[ATFCharger]

I just started playing with ideas today on how to turn our tail lights into the clear, euro (Alteeza) lights.

Now, this all stemmed from the guys over at Stratusphere trying to make their own, having to remove the red plastic and recover the tail light clear lexan or plexi glass.

Lucky for us, our tail lights have two separate plastic pieces. One is the clear outer shell. The other is the red inner shell. I've come up with a few ideas on how to get it out. one would to be stick a screw driver through the light holes and smash it up, then drop the pieces out of the holes. Or the other is the heat up the assembly and separate the clear plastic from the housing, remove the red, and use some epoxy glue to put it back together.

The only other thing is that the bulbs are originally clear, so you'd have to go out and buy red ones.

I may attempt to find a set at a local yard to practice with, but for now that's the idea.

 

[dintrep94]

thats a good idea. but it seems if you heated it wouldnt it warp the light holder?
how about the fronts to ?any ideas?

 

[ATFCharger]

we can't clear our turn signals because the reflector is molded into the plastic from the factory. I've tried to bust it out of there already, but it's no good.

 

[dintrep94]

if the front is molded would the back be too?or am i an idiot?


[ September 12, 2001: Message edited by: ru4adodge ]

 

[ATFCharger]

you're not an idiot, but you're confused about what we're talking about...hehe

 

[dintrep94]

ok i can take the flack

 

[p3]

that might look cool but you wouldnt have the chrome rings with the red centers like the original altezza's would

 

[artifex]

I also have been fiddling with the tail and reverse light panels... I inspected them as well and was dissapointed to find out that they are basically melted together so you can't seperate the clear outside panel from the black plastic backing, including the red inner panel without going through a bit of a procedure... I would love to find a junker to screw around with so I can not mess up mine. In my humble opinion, I can't stand the Altezza-style tail lights... but what I originally wanted to do was take the reverse light panel and make it solid black with the clear intrepid logo that lit instead of the rectangle that lit around the black intrepid... I mentioned this on a past post... but there is a picture of my idea on here... click here
Ignore the racing stripes, I was playing around with the idea... but anyhoo, I would love to know how to effectively disassemble the tail and reverse light panels... if someone pulls it off, let me know....

-Dan

 

[hot96intrepid]

Just a thought upon your idea with the lighted "Intrepid" logo: instead of having it light up in reverse, have it light up whenever the headlights are on (easy to do, just black out the areas indicated in your picture, and wire a lightbulb or two in parallel with the tail lights) I just bought my 96 Intrepid, so i havent gotten around to messing with stuff like this, but i imagine it can't be too hard to remove the plastic lens containing the logo. I will examine this idea further and post my findings. In the meantime, if you or anyone else has pertinent information, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hot96intrepid]

After checking my car, i now understand the imaging in your picture... There are quite a few plastics manufacturers in my area and i will run the idea of re-creating the outer shell of the reverse lens in all black excepting the "Intrepid" logo. I imagine that if we can show that there is a market for this product, (namely some of us and our intrepid driving friends!) we can get a good deal on them. I can't imagine that they would cost that much (any ideas?)The only hard part that I see is the actual separation, and consequent re-joining of the inner and outer shells. Following this idea, we would need new reverse lights; here is my idea: on ebay, we can all find custom running lights for cheap, we could possibly mold them into the rear bumper cover (wire them into the reverse light leads rather than the headlights) I haven't been underneath the car yet, so i'm not sure what all there is to mount them to...
comments and criticisms are appreciated.

 

[p3]

sounds like it would look cool, but i think it would be kinda of alot of work for something like that.

 

[artifex]

yeah, I agree, it does sound like a lot more work than I bargained for, but since I have the time to wander around this web site, I think I might have the time to fiddle around with that project... But I know it wouldn't be too hard to get the clear "intrepid" on the shell if a new one was purchased or the old black "intrepid" was removed, just get a decal made and put it on before painting it black and then after... remove... ta dah! But anyhoo.... yeah. I'll go now.

-Dan