o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

Below is essentially my documented tail light project.
For those of you who don't want to read and want to see the final product check for post #2 for video.

I was going to post this in my other thread, but given the amount of pictures I decided to make a new thread just for the tails.

First, started off by testing the reflector.
What I did was spray a spare with yellow tint.
The spray was rough, just to see the general idea of what my final outcome would be like.

Before:


After:


Now, most people like to remove their ambers [and in some cases the red] but I'm the opposite.
So, satisfied with the reflector, I sprayed the clear turn signal lens with the same yellow tint.





While waiting for everything to cure I browsed online in search of yellow LED 7440 bulbs.
Most I found had an orange-tinge to it. So, worst case scenario I would run white LEDs behind the lens.
But, I was worried it would shine more white... so I shoved a white LED bar behind the lens for testing.




Then after more searching, I was lead to ledlight.com. They have a 48 SMT 7440 yellow LED bulb. After emailing back and forth with one of the reps he gave me a spec-sheet on the bulbs. The supposed wavelength of the bulb falls under the 'yellow' section.
I have yet to order these bulbs.

Anyway, here is a picture of the yellow lens against the amber front diffuser.




Once things were coming together I began to partially assemble the tails.
Unsure of what to do with the bezel, I left one unpainted and the other sprayed with several layers of VHT Niteshades.

Result:







Unsatisfied with the Type-S bezel I sprayed it temporarily with Plasti-dip to compare gloss vs flat.
At this point in time I was also unsatisfied with seeing 3 red lens. So I tinted one of the lower reflectors.

Result:





Satisfied, it was off to spraying both in flat black.
I did 6 layers of flat-primer followed by 6 layers of flat-black then followed by 4 layers of matte-clear.
I then tinted the other lower reflector.

Result:





Assembled front half:




Then after seeing a few member's tail lights and being inspired by 6spd_twinz's tail lights, I removed the frosted diffuser.
However, upon doing this I realized that when leaving the red-brake-lens alone you can see inside the tail lights. That didn't cut it for me.

So, I bought some acrylic sheets. I didn't have my heat gun with me so I temporarily used a flat iron to bend the acrylic.
Here I tried to manipulate the shape of the frosted diffuser. My idea was to then cut out the frosted diffuser and mount the new acrylic lens behind it.
It was far more difficult than I thought---especially when the very tiny screw that held the blade and the dremel together went missing.






Once getting my heat gun, I went a different route.
I carefully cut the acrylic sheats into rectangles and began to bend and formed it against the red brake lens.
I went through various paint and smoke-tint.
I was not happy with the smoke tint... so I went with a can of Duplicolor Red Metalspeck paint. It's relatively transculent and had a metalic look to it.
Actually, it was more of a candy color.




Top piece installed:


Comparison with top piece installed and lower piece uninstalled:


Then after having a very difficult time sealing the tail lights back up I installed them onto the vehicle.

One side on:



At the car wish giving it a very quick rinse.






In some pics it may appear orange-ish but in actuality my timing was bad and it shines very yellow with the stock halogen bulb.
After installing the tail lights, I thought of a way that MAY give the individual LED-dotted look without going the acrylic route and maintaining the OEM-red look of the brake lens. I have yet to test it out. Perhaps in next tail lights I'll make for fun [with the base red outter lens].

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

Video of my tail lights taken from my other thread:
It might be a bit choppy. Youtube doesn't like Nokias.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAcxqi6d_A

06tl4life

nice, where did you get the yellow tint spray and how much?

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

Tails look cool, but man, get your rear bumper sprayed...

I think we all suggested that last year on one of your photo threads =P

robertran88

i would focus on respraying the car first then to do a tail mod

MyTL09

iTrader: (4)

tail lights look ok, you can see all the silicone or glue you used and doesnt look too good IMO but thats me if u like it more power to ya

AcRightLINY

That TL needs some love. Tails look ok though, just need to be cleaned up as mentioned above! Thanks for posting your experiences!

JonBeast

iTrader: (2)

Agreed...the edges are a bit rough...and I'm not a huge fan of the yellow that you went for...I think a darker yellow/amber would have been nicer, but props for being unique.

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

You can get it on eBay.
I overpaid for mine at a shop in Markham.

