So here are some photo's of my '95 tail lights with the bottom half section clear-ed ( all diffusers removed ) which I did the second day I had them. Personally, these are my favourite tails out of all the year models.
Thanks mate. I have seen a few photo's of the '97 lights modified in a similar way & the outcome looks pretty grouse too, but a question of, is it worth pulling apart late model tail lights, haha.
Sunday, August 15, 2010 - 09:25 am, by: Aaron Casey(Blownminiturbo)
haha yeah thats what i thought too lol although looks better i havent got the money to get another set if something goes wrong lol and the last time i done a headlight clean/reseal i ended up with 10 stitches across my knuckle lol stupid goo
Haha yeah exactly, I paid just over $200 for mine & couldn't believe I was about to rip them open already, but I bit the bullet & luckily no drama's.. One of the reflectors fell out anyway, so I had to do either way I suppose ! And sh*t, stitches ? Must of been a clean/reseal from hell !
Aaron Casey wrote on Sunday, August 15, 2010 - 09:25 am:
Thanks Narvey, aside from heating up the sealant it is dead easy. Once the tails are apart, the Red & Orange diffusers unclip from a clear frame/housing which sits in against the actual tail light lens. & that is basically it, then just reverse the whole process.
Narvey Vilaythong wrote on Sunday, August 15, 2010 - 11:02 am:
Sunday, August 15, 2010 - 04:10 pm, by: Aaron Casey(Blownminiturbo)
yeah i was getting the goo off and started to cool down so was getting harder and my hand slipped and caught it along the black plastic on the headlight.. cut like a razorblade straight to the bone lol
I used the heat gun, I use it on everything, I don't think I'll ever be keen enough to try the oven. The heat gun takes a tad longer but I like having the control.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 - 05:12 am, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
Its easy to damage the plastics if they are touching anything metal inside the oven. Simple way around it is to wrap the whole thing before putting it in.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 - 04:01 pm, by: Walter Gillmore(Cl33pa)
im one to vouch for ease of use with the oven method. did my headlights no probs. 2 mins at 120c and it was soft enough to play with for a couple of mins. i went a little too hot first time and melted a mounting tab and yellowed the lens, but other than that its pretty hard to screw up.
Thursday, September 02, 2010 - 12:42 pm, by: Aaron Casey(Blownminiturbo)
yeah i tried both the heatgun method is alot easier to get stress fractures through the plastic from prying if the whole thing isnt warm enough. as walter said if you have it in at 120 degrees its not hot enough to melt anything other than the sealant.
Friday, November 05, 2010 - 01:42 pm, by: Michael Larcombe(Lextcy_tas)
I'm doing this atm. Long process. How did you guys go about heating the sealant underneath the big plastic trims (top of taillights, visible when the boot is open) - Im afraid to pry a screwdriver in here as I'll probably end up damaging something! Im using the heatgun method as my oven is too small to house a taillight however I'm thinking I might place 1/2 of it in the oven and try to pry that piece off.
Just heat one side of the tail light at a time, but I mean really give it a good few minutes of heating, maybe throw on some gloves too, to save getting that crap on your hands and burning them. Once you think the sealant is heated up enough use a flat head to pry the unit in sections all the way around, after that that's when I used my hands to get a grip and used a bit of 'careful strength' to pull the lens from the unit. Though during that process the sealant may need some more heating. That's one of the ways I did it and had no drama's nor did it take long at all, but each to their own.
Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 04:40 pm, by: Michael Larcombe(Lextcy_tas)
That's what I've been doing with much success also, however this is the section I was referring to:
It is near impossible to pry a screwdriver here without bending or deforming this top bit of plastic, and as far as I can tell the top plastic trim cannot come off. There is also no easy way to directly target the sealant here.
Did you just heat the back of the housing until the sealant had melted enough to pry that section off? I've pryed off each and every other piece, just waiting patiently for a bit of advice as to how to tackle this last bit - I don't want to damage my $249 investment. I'm thinking I might even write a comprehensive tutorial once this is all done, its not hard, but patience is key (and very delicate fingers / good judgment with a heat gun so as to not melt everything in sight)
I see what you mean now. I did heat up the back of the housing, quite hot too, so that I wouldn't have to pry that top bit of plastic & end up deforming it like you said. I then managed to get the flat head screwdriver in between the top plastic & the unit & slid the screwdriver back & forth to try & cut away at the melted sealant.
I did however deform a small amount of the plastic when I got a little inpatient with it & started to pry, but that aside, the screwdriver method did help separate & hopefully this method may work for you too.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010 - 08:24 am, by: Michael Larcombe(Lextcy_tas)
I did pretty much what you said yesterday, and I deformed the top trim a little, but looking now, that particular piece it is covered by the boot lining anyway. Now to get some coloured globes and suitable sealant and its job complete!
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(and very delicate fingers / good judgment with a heat gun so as to not melt everything in sight)
