

r8edm

That's awesome, cheers for sharing

pizzamann132

My buddy said the plastic 'glass' from industrial fluorescent lamps. Needs a lot of cutting and heating.

NZ-DB8R

God I hate workings with that stuff. Its so brittle! Ive installed many many light with that sort of diffuser and they do not like being bent too much and like Bill said they get even worse with some heat/sun on them

carlos e

The plastic is fluorescent light and to cut it. I use a grinder with a thin blade a saw won't work . Here's the dyi page

http://www.b20accord.com/clear.html

Chase

any other examples of how it looks like?

DRMORTY

Pretty good stuff... Clear Corners?

G-power

Nice Job What is that white coating?
where can i find please

simplyhonda

Very creative. I too wonder how it would hold up over time though.

NZ-DB8R

G-power wrote: »

Nice Job What is that white coating?
where can i find please

Read the thread, the answer is mentioned three times

Chase

Doing this to a pair of centers that I got for free... will post pics when done

klum

I too will be embarking on this I'm going to try the inners first and then go for the putters the putters look more difficult because of the sharper bends the OP came out really clean I wonder how long it takes for the plastic to get to the point you can bend and form it. I'm also curious how the OP got the cut so good without taking the lenses off first, it looks like he baked them with the piece over the top already almost.. Whoever does it next can they do a more detailed write up? I know I will but I'm not really motivated to do ne thing with my at as I have no license at the moment

klum

This diffuser stuff is quite flimsy I bought A piece of acyrilic plexi glass type material I hope its maliable enough to mold under heat I'll post a sept by step

klum

It would be so much more helpful if I could see it from an above angle to understand the width of the diffuser better

klum

Here's where I'm at so far I started last night with the easy stuff now I'm stuck wondering if I got the right materials...
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after taking them out the oven I noticed a diffuser inside the light I decided to keep it in


after I cleaned the tail lights gave it 3thick coats of metallic spray, it's starting to look like the correct product ... Now I'm not sure wether I got the wrong diffuser so I'm going to go back to the store and see more choices to b made available..

ragenasian

That diffuser stuff is actually quite thin, I didn't like working with it much. It can also get brittle too, but I highly doubt these guys doing this are planning on any long term useage. If you are going to try the Plexi heat it very slowly. I have used it with heat for making lots of things but if you aren't careful you can form bubbles inside of it.

klum

Have you done this before?i think e plexiglass is unnecessary looking at the above pictures it appears to be a very thin material... And I agree I plan on getting a set of spares and just using these for photo shoots and shows mainly... I just want to get this down I was planning on making lens kits for us wagoneers so someone could just buy the lens and glue it on their own lights this is my concern I used a match for reference it' appears to have a wider spectrum of bubbles the space between is a lot larger than all the write ups ice seen I'm going back to Home Depot and doing a more thorough look at the diffusers .

klum

Heres my concern with the diffuser I bought if you look at the OP and almost evey other picture including the b20accord link you see they use a finer grade (if that's correct) diffuser... Notice how wide the diamonds are on my diffuser compared to the OP?

BillBoard

klum wrote: »

Heres my concern with the diffuser I bought if you look at the OP and almost evey other picture including the b20accord link you see they use a finer grade (if that's correct) diffuser... Notice how wide the diamonds are on my diffuser compared to the OP?

Your purchase of light glass plastic (i.e. "diffuser"- your using very difficult terminology for me to understand) look identical to the ones above. I think your issue is, the light plastic should have a rough side and a smooth side. they put the rough side down- leaving the smooth side out. Flip the plastic over, glue, trim and be done with it....

klum

carlos e wrote: »

This how they do it in Japan.












]
what I mean is the size of the "diamonds " the OP and the b20accord guide show a smaller sized diamond grid on the diffuser... Sorry for the over zealous use of the word diffuser lol
and right I understand to have to rough side down... I think another thing messin with me is from the b20accord link he talks about using plexiglass now I'm stressing off how I'd even use the two...

BillBoard

doesn't matter what they call it; light material, plexiglass, diffuser- It's clear plastic. You don't have to follow how they did theirs exactly. Do it your way. who cares if your "diamonds" are bigger... I certainly don't.

truckslammer

BillBoard wrote: »

doesn't matter what they call it; light material, plexiglass, diffuser- It's clear plastic. You don't have to follow how they did theirs exactly. Do it your way. who cares if your "diamonds" are bigger... I certainly don't.

^^^^^^^^^^^^WORD. Be bold, be different.

carlos e

To get the smaller diamond you have to buy the whole light at lowes hardware store. That's very expensive. Like billboard said it doesn't matter
trial and error.

klum

truckslammer wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^WORD. Be bold, be different.

carlos e wrote: »

To get the smaller diamond you have to buy the whole light at lowes hardware store. That's very expensive. Like billboard said it doesn't matter
trial and error.

yeah I found that out tonight when I went in There . i just think that stuff is going to be more durable in the long run but after doing some inspection at the available material at lowe's I saw this...

kind of funny you said be bold be different... I think I'm going with this over the diamond print. Plus according to the website it's acrylic and made to not be as brittle and non yellowing... Any ways to make a long story short.. After shitty customer service I kind of went of my way testing every available sheet I could to see its breaking point (don't worry they were broken already) I found this material to be the strongest and most flexible. I should have something tomorrow.

klum

http://www.civicwagon.com/showthread.php?8601-1991-RT4WD-Update!-SOHC-ZC-SWAP-NEW-PICTURES-8-14-11
as promised heres my write up (last page)

wagovanbrandan

How did you safely take out the red/amber lens cover? I've tried and ended up just breaking the lens, leaving little shards still glued in..

klum

wagovanbrandan wrote: »

How did you safely take out the red/amber lens cover? I've tried and ended up just breaking the lens, leaving little shards still glued in..

you gotta heat the lamps up in a oven this loosens the glue leave them in a oven at about 190*f for about 7 minutes and youll be fine. good luck ill have a full write up soon ! check my thread in the link above