tail light lense removal

is there a trick to remove taillight lense from housing besides praying and pulling

The outer lense..removing it from the housing? Make sure all the tabs are up ( around the clips on the base ) and use a little heat. Comes right off!

You aren't talking about removing it from the CAR, are you?

put it in the oven, that helps,.

If you are trying to get the lens to look nice and clear, I sanded it mine until they were smooth, and then clearcoated them. I taped off the bezel so that I did not scratch it. They look like they are NOS.

Heat from a hair dyer will help soften it so it's not so brittle.

Shrink wrap guns can get hot enough to melt it. Don't ask how I know.

i am going to remove the lense from the housing. i did not know there where clips on it . i will take a closer look tomorrow

The clips are part of the lens and bezel...they are plastic tangs that fit into slots/holes.

iirc, long time ago ive seen where there was this reflective tape stuff ,was like a mirror no sure if 3m makes it , and you redo the inside bulb socket area and rtv it back together makes the light much brighter etc

i am going to try it this week if everything goes scording to plan. i have the guts from another cars tsillight and will try putting them in the wagons. i have a couple spare wagon taillights i can experiment on

I have plans for my taillights I wonder if we are thinking the same. WF will tell. lOL!

Speaking of taillights, will the Roadmaster taillights fit in the Caprice? They look real close at a glance.

Nope, if you look at the perimeter of your taillight you will notice that the lower edge is wide and on the roadmasters they are pretty much even all the way around.

waynes91 wrote:

iirc, long time ago ive seen where there was this reflective tape stuff ,was like a mirror no sure if 3m makes it , and you redo the inside bulb socket area and rtv it back together makes the light much brighter etc

In search of a way / "MOD" to brighten up, and change the tails of our cars, I have found a few articles on how to accomplish this. One consists of Lens Bucket MOD, and then upgrading to better / brighter bulbs.

Here I will post the Lens Bucket Mod, I found which in turn was originally done by Marvin Davis (Originator of the ATS sequential turn signals)

Lens Bucket Modification
A viable way to squeeze more light power out of the rear light system is to improve the reflective and focus properties of the lens reflector assembly (buckets). The red plastic lens can be separated from the bucket assembly by removing the red lens. It is not permanently sealed as a black rubbery putty is used along with a few plastic tab clips to hold the assembly together. Using a small flat knife, Once the assemblies are separated you will notice on how disappointing the overall quality and construction of the reflectors are. Silver reflective paint sprayed over the plastic reflectors with small star impressed dimples for refraction is all that is in there. The paint literally wipes off on your fingers and does not have very good "reflective" properties on direct visual inspection.

The end product is accomplished by using a mirror reflective tape made by 3M or simular products that come in various sizes and rolls. Different thicknesses can be used to follow the molded bucket as closely as possible and temperature resistance is important here as well. Testing the installation with a hair dryer to elevate the temperature to simulate lamp heat and to speed curing time of the tape adhesive. Depending on what your pocket book can stand look for reflective tape at 50-80 deg.C ratings, Tape of this nature can be found in home improvement stores, and or hardware stores in the lighting section.

I am going to be doing 2 sets of lights and when done I will post all info.

good find 1phastsswagon.. ok ive also heard that the rib type 93- lens made some improvement,91-92 where brighter,no matter what still better than stock.. next time im in home depot (seems theres a over abundant of honey do projects lately..lol ) ill see if they have any of that tape

Also found a "Chrome" tape in the decal isle of Auto Zone. So that may be another viable source.

Pix's tomorrow of what I did today.

"I will gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today"

1993 Roady-man wrote:

Pix's tomorrow of what I did today.

"I will gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today"

Ohhhhhhhh Really now.

ALSO as an added FYI - If you dont want or cant shell out the $$ for L.E.D's

Switch out the the 2057 bulbs for 2057 Silverstars or the 2357 bulbs. and for the back up lights PEP BOYS sells 50 watt back up light bulbs, and they also have backs up bulbs with beepers

So are you removing the lenses to polish the inside....LOL.....

Or are you making changes that we would all be curios about, particularly what might you be inserting inside??

i mixed up this post with jerrod's post so pics of cut up taillight frames is in the taillight refinish topic