Look for Vans Yellow Tint.
It's good stuff and removes easily if you mess up.

Hahah thanks!
No need to respray since I'm planning on a repaint.

Need rest of A-Spec before I get a respray =]

I totally agree with you on the silicone/glue part. It really bugs the crap out of me... Tried my best not to have it showing but it was practically inevitable.
I purchased the tail lights off of another member to work on and the cuts he had made were really large.

I'm definitely redoing them in the future.

Thanks for the comment!
TL has lots of love... just needs some tender-care now =[
All will be fine eventually though

The tint actually gets darker with more layers. It's yellow with a small hint of amber to it.
I was actually thinking of lightly smoking the outer lens lightly but opted against it.
Maybe I'll try for a darker yellow when it's time to redo the tails.






Also, Ack's said it a bunch of times. Don't ever get Eagle Eye tail lights. The fitment is horrible.
[most of the parts used in this project were Eagle Eyes, drat].

bforbrian

iTrader: (11)

Wow, very creative. Love the yellow turn diffuser. I do agree with some of the others, that the edges look a little bit rough, but with tail lights it is very hard to create perfection.

For me, I was always inspired by Mercedes benz tail lights, particularly the SL and the GLK. And I finally decided to turn my tails into something more euro-like. Here are a couple of pictures of my inspiration:

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the comment!
It is hard to create perfection. It's especially hard when the parts don't fit properly as well.

The Merc, I find, generally always has some nice tails.
Your tail light looks great, much more OEM-like.

I think you'd get that SL look more if you tinted the outter-lens red. That way the rest of the tail light would appear to have a more uniform-color-of-red.
Hope you understand what I'm trying to get at. Hahah.

If not, try imagining using Blue Bat's tail light tint-overlay [with the brake lens cut out]. Instead of smoke, it's red.

bforbrian

iTrader: (11)

I will sit on that, but I do get what you're saying haha.

It was a lot of work, for such a little change; the easy way out is what I have previously done, long with ballinfizzle and aznbo. Spraying the frost behind the tail. But that didn't get it dark enough for me so I damn cut the whole thing and nightshaded the clear lense (behind it) and sealed everything back up, lol.

Then I thought about removing the frost diffuser but the spotted leds look so damn cheap. Any led without a reflective housing looks cheap. So I left the diffuser; I came to love the square diffused lights.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Nicely done sir! Creativity ftw.

The tails make me think about McDonalds though

ionojimbo

very nice! i think it looks good on a gray color

v|nsan|ty

Props to all that hard work. I'm not a big fan of the yellow but very inventive on your end.

laosthaha

that sir, is BADASS!

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Well done Komodo. Really thorough.


2011 National AcuraZine Meet-Kansas City-June 12, 2011-Details Here!


.

nivekov

unique, i love it! great choice of music btw!

VQPower37

looks good ... rear bumper is beat up though

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

Turned out great man! The edges are a bit rough, but nothing you can do since the cuts were rather large as you said. Nice seeing members taking mods into their own hands. I ordered my Type-S tails last week, so hopefully I can start with mine very soon

6SPD_TWINZ

iTrader: (1)

Then after seeing a few member's tail lights and being inspired by 6spd_twinz's tail lights, I removed the frosted diffuser.

Your Welcome, anytime... Tails look great

anilhanda

Wow, I like how those look on your car, good work.

LasVegasTL

Nice job.

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

I recall what ballinfizzle and aznbo had done. It provides a relatively nice lightly smoked [but noticeable] brake lens.

You did a lot of work just to get your tails the way they were---and that involved no switching of other brake parts!

I too loved the diffused look of the brakes and can see the aspect of it looking cheap. But most cars these days are going with that look.
Also I wanted to ensure my tails would set me apart even more from other 3Gers.

But... it looks even more cheap when individual LEDs burn out---just like mine when it's not working properly when I engage the brakes, haha.... damnit.
Hahah now I can't stop thinking of McDonalds!
I'll get hungry each time I look at my tails!

Thanks! Funny you mention gray cause my new paint color will be a type of gray =]

Thanks! When I redo it I might test different shades of darker yellow or may go slightly into the amber range.

Thanks a lot!

Thanks a lot Steven!

