Cutting open tail lights with a Solder iron!

[JollyJON]

Here's how to cut open and reseal your tail lights using a solder iron. This is my first mod ever let alone my first diy... so here it goes! sw20kosh recently posted a tutorial on how to do this with a dremel which can be found here

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12312

However, by using a sold iron with a hot tip, you do not have to cut the plastic covering which can be seen when opening the trunk.

This mod will take anywhere from 4-10 hours and could possibly take longer if you have to repair a bunch of errors. This is NOT an easy mod! i would rate this a 7 out of 10 with 10 being the most difficult.

Materials

1. paint - I used duplicolor shadow paint to get a black reflective chrome look
2. 3m window weld ribbon sealer
3. Solder iron with curved tip found at radio shack in the hobby solder iron kit.
4. 8mm socket/ wrench
5. Philips screwdriver
6. plastic cling wrap
7. painters tape
8. rubbing alcohol/ mineral spirits
9. Electrical tape

optional: spray handle for more control

Edit: I have received many messages in regards to which tip I used exactly and where it can be found. The radioshack that i went to had a hobby section fairly close to the solder iron section. This is the tip that i used to cut open my tail lights.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...lickid=prod_cs

if you are having trouble locating it, you could always purchase this hobby kit instead. Although it costs a little more, it comes with a variety of tips that could be useful for this project.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...uctId=4314833#

I know for a fact that the knife tip is not useful however. The tip does not get hot enough to cut through the plastic.





Procedure

• Remove tail lights following darrendriven’s DIY found here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7826

• Place cling film ceran wrap on lens to prevent scratching of the lens

• Remove bulb wiring harness to prevent damage

• remove 5 screws which hold bezels to the back of the housing

• Use hot knife to cut back side of housing close to the crease line on the back.
  • Do not cut too deep or else you will hit chrome bezel
  • Do not cut where black plastic and clear lens are connected
  • Clean up shavings/ melted plastic with razor blade
  • Be sure to keep your cut as one thin line. (I messed up and had to use a ton of window weld to seal later on)

• Remove chrome reflector bezel and round led unit.

• Degrease with alcohol and mask areas that you do not want painted.
  • Be careful not to scuff the chrome because it will be noticeable after paint application
  • Use a soft microfiber and rub very lightly because the chrome scratches extremely easily
  • The side reflector either glued on or im just extremely weak. I could not get it to budge so I just covered it with tape.

• Apply 3 coats of duplicolor black base or until desired effect. Safety first! Use a mask and spray in vented area.
  • The more coats you apply, the darker the effect BE CAREFUL to not overspray and end up with dark/black spots
  • Spray one very thin layer of base coat first and let dry, then go back and apply a thicker layer two more times.
  • allow at least 15 minutes between coats

• once dry apply clear coat for gloss and protection
  • one thin layer like before
  • Follow that up with 2 thicker coats.
• Remove the masking tape and reassemble the tail unit.
• Take the 3m window weld ribbon sealer and run it across the entire area you cut. Try to use as little as possible to seal it up and prevent condensation.
  • once it is laid along the cut, press down firmly onto it and squish it in.
  • I used 3m window weld because if you ever encounter issues with your tail lights, you can just heat it up to reopen your tail lights.
  • I used a Sh*t ton of window weld in the picture, dont use this much. I made a big mistake when cutting so i had to cover up the huge hole
    • Tip: if you made a big hole i found it easier to lay some electrical tape down across the gap and lay the window weld on top of that. that way, if its visible though the lens, you will only see a flat layer of black instead of a big glob of sealant.

• Take a piece of electrical tape and place it directly on top of the window weld you just laid down
  • window weld is extremely sticky. By doing this, you will prevent it from getting everywhere when you replace your tail lights onto the car.
• Replace your tail lights on your car and enjoy. Go treat yourself to a massage. My back was killing me after this.

This is what mines looked like when i finished




Blinker close up


Before


after



Painted vs regular on car

Trunk open to show plastic covering

My new avatar


Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck guys and happy modding!:happy0180:

[OrbitalEllipses]

As of this posting, all the pictures are dead FYI.

[JollyJON]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

As of this posting, all the pictures are dead FYI.

Fixed.. I hope lol

[notFRS]

Clean work, I love the fact you posted a trunk open picture to show exactly how careful you were.

[tamsau]

very nice!

[ATL BRZ]

I may reconsider using a dremel now. I do like being able to save the beauty covers for when the trunk is open. How easily did the soldering iron cut through the plastic? Did it take much force to move the tip across the cutting line? Did you have to wait for the tip to reheat before moving it? Were the plastic "boogers" manageable as you were cutting or did you have to stop and clean the tip off a bunch of times?

I guess I could try it under the beauty cover and if it's not working well I can switch to a dremel for the rest of the cuts around the back of the housing. If it's really as I'm imagining like a hot knife through butter then I think I'd have MUCH more control versus a dremel at making clean, precise cuts.

Please follow up after your car gets in the rain or you wash it and see if there are any condensation issues. I plan on using a liberal amount of this stuff to seal mine back up: http://amzn.com/B000ALDYKW

[JollyJON]

the hot knife moves slowly but very easily through the plastic. the first head light took me about an hour but i was very conservative and scared. The second headlight took me 15 minutes. the tip is very small so it stayed hot long enough to continue cutting. your arm will probably get tired before the tip cools down. the picture i took of the solder iron above was taken after cutting both headlights. you shouldnt have a problem with melted residues on the solder tip. plastic boogers will come up, but they are very small and easy to clean up with sand paper and a razor blade. i took my car to the car wash directly after and sprayed the tail lights with the pressure hose for 5 minutes. i didnt see a drop of water inside the housing or condensation. i did use more window weld than was required however. i dont have personal experience with the black silicone, but the reason why i did use the window weld was so that if there did happpen to be condensation, you could just heat it up and remove it.hope this helps and good luck

jon

[DarrenDriven]

Added to the DIY Directory:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7365

[Scooby]

Nice work. Now you might wanna consider replacing those orange blinker bulbs with silver damped ones, to get rid of the ugly orange glow. For example Philips Silvervision.

[jjdrivesajazz]

looks good!

[MannyO]

Looks like a cleaner and more precise way of doing it vs. the Dremel. I'm still on the fence about taking this on though.

[JollyJON]

Originally Posted by Scooby

Nice work. Now you might wanna consider replacing those orange blinker bulbs with silver damped ones, to get rid of the ugly orange glow. For example Philips Silvervision.

i dont know why but i like the orange bulb lol

Originally Posted by MannyO

Looks like a cleaner and more precise way of doing it vs. the Dremel. I'm still on the fence about taking this on though.

although it is a very difficult mod to do, i believe that anyone can do it as long as your not a nazi! (just kidding nazi's could probably do it too lol) If yall need help, just ask or shoot me a pm. i'll try and help ay way i can.

[RRnold]

VERY NICE!!!! I like how you didn't paint the lens, just the chrome trim. This makes it look a lot more OEM. There was another member who blacked his out but he painted the lens and it looked too dark.

I too would prefer to use a soldering iron with a thin tip over a dremel since it's doesn't leave little plastic shredding everywhere.

Good job, it looks sick!

[cobrabyte]

Thanks for posting. Looks great!