How To: How I made flush mounted tail lights

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

Alright, this is my How To in how I made flush mounted tail lights. I've seen '69's with '68 light/tail light panels which looks great, but I really like that the '69's have larger lights. I've seen a handfull of '69s with flush mounted lights, but no how to's that I could find so I decided to tackle it.

 

 

MATERIALS:

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Leather Gloves

Heat Gun

Grinder

Dremel

Plastic glue or epoxy

$10 (Need 6 total) 3m High-Strength Red Lens Repair Film (you may choose to paint instead)

$6 Clear overhead light panel plastic

 

1.) Started off with my old crusty cracked tail light lens.

 

Edited February 28, 2013 by THE EVIL TW1N

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

2.) Using the grinder, cut the lens down to the base where the bezel meets the lens. You're going to want to cut down to the the area before it bevels inward in order to make room for the plastic panel piece you will be placing there. I used the Dremel after making the initial cuts with the grinder.

 

 

 

3.) Now cut the clear ceiling light panel plastic into rectangles about the size of the bezel measured from the outside. Remember to make it a little longer because of the curve. On top of that, you will want to make it a bit longer (atleast 1/4") in order for it to sit nicely in the bezel. You will see in the next few steps.

 

 

 

4.) I don't really have a picture of this step. Basically, you are going to need a buddy to help you out. While wearing thick gloves (I used leather), place the cut clear plastic on top of the base where they will be sitting. You may not be able to bend the plastic completely (I broke 2 clear plastic pieces) into place. Hold it there (USING GLOVES!) while you (or your partner) uses the heat gun to heat the plastic. A few seconds (roughly 12) should be all you need in order to get the plastic soft enough to bend. Hold it there in place until it cools.

 

This step might be a little tricky. Too much heat, and the piece really starts to warp and shrink. You just want it hot enough to where the piece will bend and keep its shape, but not warp and stay as flat as possible.

 

 

 

5.) Next, grab the the 3M red plastic repair and stick it on the flat (outside) area of the now curved lens. The red plastic is pretty tough and sticks very well. You may decide to paint the plastic piece instead. I felt this worked better, but to each their own.

 

 

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

6.) After trimming the red plastic down to the roughly the same size as the panel piece, glue the panel piece onto the modified lens.

 

 

 

7.) Now, using the grinder, trim the excess panel piece off of the edges so that it is flush with the modified lens section.

 

 

Remember I said to make sure the bottom portion of the light is a little extra longer? Well, I hope you remembered. This is the portion that should be about 1/4" longer past the modified lens base. You want this to be longer so that the bezel is completely filled with the lens when you place the bezel on top.

 

 

8.) Now, just make sure the edges of the panel piece to lens base is sealed. You can use caulking or more glue. You're done!

 

 

 

NOTES:

 

You may choose to tint/darken the lens. The red is plenty (it does NOT look pink), but may look a little "too" red in daylight for some. I'll take a pic tomorrow, but I will probably tint them slightly darker. The first pic at the beginning of the thread was taken with the brake lights off (parking lights on) with just a regular wimpy bulb. This has made my rear lights MUCH brighter. It'll be interesting how bright they will be when I upgrade to LEDs in the next couple months. I'm in the process of changing out the turn signal switch, so I have no brake light photo to show you guys.

Edited February 28, 2013 by THE EVIL TW1N

[Angel 24]

Thanks for sharing man. They look nice!

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

Thanks for sharing man. They look nice!

Thanks. It took a few hours of trial and error to figure out. I would have been much quicker if my compressor would hold more air!

[miketyler 15]

Very inventive! Kindve gives the 69 tail lights a 68 look. I don't know that I'm that crazy about that textured light sheet but once finished it looks better than I expected. Good job.

[Daves69Coupe 10]

do you have any daytime pictures of lights. I just wanna see how flush they are compare to panel. Im trying to make them flush without using the stock trim, just a lense.

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

Don't laugh, but my car is in the very early stages of restoration. The lights aren't bolted in, they are just propped up for now. I spray painted the back panel satin black for reference (the tail light panel is getting replaced anyways) since that's the way I'll eventually run it.

 

[FrozenMonkey 12]

I really like this. Gonna have to do it myself!

[Boogerschnot 12]

Good job. Nice touch.

[rawlinss 14]

:001_tt1::001_tt1:

[cphsonic 11]

Great job, looks great! One for the reference book...

[pimpinx7 12]

Those look amazing!! For sure going to give it a shot!

[THE EVIL TW1N 12]

Thanks guys!

[shatter 10]

That really came out looking super. Custom while still having a vintage look!

[FrozenMonkey 12]

Do you have an update on this with your LED lights installed? I'm probably going to be doing this soon and curious how it looks with the sequential LEDs.

[el70gato 24]

Here's what I used . No need for heat gun . Bought at auto parts store . Also changed to LED 1157 lights much brighter

[el70gato 24]

Here"s what I used . Need no heat gun . Buy at any auto parts store . Also changed to 1157 LED bulb .Much brighter .

[Chelby-Ann 47]

I like that project write up.

Nice work and Great Mod.

Thanks for sharing

[signal20gsxr 10]

Thanks for the wright up. I was wanting to do the same thing with mine. I have seen them done on 65-66 cars quite a bit. These are completely flush without any trim rings.

 

What glue did you use?

[bomccorkle 12]

I wonder if maybe 1/8 plexi or such would work instead of the light panel. I plan to run LEDs and would like them to really stand out?

[MUST 25]

:thumbup1:

[bomccorkle 12]

Been working with the lexan seems to be a go with it. I am going to attempt to keep my lenses clear with red led bulbs behind, wondering has anyone put a reflector in theirs??

[cook69stang 10]

Love it!

[Black_69_FB 49]

Been working with the lexan seems to be a go with it. I am going to attempt to keep my lenses clear with red led bulbs behind, wondering has anyone put a reflector in theirs??

 

I didn't do the flush lens mod, but when I replaced my lenses I painted the inside of the bulb housings flat white, which helped a fair bit.

 

Then later I swapped out the bulbs for LEDs, which was better yet.

 

It was a lot more than I wanted to spend, but nobody has come close to rear-ending me because they couldn't see my brake/turn signal lights in full daylight since I put these in, which is what prompted me to start the upgrade process. The white housing paint and hotter incandescent bulbs did help, but I have more peace of mind with the LEDs.

 

This is what I used in case anyone is interested:

http://www.mustangproject.com/ProductDisplay.aspx?ID=ea8eae89-a8a4-48c1-90b2-0418d3ac33a5

 

I went non-sequential, but they carry sequential lights too.