How do you guys take apart your marker lights? It seems the only way is to dremel the things apart but I'm curious if there's a better way. Any ideas?
smll eyeglass screwdriver and a small screw hammer.
Find the seam where they are glued from the factory and slowly chip your way around untill the lens can be removed.
I've done 2 sets this way.
hmm...it worked although two small pieces from the corners of the orange reflector broke off with the outer lens. Now if I can only polish the lens up enough to minimize haze when viewed at an angle.
Thanks for the tip
thats such a pain in the nutz
Np
Its a pain getting out every little scratch left by 220grit sandpaper...even when using 320 up to 1000 grit. Looks much better though. I tried taking angled pictures to compare the "haze" but the reflectors just cause my camera to take a dark picture. Basically there's no haze from an angle now, just a nice clear reflection :D
I'm too picky about the little details :wtf:
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/corners.jpg)
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/corners2.jpg)
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/corners3.jpg)
Came out pretty nice,but the orange reflectors gotta go man.
I don't like the look of the missing reflectors but haven't found some white/clear reflectors that I can cut that'll work...yet
Looks like the only way to get some reflectors big enough is to buy some acrylic and cut into it myself. If so, I'd just be lazy and make hundreds of circular cuts/digs, in diagonal lines, in the plastic. I should go see which bits I have for the dremel
I wonder...exactly how hard is it to cast plastic? I've been reading up on it and it doesn't seem too hard once you get a good mold. There's a TAP plastics locally and they sell everything needed to create the mold and cast plastic. Neither of my orange reflectors are perfect though...the corners are busted off
Yea i'd like to find some kind of reflector as well but absolutley hated the orange in there.
I mean seriously what else on your car is orange?It's just out of place.
I've got super white's in mine and when there off look blue but on look whitish in color.
With how much I'm currently making, I don't really want to buy some materials to make my own right now...but I bet it'd turn out well. Air bubbles wouldn't really matter in a reflector. Initial cost of supplies would be around $70 from TAP. It may be possible to get the to cast it for a reasonable price also since they do custom jobs
How's this?
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/clear1.jpg)
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/clear2.jpg)
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/clear3.jpg)
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/clear4.jpg)
That's mint man!
Did you use one of those ceiling light covers?
What are they worth?
Now just put a nice superwhite bulb in there and it'll be awsome.
, if it's that ceiling light cover material, I just threw some of that out.. but it was that stuff meant to look like fractured ice or whatever, not an even pattern like yours.
If I recall, it wasn't too expensive. I know it was cheap enough that I didn't feel bad hacking it up for some project a few years back.
They said molds wouldn't be able to pick up the detail in the stock reflector but gave me some other ideas. They had a bin full of s plastics for $1/lb and this looked like it could work so I grabbed it. $1 for the 2'x10" piece and $6 for some low-e (blocks UV light) plastic for another project and I was out the door. I don't quite like how big the shapes are but will see how it looks on the car.
and yes, its near identical to what is used on those ceiling lights. I don't think white bulbs are allowed on the side if its the only marker seen (here in Washington), not that it matters. A clear reflector looks better on a lot of cars
Hmmm.. I remember someone here saying that chrome paint (yes, I know, it doesn't look anything like actual chrome.. just threw out a can a couple months ago) made a good refresher material for the backs of our lights. I had been meaning to pick up some more since I'm polishing the taillights up on the '88. I'm also thinking about experimenting with the shiny gold paint for that. I'm wondering how that would alter things.. and maybe I might now buy a can and try to get a few more lights apart and try it out.
Shiny gold paint with a yellow bulb, behind a replacement material like that on the front corner lights.. hmmmm..
Yeah, I know it's probably not for everyone.. but I'm not compelled to get rid of all traces of color on the side lights. It just doesn't bother me like it bothers some of you.
Hmmm.. found I still had a small piece of it left. I think I'm going to test out an idea for making my own reflector, and not just filling that spot with some patterned material. If it looks like ass, I won't mind throwing it out. If it looks good, I'll have to buy a whole sheet.
