PDA

View Full Version : How to Clear third brake light


hypertek
10-29-2008, 06:59 PM
*Disclaimer : This is for offroad or show purposes only. This may be illegal so do not come up to me if you get in trouble for it. Be sure to pick up a red bulb if you do this*

Did this today on my fc, spent a good few hours this afternoon..
Used florescent ceiling lamp lenses.
Basically trim to fit the housing and drill 4 holes on the outer non-visible area and screw it to mount it. Then I had to trim 1 piece for the popped-up area that fits into the the body cut out area. Glued that to a trimmed piece of plexiglas that will be on the exterior surface. Glue used was clear adhesive sealant. Should be ok. Test fitted for flush-ness with the body and to get the position correct. Seems good. Waiting for the pieces to dry.

When you glue the pieces, the only way this will work is by gluing the visible area, hence why I used clear adhesive... Don't worry though, still very clear end product, just do it in thin enough layers to fill in, and don't get any air bubbles trapped.

http://tunerbase.com/articles/102908/IMAGE_773.jpg (http://tunerbase.com)
http://tunerbase.com/articles/102908/IMAGE_774.jpg (http://tunerbase.com)
http://tunerbase.com/articles/102908/IMAGE_777.jpg (http://tunerbase.com)
http://tunerbase.com/articles/102908/IMAGE_783.jpg (http://tunerbase.com)
*the black trim is the original rubber seal. Try to keep those intact so you can reuse them, or purchase new ones, or make some sort of gasket to seal the lense to the body.

In the final pic, theres some glue/fingerprints on the exterior side which I will clean off once all the glue is set.

The beauty of this is that I can keep my red lense and always swap back. I did test these under lights and it is pretty good.

Things to worry about : I have noticed these ceiling lenses may fade to a slight brown from constant sun light over time, hopefully the plexiglas may hinder it a little bit. I also have a rear deck spoiler which cast shade over the light itself so Im not too worried about it.

hypertek
10-29-2008, 07:03 PM
its already dark outside but it look pretty much like this
http://i36.tinypic.com/eryfpl.jpg

undecidedvip
10-29-2008, 10:20 PM
nice, now thats vip!

ViruzOne
10-30-2008, 12:18 AM
Where do you get the flourecent ceiling lamp lenses. I think this would be perfect if you retro in some Red LEDS. I have some red Leds i made on a pc board but i just used clear plexiglass. it looks good but not OEM. I think if i can get some of those lenses it would finish it off!

hypertek
10-30-2008, 11:51 AM
i got the lense from home depot/lowes

This was my first one
http://i37.tinypic.com/2mxkfv6.jpghttp://i37.tinypic.com/63zj1u.jpg
http://i33.tinypic.com/2h55r3r.jpg

Now that i look at it, its ok, not perfect, if you look up close, you can see the glue where it has some bubbles. And my plexiglass cut had got some wierd cracks in it when i was making it, I got plenty of scrap to make another one to perfect it, not sure what would be better for the glue, if theres a better solution to it. I was thinking if a hobby glue gun would produce a better look.

I might rebuild that rear spoiler.. i spent soo much time on it, and did not drill the holes to mount and test it on the car, i just built it with thinking it was gonna be perfect but its not, its kinda lop-sided.

Ill have to convert it to LED eventually
http://carview-img02.bmcdn.jp/carlife/images/UserCarNote/53467/p1.jpg

chrisngo
10-30-2008, 08:21 PM
Caution: The plastic may yellow after prolonged exposure to UV.

Just a word of warning.
Chris

hypertek
10-31-2008, 08:27 AM
^yeah, im hoping my rear deck spoiler will cast a shadow to help slow it down lol

ViruzOne
11-05-2008, 10:01 PM
If your worried about the yellowing you could get some of that 3M clear film they put on as a clear bra on cars. That film is UV protectant. It wont yellow and you could get like a square foot on ebay.

1_VIPd_LS
02-18-2009, 01:13 PM
Cool! Im doing the same with my turn signal and side marker lenses.

I knew you couldn't sell your FC.

At first I was like Dayyum! Dude finally painted his car:biggthumpup:

It is to my knowledge that federal DOT allows you to have clear lenses provided they have the proper colored bulbs. ie. red in the back and amber up front.

JMAX
03-19-2009, 11:49 AM
Im attempting replacing the red plastick inside my GS300 tailights to make them clear. Wish me luck!

1_VIPd_LS
03-19-2009, 06:08 PM
Good luck. Im actually painting the chrome bowl on my LSes third brake light to darken the red up a bit when the brakes arent on.