Home-made JDM tail thread

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R32Dragon
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Been posted before, but I thought I'd share my experience with yall via step by step pics.

PS: This isnt meant to be a "How-to" write up. But you can follow it at your own discretion as you may break your tails. I did, but I had a back-up set.

The "Before" shot



MMmmm.....smells good.



Let the prying begin



Tossed out the old orange crap, and popped in the clear goodness.



Pinstripping the inside of the of the lense



Painting away the marks I made will prying the tail light apart



Sandwiched back together



Back on the stove, then more squizzing





Now that its been put back together and cooled off, I wetsanded the imperfections outta it.



Polish. PlastiX is gud ****.



Viola! One down, one more to go.



Now done. This took 4 hrs.



My Z with USDM tails



Now with the ones I just made in my kitchen, big diff eh?



Real JDM tails



Total cost (Including Junkyard tail lights)= 40$

Real ones= 495$

If any of you guys are rocking home-mades, post up some pics!


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VGZ32
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woah! those look great! found myself something to do...

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nsrZ32
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Great work

I went the homemade route with mine as well. Made them back in 2001, probably wouldn't ever do another set as its a pita lol. I cleared both the top and bottom and painted the outside housing to match the car. Also, I didn't care for the stripes so I did not add them.

Here's a couple pictures of mine




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Jayman90TT
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where did you buy the clear glass to replace it with? and how did you get the top lights to be red, after removing the red glass? did you just buy a red lamp light?

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nsrZ32
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I put red bulbs in the top and amber bulbs in the rear. Its clear when they're not illuminated and the proper color when flashing to stay legal. The reflector on the top in the middle is a part of the headlight housing and necessary to be street legal in ohio.

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boostedc10
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nsrZ32 wrote:Great work

I went the homemade route with mine as well. Made them back in 2001, probably wouldn't ever do another set as its a pita lol. I cleared both the top and bottom and painted the outside housing to match the car. Also, I didn't care for the stripes so I did not add them.

Here's a couple pictures of mine


what did u use for the clear parts?? was it glass or some type of plastic, and where might i find this

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nsrZ32
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boostedc10 wrote:what did u use for the clear parts?? was it glass or some type of plastic, and where might i find this
I got them from a guy selling lens material. The cut and style of the clear was/is pretty much an exact match for the patterning of the stock stuff. There might be some up for sale on ebay or the like.

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Jayman90TT
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nsrZ32 wrote:I put red bulbs in the top and amber bulbs in the rear. Its clear when they're not illuminated and the proper color when flashing to stay legal. The reflector on the top in the middle is a part of the headlight housing.
im sorry, maybe im just stupid or something, but this confused me. I dont understand what you meant...so the top of the light, that is usually red, has a red light, the reflector is the same as what would be on the USDM ones, and the bottom of the assembly that is usually amber has Amber lights? So is it not legal to have a clear indicator, at least in your state, or everywhere?(turn signal, sorry I am originally South African, the lingo is a little different)

sorry, i just want to clarify. I already have the JDM assembly, but I really like your all white one....im not willing to put my 500$ assembly in the oven, but I want to find a used USDM one and try to do it. and then I could sell my JDM ones...

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nsrZ32
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I'm sure it varies state to state but in Ohio your running/brake lights have to illuminate red. Your turn signals have to illuminate amber/orange.

So what I did was put red bulbs in for the brake/running lights so they illuminate red when on but are clear when turned off. For the turn signals I put amber bulbs in so they illuminate amber when flashing but are clear when off.


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Jayman90TT
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FYI, if anybody wants to do this, order the replacement plastic from this website. they are the originators apparently, and make it the best. They include pictures, instructions and a video, as well as all the tools needed to perform the swap, for $50+12 S&H.

They also have the Side Marker swap too if you want it.

http://zxdriver.com/


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mahchu07
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Most people use fluorescent light "diffusers." Its just that diamond textured cover material over fluorescent lighting, the only thing I've noticed is that unless you go with both lenses clear the diamond texture on the fluorescent diffusers is made up of larger diamonds that are slightly skew.

There are some haters that would look at them and knock you for not wanting to spend $500 on new light assemblies. In my opinion its the best way to go.

BTW Jayman, the link didn't work. Oh yeah and NSR how did you paint match the tails like that??? Did you have to strip and sand the old paint off to repaint them inside or what???

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tmeyer29
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I was getting all excited cause here im thinking this is great. But then... I remembered both sides and even the middle lights have some cracks in them

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nsrZ32
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mahchu07 wrote:Most people use fluorescent light "diffusers." Its just that diamond textured cover material over fluorescent lighting, the only thing I've noticed is that unless you go with both lenses clear the diamond texture on the fluorescent diffusers is made up of larger diamonds that are slightly skew.

There are some haters that would look at them and knock you for not wanting to spend $500 on new light assemblies. In my opinion its the best way to go.

