Angel's "Best Tail Lights Ever" Project

[Arcadien Angel]

So I've got a pair of Spyder Tails for my FRS, and let me tell you, I love them.



IMHO they accent the curves of the 86 nicely and add a little bit of elegance. But this isn't supposed to be an advertisement. Quite the contrary, I plan to make a few changes. This is as she sits now:



And I have 3 major points that I don't like:

1. The turn signal LEDs and ONLY the turn signal LEDs have a chrome housing. I personally really dislike chrome, so I want to paint this housing black. Much like what the brake light LEDs are housed in.
2. The "daylight running brake light" of whatver that long one is. See how it fades off on both ends? I don't like that either. Much like the Valenti tails, I want it to stop abruptly. Fortunately, there are little brackets on both ends that look like they can be painted black, that should help with that.
3. Lastly, with a 12-LED turn signal, Spyder had an opportunity here to make a sequential or "chase" turn signal. I've got a couple of circuit designs sketched up for the function. But I am yet to open up the tails so see what kind of space constraints I'm working with here.

While I had the tails open, I figured that I could take the chance to give the whole housing a new paint job to make everything even. And I was even considering giving it a nice shiny, polished finish with a couple coats of clear coat for a nice shine and added protection.

So this is my shopping list that I am currently working on. i like the idea of some one-off tails that I have absolutely no qualms about. So as updates roll in, I'll spin them onto here to see what you guys think. It might be a bit before I start off, since I only have one set of tails, and this is my only vehicle at the moment, but I'll figure something out.

And hell, maybe i'll throw a little nightshade on...

Questions for you guys:
Has anyone tried giving their tail lights a polished black finish instead of the matte black that I always see? I feel like an extra layer of clear coat would not only look pretty good, but also protect the paint from premature warping or peeling from temperature or what have you.

Has anyone baked open tail lights that have LEDs in them? I'm not all that worried about it, but I can see some potential problems with the heat and the diodes. Since most of the "tail light blackouts" I've seen were with bulb-lit tails.

Feedback is welcome!

[tahdizzle]

Those spyders and all variations of those lights all remind me of this:

[AzureShadow]

Unrelated to the tails, but I gotta ask, how have you liked the scissor doors? And what did they cost for parts and install? I have been thinking of doing that to my BRZ but am kinda on the fence about it. I have heard that it makes closing the doors kinda weird because sometimes the latch doesn't quite line up vertically. Have you had any issues with yours? How bad do they have to cut up the car to mount the stuff to the frame?

[Arcadien Angel]

Originally Posted by AzureShadow

Unrelated to the tails, but I gotta ask, how have you liked the scissor doors? And what did they cost for parts and install? I have been thinking of doing that to my BRZ but am kinda on the fence about it. I have heard that it makes closing the doors kinda weird because sometimes the latch doesn't quite line up vertically. Have you had any issues with yours? How bad do they have to cut up the car to mount the stuff to the frame?

In an attempt to keep the thread on track, I'll respond in a PM. Anyone else interested in the same info is welcome to PM me until I get a dedicated thread on that project. Thanks for asking though.

~Angel