Taillight resto....py pic included

Topic: Taillight resto....py pic included (Read 4414 times) previous topic - next topic

Taillight resto....py pic included

January 17, 2008, 12:28:26 AM

O.K.,I was looking for a nice driver side taillight,mine got a nice big crack in it.Anyway,I was making a deal for one here on the forum and then found one today at a local salvage yard in the trunk of a TC.It appeared to be heavily fogged from the inside (Horrible white looking haze),and a LOT of surface scratches and the reflector inside was heavily dulled and faded.I bought two bottles of diffeent plastic restorer and went to work.,I pulled the reflector out,washed everything after it soaked to loosen up 21 years of ,then started polishing.It's awesome in person.VERY clear and shiny,and well worth the effort.I'm going to polish a little more "just because".Jack,owner of the yard gave the lense up for free since it was "way to gone" in his opinion.The haze turned out to be a lot of dirt.When I recieve my sequential light kit from Carmen,the pretty lenses and kit will go on the car.The top light in the pic is the cracked lense,the bottom is the one I'm working on.It looked worse than the top before I started.Here's the py..................

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #1 – January 17, 2008, 12:36:03 AM

looks good. keep up the work. if that is all by hand that is killer. if you don't have one you need to go and get one of those mini mothers type polishing ball setup. works wonders. the big mother ball is to big for lots of things.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #2 – January 17, 2008, 12:39:49 AM

I'd love to get one,but never think about it until I'm in a place,or a time frame that doesn't allow it.It's all be hand right now.Oh well,I can literally say,"hand polished",plus,I was sitting on the couch watching TV while I was working.Nice.Polish,a couple of old t-shirts,and bad TV.Awesome.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #3 – January 17, 2008, 01:03:02 AM

I have a $15 buffer I got from Meijer. Its a cheapy shop force brand but its lasted for a good long time. A couple of months ago I located a dirty scratched set of tail lights for gumby. I took them apart and cleaned them up and then buffed the lenses with rubbing compound. That took out all of the scratches and left the surface looking new.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #4 – January 17, 2008, 01:12:11 AM

The reflector is crazy with all of those fins on it's face,but,I have it back to it's glossy factory look.Those sequential lights are gonna RAWK !!!!

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #5 – January 17, 2008, 07:20:42 AM

Quote from: CougarSE;198256

A couple of months ago I located a dirty scratched set of tail lights for gumby. I took them apart and cleaned them up and then buffed the lenses with rubbing compound. That took out all of the scratches and left the surface looking new.

heck yeah, the tails look great!

how do my headlights look? :flip:

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #6 – January 17, 2008, 07:29:15 AM

Looks good Vinnie

I used to keep mine nice and clear with polishing compound , machine glaze then wax. always did a good job. I figured while I did my car every spring it was nothing to hit the lights too.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #7 – January 17, 2008, 08:09:10 AM

Thanks for the compliments.Since all I have to do today is mail a couple of packages,I'll start the passenger side next.It's something I can do while I'm relaxing on my day off.As I stated,I want them ready for the sequentials.When I get the light kit and lights installed,and,get me exhaust tips on (probably another freakin' week for those),I'll try to take a little video for you guys.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #8 – January 17, 2008, 08:34:08 AM

Hey, Vinnie a little hard work always has it's rewards. great job so far

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #9 – January 17, 2008, 08:52:23 AM

i wanna make another topic, but i dont want to postw :| it has to do with this exact subject.

first though, that looks REALLY FREAKIN GOOD. i need to do that myself. thats the product that really works; elbow grease! great great job. what plastic restorer did you get? i remember going to a bunch or part stores and they only thing they had was some used left over stuff that didnt work for snot.

but here's my question, i got a big problem with dust from dirt roads inside my taillights. in between the lense and the reflectors. i noticed it had gotten really bad yesterday when it rained. how can i keep it from doing that in the future and how do i open them up to clean them b/c arent they 1 piece?

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #10 – January 17, 2008, 09:19:51 AM

Vinnie, great job man. Yeah, the finned inner reflector is a bear...that takes up most of your time.

Last summer I restored a pair of 1985-86 Cougar taillights for the convertible; those taillights have the same kind of finned inner reflector as the 1987-88 Thunderbird taillights. It took awhile but I got them looking to almost NOS condition. You just have to take your time.
http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/86tl_af_01.jpg
http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/86tl_af_02.jpg
http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/86tl_af_03.jpg

The REAL trick is restoring 1983-84 Cougar taillights though. Talk about an exercise in patience. I've got it perfected except for the chrome accents; those are going to be very tough to correct. Here is a link to my test section on the taillight:
http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/84tl_v2_04.jpg

This is a half/half s '84 lens that I had laying around...it had some extremely deep scratches that I worked out:
http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/84tl_02.jpg
http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/84tl_04.jpg

It's fun work for me, I enjoy doing stuff like this. And really, it doesn't cost a whole ton of money to restore these taillights. Just takes time, that's all.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #11 – January 17, 2008, 09:31:50 AM

I did that with my taillights last winter. They were leaking and just looked like in general.

I pulled em apart, cleaned em up, man they look 10 times better.

BTW, AC- If your lights are already leaking, the lenses are probably loose. It's actually fairly easy to pry the lenses off once an edge comes loose. Then you just seal them back up with clear silicone.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #12 – January 17, 2008, 09:33:17 AM

Thanks Eric.Time and patience,that's the trick.

As far as taking the taillight apart,that's the easy part.I removed the assembly from the car,and gently pulled the lense from the light housing.It was "glued" together with some sort of trim or weatherstrip adhesive it appears.The reflector on the inside was either glued in,or was "heat melted" together.Just be very careful and the reflector will snap out.Don't apply a lot of pressure,you don't want to crack the lense.......guess how I know that?LOL.The front of the reflector,the part you see from the outside of the lense,is the part to polish.The black on the inside of the lense is painted in.It can be touched up easily,just mask EVERYTHING you don't want to apply black paint to,front and back as insurance.

I bought the polishes at Autozone.They both work extremely well.
BlueMagic Headlight Lense restorer and Meguiar's PlastX.It has been my experience so far using these products (over the few hours I used them last night),that the Bluemagic is the one to start with,then follow it up with the PlastX.The PlastX seems to have a smoother finishing compound in it.

Before you start any polishing ata ll,make sure all of the light pieces are as clean as you can get them.It's pointless to try and polish over dirt and dust.You'll just cause more scratches.I still have to figure out the best stuff to re-seal everything together.I'm going back to Autozone to check their adhesives.I have some weatherstrip adhesive,but I want to look at other products first so I only have to do this once.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #13 – January 17, 2008, 09:38:49 AM

I used one of those pressurized containers of clear silicone from Advance...whatever you would call those? But they have the little "trigger" handle on them and it really saves your hands when you're doing something big like these taillights.

Taillight resto....py pic included

Reply #14 – January 17, 2008, 09:56:36 AM

i was thinking about the same pressurized glue gun type, but windshield adhesive b/c that stuff never ever comes off and seals well. i actually feel that my lenses are leaking around the weather stripping where the bulbs go through b/c i dont get water inside the lenses just lots and LOOOOOOTS of dust. if you ever seen ga red clay dust, thats what it is, looks horrible!