I've tried like 5 different chrome paints...I was hoping I'd get an aluminum flake I could try to shine but that just turns it grey. I sprayed the inside of a spare headlight reflector with some, but it was less reflective than the...uhhh...pearlescent color left behind after the chrome's finish disintegrated.
Last night I was testing out some aluminum foil as a reflector but it started raining a bit hard so had to come inside. For some reason, I no longer had a bright spot from the headlight - it was all spread out more. Had foil covering the sides, back, and top of the enclosure, leaving the bottom the normal plastic color.
Anyways, you could try some gold-colored foil in the marker lights if you're going that route. You'll find that the reflective paints suck. I just don't know how to attach the stuff without getting a bunch of wrinkles from adhesive
Oh, it doesn't have to be great.. just better than what's there now. That isn't hard, considering my taillight reflectors almost look like they're disintegrating.
At any rate, my expectations are not high.. and even if I am disappointed, it's only a few dollars. Got another sale tonight, so I'm slowly working my way back to being able to afford the front end parts with a few dollars to spare.
EDIT: Do you have any decent clearcoat, and have you tried spraying that over the chrome-wanna-be paint? I'd be curious to see if that helped the paint hold up at all. I have a can of that 500-degree clearcoat for like intake manifolds and valve covers. Used it when I did the green front grille for the '88 and it came out pretty nice. A few months sitting out in the elements and my fiance is still telling me out of the blue that she likes the look of it. (and especially the dark green color under it) Considering some of my cheaper spray paint jobs are already fading significantly, I'd say it turned out alright.
yeah, I sprayed my grill with some of that chrome paint...turned out with a little shine until I clearcoated it. Then it turned into a white/light grey. Not recommended
How long did you let the chrome paint sit before you sprayed it with the clearcoat? I'm thinking about letting it dry for a few days.
a day I think. Its worth a shot
Well, if it comes out looking like shine-wise but is otherwise a pretty clean painting job, I may just cover that over with gloss white or something and be done with it.
finally have the spare corners glued and siliconed up, about to go put them on. I don't quite like the look in the dark as with the stock reflectors but it looks great during the day. Gonna test if the material actually reflects well or not - got my flashlight with me :p
Also plugged the drain hole with silicone since its done more harm that good for as long as I remember (every morning its filled with moisture). If water somehow gets in, I can just pop the silicone out
(http://home.comcast.net/~s.g.s/tbird/clear.jpg)
and no, those aren't blue bulbs. No idea why the headlight appears blue
edit:
and yeah, thats what the grill looked like after clearcoat. Couldn't find a matching body color paint and weather was starting to cool down (fall) so I had to spray something...and the chrome paint turned out horrible after the clear
Up here they're not...
Reflective devices
(3) Only amber reflectors may be mounted on the front or side of a vehicle.
(4) Only red reflectors may be mounted on the rear of a vehicle or on the side of the vehicle at or toward the rear of the vehicle.
That looks alright man,i think i might have to take mine apart again and install some of that stuff.
As far as I can tell here, only rear red reflectors are required. It doesn't state anything about side/front reflectors. Just that amber marker lights are required
Hey that does look good, may look into chainging mine(but then it won't make my car any faster so I doubt it).
For reflective coatings, check this out. Never used it but may be worth a shot...
http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=99&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=1208&iSubCat=1210&iProductID=99
Hey, the plastic I used weighs a couple grams less than the stock reflector :p
I doubt I'll keep it. The side looks too bare now. I'm happy with how the cars look stock (well the TC...the rest need to be more like them ;) )
edit:
and that paint is most likely just like all the other chrome paints...at least they stated one thing correctly - that it "is the CLOSEST PAINT to chrome plating and polished aluminum". Well for spraycans anyways. I'd like to see Alsa's products offered in a rattle can, even if they don't turn out as well