BTW Jayman, the link didn't work. Oh yeah and NSR how did you paint match the tails like that??? Did you have to strip and sand the old paint off to repaint them inside or what???
1. Don't use the cheap junk from home depot, it will discolor out in the sun and look terrible

2. The inside of my lights are not painted at all, the outer housings were painted just like anything else, prep, primer, and paint

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NSR_s30
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DIY FTW

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Jayman90TT
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mahchu07 wrote:BTW Jayman, the link didn't work.
weird.....o well, its not a long link....just type in "ZXdriver.com" with no "www". and you will get there.

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mahchu07
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Got it, for some reason I didn't try without the www. BTW NSR what exactly did you use for your tails then???

Milo (San Antonio)
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Looks good. thumbs up.


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ztommyx
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Jayman90TT wrote:
im sorry, maybe im just stupid or something, but this confused me. I dont understand what you meant...so the top of the light, that is usually red, has a red light, the reflector is the same as what would be on the USDM ones, and the bottom of the assembly that is usually amber has Amber lights? So is it not legal to have a clear indicator, at least in your state, or everywhere?(turn signal, sorry I am originally South African, the lingo is a little different)

sorry, i just want to clarify. I already have the JDM assembly, but I really like your all white one....im not willing to put my 500$ assembly in the oven, but I want to find a used USDM one and try to do it. and then I could sell my JDM ones...
i personally don't like the all white "rice" look... but i'm willing to trade you my USDM tail lights for your JDM tail lights

i have not seen the fake rear clears but mine are real ($114 a pair from Japan, 9 yrs ago)


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nsrZ32
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ztommyx wrote:i have not seen the fake rear clears but mine are real ($114 a pair from Japan, 9 yrs ago)
Definitely go with the "real" ones from the real aftermarket rear clear marker light shop in Japan. Only a ricer would buy the "fake" ones from the fake aftermarket rear clear marker shop that's across the street from the real clear marker light shop in Japan.

Not to be confused with the fake aftermarket clear marker shop in China or the fake aftermarker clear marker shop in Hong Kong.

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thoroughbred3.0
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nsrZ32 wrote:
Definitely go with the "real" ones from the real aftermarket rear clear marker light shop in Japan. Only a ricer would buy the "fake" ones from the fake aftermarket rear clear marker shop that's across the street from the real clear marker light shop in Japan.

Not to be confused with the fake aftermarket clear marker shop in China or the fake aftermarker clear marker shop in Hong Kong.



nghtrain88
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haha nice

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Jayman90TT
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haha werd, im with you nsr. i think that your Z is one of the cleanest around, and farthest from "rice". and your full white tail light is unique, the only one that I have seen.

dozug
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this is the one

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vape-one
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That is SWEET.... I thought that ya just heated it up an removed the paint off the lenses... duh... I have no clue where to get the clear lens.. Guess im gonna have to buy some old junkyard lenses an try an find clear lenses to fit... Any ideas of what to look for? Clear lens that is.. on ebay ..?? I wouldn't know where to begin.. Thanks for reposting >> Evl??
Modified by vape-one at 12:20 AM 1/12/2009

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Honad
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Cool that you did it. I'm all for homebrew projects, but I am not a fan of this.

It's hard to make them look like the real deal. It just is. From the lenses to the pin striping to the chrome lining between the housing and the lens. They look better than stock, I guess, but like masterbation is to sex, there's no substitution for the real thing.

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300freekzx
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very nice work.

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OUKNO
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A friend of mine was making these for a while and not only were the other issues that Honad mentioned crappy, they have a tendencie to leak

Leaky tails

But yes better looking than stock


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OUKNO
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vape-one wrote:That is SWEET.... I thought that ya just heated it up an removed the paint off the lenses... duh... I have no clue where to get the clear lens.. Guess im gonna have to buy some old junkyard lenses an try an find clear lenses to fit... Any ideas of what to look for? Clear lens that is.. on ebay ..?? I wouldn't know where to begin.. Thanks for reposting >> Evl??

Modified by vape-one at 12:20 AM 1/12/2009
And I believe the lens material is just normal white lighting material from any hardware store.

Dru Dru
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if any one is doing conversions or has a spare converted left tail light lying around (i like 2 dream) then im looking 4 YOU. i bought a pair of converted tail lights yesterday and when i brought it home and examined it VERY closely i noticed part of the bottom clear lens was not even with the rest of the lens. about 1/3 of it was pushed 2 the back while the rest looked right. this annoyed me so i tried sticking stuff into the light hole 2 try and push the 1/3 part back out. long story short i RUINED the left tail light (if you wanna know the exact story just ask, it involves fire)

but anyways anybody???? im 2 lazy 2 spend hours converting it myself

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Z_Fanatic
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Since we're on the subject of knock off taillights... Anybody seen these yet? http://store.migicar.com/tln300zx90rt.html They're plastered all over ebay, I know theyre probably junk. But I kinda like the look of them, and they seem to have the same proportions as the stock ones.

But the only picture of them on an actual car looks photoshopped...Input needed.


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