Thanks! ASOT 500 Australia tomorrow, Saturday the 16th!!

Thanks! Yeah... my baby has a lot of battle scars.
She'll get fixed though =]

Thanks for the comment and understanding!
I noticed your bump on the DIY. It's a good idea to draw a line around the housing and try to cut as straight and narrow as you can.
It'll allow for much easier re-assembling.
I wish I could show you proper cuts but the second set of spare tail light parts also have relatively large cuts.

Thanks a lot! I feel like experimenting again now though =]

Thanks a lot! Took a while to do it though!

Thanks!

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

bump for 24no7:
1. disregard my beat up bumper
2. the turn signal is actually a little more yellow than appears in the photos
3. I didn't bother with "proper" photos as I used the dslr as a p&s
4. As discussed previously, the tail lights were also in really rough shape when I got them, hence the rough edges.













If you notice, the brake diffusers have a slight candy color too them. No night photos as I lost my tripod...

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

Looks pretty sweet!

Definitely get your bumper fixed and dent removed lol makes a HUGE difference.

jonboy10

I was JUST about to do that.

If my car had scratches like that, i would never spend money on mods, I would spend it on making the car look new.

Oh and sorry bro, but be more careful backing up. The amount of scratches in your first post of pictures and the second post of pics is almost double... it really takes away from any mod you do to the rear end.

Just being honest

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the chop! I'm definitely going to get things fixed and repainted.


I recommend it! It sets the TL apart from others.

I totally understand about the modding vs fixing thing. But I saw an amazing deal on tail light parts that I couldn't just pass up. I been wanting to do the mod for a while so it was a good purchase.

I appreciate the looking out... but it wasn't my driving that caused those scratches and 'scars'. I'm always very cautious when driving... it's those damn Montrealers [no offense to any on the forum]. They just absolutely don't care if they back into you... especially in downtown [where I worked over the summer]. I also had a TV crew drop some equipment on my trunk and bumper, I saw it from the third floor of the office. When I confronted them---of course they denied anything ever happening.

I'm planning an entire repaint and dent-removal once I get enough for the rest of the A-Spec kit [which needs to be repainted anyway since my car is SSM not ASM].

jonboy10

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

It will look even better when you're repainted and cleaned up!

Italiano

MC Donalds,

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Looks pretty cool, man...had seen this a few months back but always cool to see it again. I'd love to see ghosted lights with amber turn signal diffusers. I'd probably put my front diffuser back in to match if I did that.

03sm3341

I'm a big fan of what you've done with your lights. looks great!

24no7

iTrader: (2)

^me too! it looks unique and different

ILLustriousUA6

iTrader: (2)

Trying to Euro-out the TL is tough.. Been seeing lots of diff ways in modding the 07 base tails and have not found one that "wow's" me like the Mercedes/BMW's...... I wish the white part of the TL's were cleared like the SL..

omnuts

Very nice, something different

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Cool work.

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

I hope so! But that won't be for a while

Nothing wrong with a lil' McDs here and there

Thanks! You know I have some spare tail light parts left over...
Maybe I'll go make something like that lol.
The only downside is that the other tail light parts are also cut relatively poorly [purchased from a member, who had his take on custom tails].
I'll see what I can do and post it here for you!

Thanks a lot!


Thanks 24! Sorry for getting back to you so late lol.
In regards to one of your other posts in one of my other threads, or something, I don't know about selling--and the tails are in rough shape so I don't know if I want to sell.
But I can most definitely help you create similar tails if you're interested

It definitely is tough! I actually just like the look of yellow/amber rear turn signals. It separates itself from the tails themselves.
I've seen a few o7 base tails with clear brake lens... but in my opinion it doesn't look that great since it'll expose the LED board.
If you partially smoked the tails then it might have a better look.
Something like what bforbrian did, but with removed-frost-diffusers.

Thanks a lot! Something different was what I had hoped for!

Thanks a lot!

24no7

iTrader: (2)

Not need to apologize, however i'd been wondering if you were still alive
Ahhhhh come on!!! just tell me the price, my paypal is ready lol
don't know so much about doing what you have done. I came accross that working on tail lights was more difficult than what i expected. Btw have you had the chance to finish the real trunk lip spoiler you were working on before?
The one of the roof looks sweet!!!