How To: De-Rice your Altezza tails - Team-2G Mitsubishi Forum

Rob · 04-15-2007, 11:58 PM

http://www.team-2g.com/mitsubishi-ec...-altezzas.html

Discuss the thread here.

yunebug · 04-16-2007, 12:07 AM

I agree to a certain extent, Rob. I am a purist to a certain extent. Yet, monotony is something that I personally despise. I've racked my mind for quite some time on how to maintain the stock appearance to satisfy my purist side yet do something different to satisfy my anti-monotous side.

This was the result of such mind-racking.

To each our own is what we say: I'm perfectly happy with this hybrid creation. Thanks for your comment and I'm sure there will be a few more that will say the same. But there will also be a few that might find this attractive as well. Isn't that the beauty of the internet forums? Individual choices. ;0)

P.s. This is how I know the purist side of me is slightly bigger than the other: I've kept my stock tails in case I grow to hate it after a while. ;0)

Rob · 04-16-2007, 12:12 AM

Don't get me wrong, I envy your love and enthusiasm towards your hobby/car. There is nothing wrong with what you have done, just not my flavor and i'm an asshole today for some reason...

Quote:

Originally Posted by yunebug

P.s. This is how I know the purist side of me is slightly bigger than the other: I've kept my stock tails in case I grow to hate it after a while. ;0)

+1. I still have a back-up set from the old gs-t. I'm sure i'll find a kick ass deal on a GSX sooner or later but it will have hideous tails on it. I'm prepared.

yunebug · 04-16-2007, 12:39 AM

Oh, only if I had your level of enthusiasm and dedication! :0) There are a lot of people who are truly dedicated to the DSMs and there is quite an impressive community of people here at team-2g, yourself included, which is the reason why I consider this to be home, rather than DSMtuners or DSMtalk.

I appreciate the feedback, though. Seriously. :0)

ezekiel888 · 04-16-2007, 12:48 AM

I think it looks nice. You should throw some vht nightshade on there to see how that would look.

psycho_maniac · 04-16-2007, 01:23 AM

Holy crap this is freaking awesome! stock but yet better looking IMO. Please tel me how you did this. Can I stick my tail lights in my oven? How high degrees do I get it to? I actually might do this because I have a set of altezzas and starting to want to go back to my stock lights but this is like a hybrid of stock. Wow AMAZING!!

yunebug · 04-16-2007, 01:29 AM

:0)

Every oven is different. I have an OLD, ELECTRIC oven, so your temp might differ, but not by much.

Set it to 250F and let it bake for about 20 minutes. That will heatsoak the oven thoroughly. Get a baking pan, cover with foil. Place the tails on the foil and put it in the oven, then TURN OFF THE OVEN.

The tail will sit in the oven for about 10 minutes. Since the oven is off, the heat that's remaining inside is softening the glue that's holding the lens to the housing.

After 10 minutes, take the tail out (hot! careful!) and turn the oven back on. SLOWLY and CAREFULLY pry the lens from the housing. Remember: the tails aren't made as stong as the headlights, so if you apply too much pressure, THE LENSES WILL BREAK VERY VERY EASILY. If it doesn't come off in moderate strength, put it back in the oven (which should be warmed back again by now). Be sure to turn it off and bake for another 5 minutes.

GO SLOW.

If you use little wooden sticks from ice cream bars, they help quite a bit in the oven, to help pry the lens from the housing. Just remember to go slow and don't force it too much.

Even if you break lenses, replacement OEM tails are like, what, $50? Still, that's $50 you can save, you know?

psycho_maniac · 04-16-2007, 01:40 AM

Yeah. I'll have to make myself go slow but its on my car and i love my eclipse so I could probably go slow. Im very professional when it comes to my car. One more question. How do you put them back togeather?

President95 · 04-16-2007, 02:13 AM

Thats what I thought you were going to do with those. Im not sure how much I like them over regular stockers, but theyre much better than the basic altezzas you started with.

Something I may try one day is putting in LED's inside the red circles of some altezzas, and then putting OEM red covers on as you did. But, that isnt anywhere near the top of my list.

I enjoy your creativity Yune.

slvr972gnt · 04-16-2007, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by President95

I enjoy your creativity Yune.

As do I. It's something to think about...

psycho_maniac · 04-16-2007, 02:26 AM

President, You mean something like this. I don't know just how I found this one day but I found it. (actually now i remember. I was bored and wanted to see if anybody ever made there middle tail light light up) Check it out
http://hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopi...er=asc&start=0

yunebug · 04-16-2007, 02:26 AM

Putting it back together:

Usually, the cheapest and the fastest method is using the sealant from autozone/NAPA etc. Look for black adhesive, "gasket maker."

If you really want to go professional, the headlight sealant that Nissan sells is just AWESOME. That's the stuf I use in my HID retrofits.

President95 · 04-16-2007, 02:27 AM

Not currently a member of HIDplanet, so I can not view that link, but if it is of AZdave's taillights, I know what youre talking about.. and he spent a fortune on those. But, they are the sickest tails on any 2g Ive ever seen

yunebug · 04-16-2007, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psycho_maniac

President, You mean something like this. I don't know just how I found this one day but I found it. (actually now i remember. I was bored and wanted to see if anybody ever made there middle tail light light up) Check it out
http://hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopi...er=asc&start=0

Ha. AZDave is a household name amongst the LED/HID communities. The man went through a lot to get his LED arrays. Over 1000 solder points! Gosh, I am a patient person, but I really don't think I have that kind of patience!

Since AZDave, there have been others who created their own arrays. But what President is referring to is installing LED bulbs OR LED modules usually found on trailers and semi trucks.

Like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Red-R...08164515QQrdZ1

Funny enough, president, the larger two circles are nearly 4 inches in diameter. I thought about the trailer LED retrofit, but I didn't want to mess with resistors just yet. When I go LED, I'm following this from AZDave:

http://www.rcaz.com/rcaz/sub%20index...sher/index.htm

psycho_maniac · 04-16-2007, 02:31 AM

Where would I get the Nissan sealant? I'm thinking at a Nissan dealer