^Yes the DOT compliance is an issue but if I were to go through the extensive process of making an entire tail light assembly I would take some time to make my own DOT stamp in the mold.

VigorousZX wrote:

Evidently Vig didnt get the point of this post...

There needs to be a another shot that shows the side of the car with OP lights...

I know it's a lot more work, but there is a way to make this work. For instance:

the original placement in red could be brought down and be where blue placement is.

No... you can leave where it's at. And worse come to worse you cut into the hatch a little to give you room to leave it a full panel. (Less work... seriously)

^^ that was the other option i had in mind. I supposed it was a better idea. the only thing that's retarded about it is that you're gonna have a taillight pannel higher than the bottom half of the truck itself.

only noticeable when the hatch is open

I like the idea of cutting into the hatch a lil bit. It wouldnt be much because LEDs are small and the top of the tail light assembly can be made slim

Too muuch,

I like the original idea very much and i cant wait to finish school so i have free time i will be making lots of different stuff all you mark my words.

Thanks! I like the original idea also. I like alot of ppl discussing and throwing out ideas. Like a think tank.

hell yeah man and that's why I love this forum, we might be d!ck to each other sometimes but usually we don't shoot ideas down unless they seem totally stupid, i mean ask vig, he put up with so much ridicule when he first told us about his idea but then he won our hearts. It's like a big happy family here. As far as those lights I am pretty sure that I (or anyone else with fab experience) could make them. It would be a matter of sourcing the LED reflectors.

Yeah, someday I will know people on here by name. As far as the lights, oneday when I have extra funds to put into a little project like this it will get done. Today tho it remains a dream.

buddy of mine who graduated from Rowan University a few years ahead of me started his own LED tail light business:

Spaghetti Engineering:
http://www.spaghettiengineering.com/com ... ontact.asp

They're usually up for taking in new ideas and putting them to fruition. Might be worth an email to see if they would be willing to work with you on your idea.

Like the 3/4 circle design that tg posted up the best by the way.

^E-mail sent. Thanks! We'll see what happens next.

[quote="tg"]Well, one problem I can spot is that the lights can't span the gap between the hatch and the current tail lights... so it would be difficult to illuminate the top part as there is no place behind it.

This is the best you could do without serious modifications to the hatch part (still looks good, i sort of prefer it).


yeah this looks sick less modification you have to do yourself the better haha

z32pilot62 wrote:

I liked the first one... until I saw this one. This one is the best looking one, IMO. But the illuminated 300zx in the middle seems a bit too much...
Where are you guys gonna put reverse lights? Maybe the outer two lights should be the running lights, the middle lights would be turn signals and the inner lights could be white for reverse?

simmode1 wrote:

z32pilot62 wrote:

I liked the first one... until I saw this one. This one is the best looking one, IMO. But the illuminated 300zx in the middle seems a bit too much...
Where are you guys gonna put reverse lights?

rev. lights in the center of the two smaller rings. I really didn't like the 3 light one... can't put my finger on it.

VigorousZX wrote:Nice one, the problem with all of these could be legality issues with needing DOT stamped on them.
Stockers with extreme LED ftw

vig, what the hell did you just do there. :\ I'm gonna call adobe and tell them you have an invalid copy of photoshop so they come and take it away from you.

I did some measuring and it looks like you could get away with doing the design I made by using 110mm rings found on ebay for the outer rings and probably fit 80mm rings inside for the turn or brake illuminationg. 80mm for the middle ring with 60mm inside for the turn or brake illumination and 60mm rings for the inners and with TG's suggestion of white inside those for the reverse would work perfectly. The way that i just described would still fit in the original housings and all you would have to do is make a new lense without the reflectors so essentially you could still use the stock center panel with reverse lights. I would be interested in making a concept since I have a junk set of tails sitting around the house I just dont have the funds.. I know the LED's are cheap but I need to get some things sorted on the Z and the Blazer first, function > form IMO

Would look something like this with the left turn/brake on:

^^^Dooo eeeet! Z32Jetpilot, I like the way you think! And kudos to the OP on the general idea! This is seriously the SEXIEST Z32 mods I've seen in while. Although, I don't think it will look as good if you leave the stock center panel and reverse lights...

I got debs on first deposit if it does happen!

Im not waiting! ill make my own... tape and crayolas will get me there.

make it cheaper than jspecs and it's for sure. that's not too hard to do, right guys? it's either this or custom LED jspec tails for me

simmode1 wrote:^^^Dooo eeeet! Z32Jetpilot, I like the way you think! And kudos to the OP on the general idea! This is seriously the SEXIEST Z32 mods I've seen in while. Although, I don't think it will look as good if you leave the stock center panel and reverse lights...

You do have to remember that the whole back panel will be blacked out and noone ever said that it will use the stock lighting in the reverse lights... I would probably end up using a 60mm white ring in each spot in the center panel...

tg wrote:vig, what the hell did you just do there. :\ I'm gonna call adobe and tell them you have an invalid copy of photoshop so they come and take it away from you.

I was trying to give the illusion of an upper set of tail lights, for a 2 min job, Adobe would be proud :P
another hack http://i50.tinypic.com/2625y69.jpg

hit5ive wrote:^Yes the DOT compliance is an issue but if I were to go through the extensive process of making an entire tail light assembly I would take some time to make my own DOT stamp in the mold.

This is the only set back of the project, putting your own embedded stamp could fool the cops or if you can find a similar design like the Impala and just change the inside with LED's, the outside should meet all standards.

Eh, I vote fake stamp ftw.

I'm just gonna go ahead and bump this (whoops, we're not in 2011 anymore) 2 year old thread without a care in the world. I really like that original idea. Doesn't stick out like those stupid r32 tail options we have, looks really clean. With the twinz rear, this would really set off.

About cutting into the trunk, that would also be do-able. Youd have to make your own weatherstripping between what's left of the hatch and mod the latch assembly to accomodate, then figure out how to get smoked plastic in the exact shape of what you'd need. Mess it up though and you might also be finding yourself at a junkyard getting a new hatch and fabricating an entire new hatch assembly. :/


I might make this.

honestly, i love this idea. make the outer ring smaller so it will fit the same as the OEM ones do.

Step1: design
step2:create
step3: ????
step4: PROFIT.

even the 3/4'ths circle option would be pretty nice. I'd be able to do that no problem. I can figure out led's and such.