Take a good look at this picture:
See that? Having those ugly Altezza tail lights can get you into trouble. Instead, try this.
The concept is simple: take a set of Altezza tails and a set of OEM tails and create a hybrid set of tails. We will be mating the Altezza housing with the OEM lens.
Items you need:
1. a set of OEM tails.
2. a set of Altezza tails.
3. Dremel
4. Nissan Headlight Sealant
5. an oven
6. ice cream bar sticks (optional)
The Altezza set that I used looks like this:
1. Bake the tails.
Set your oven to 300'F. When the oven is heated to the temperature, take one of your ALTEZZA tail and put it in. Then
turn off the oven.
The reason why you want to turn off the oven is because we want the glue to soften up by the remaining heat that is left in the oven. Some others will directly bake the tails under a lower temperature in shorter time, but the glue will not be melted as thoroughly as this method.
After about 10 minutes of letting the tail sit in the heat, carefully take it out. Remember: it is HOT. Handle with caution. As soon as you have the tail out of the oven,
turn the oven back on to let it reach 300'F again. This will warm up the oven again to have it ready for second rounds.
Starting from a corner,
SLOWLY start to pull the clear lens from the housing. The tail light lenses are not as sturdy and hard as the headlight lenses because the tails do not need to worry about road debris. Any excessive force applied WILL result in broken lenses.
Now you may be asking, 'if we're going to replace these clear ones with the OEM ones, then why do I need to worry about breaking it?' Good question. Here's why.
The pulling of the clear Altezza lenses is a PRACTICE. It is perfectly fine if you end up cracking/breaking the clear lenses because we will not be using them. HOWEVER, you will need to repeat the same process for the OEM red lenses from the OEM housing. By practicing on the clear ones, you will get a sense of how hard to pull the lens from the housing and know when to stop applying pressure.
Back to the process.
After 10 minutes of sitting in the radiant heat of the oven, the glue will be SOMEWHAT melted. At this point, you've turned your oven back on and you are working on the baked tail.
If you happen to have any wooden sticks from those ice cream bars, those are great tools in prying the lens from the housing. Insert the ice cream bars in the slits you've created between the lens and the plastic housing to not let the lens go back to the housing. Pull the lens as far out as you can.
REMEMBER TO GO SLOW! If you're applying a lot of pressure, that means the tail needs to be baked some more. Leave the wooden sticks in place and put the tail back in the oven.
Remember to turn the oven off! Let it sit in the hot oven again for another 5 minutes. Take it out, turn the oven back on, and keep pulling. Little by little, slow and careful will result in perfect separation of lens and housing.
Repeat with the other Altezza tail.
Before you start working on the OEM tails, take a deep breather. This is the point of no return.
2. Preparation.
Now you have four things on your table: two Altezza housing pieces, two OEM housing pieces, two Altezza lenses, and two OEM red lenses.
Take a look at your Altezza housing pieces. There are three red circular lenses and those will need to be taken out. Just pop them out.
Then, mask the circles. We do not want black spray paint getting inside those circles because it will reduce the reflection of your lights.
You may also have found that the OEM lens and the Altezza housing do not match up in terms of those grooves and nubs. Take a dremel and drill new holes in the Altezza housing OR grind down the OEM tail nubs.
Left = Altezza hole. Right = Where the OEM lens nub lines up with.
One of the OEM lens nub:
OEM lens nub ground down with dremel:
When that's all done, take a spray paint and paint the chrome housing black. You may choose to scrape the chrome paint off first. It won't make a difference.
Take the masking tape off, and voila!
Just for kicks, I didn't paint the sides of the tails:
And mock up the OEM red lens over the black Altezza housing, and...
3. Assembly.
Now all that is left to is to glue them on. The BEST GLUE to use come from NISSAN, actually.
NISSAN Part# B6553-89915 Headlamp Sealant
MyNismo.com - NISSAN OEM Sealer
That part is available from your local Nissan dealer or online from various vendors. However, if you cannot afford the $19.68 + s/h then JB Weld will do.
As the picture shows, it is a rope. Lay the rope inside the grooves of the Altezza housing and "bake" (as in 300'F preheat, put the tail in, turn off the oven) for about 3-5 minutes until the glue melts a bit.
Take the tail out and now place the OEM red lens on the Altezza housing. Press firmly to make sure there is good contact between the lens and the housing. Put the entire tail assembly back in the oven and "bake" for another 3 minutes to ensure that the glue melts AROUND the OEM red lens.
If you have a vice grip or something to keep the pressure between the Altezza housing and the OEM lens, that would be ideal. Clamp down and let it sit for a few hours. Overnight is recommended.
The end product:
See how the sides turned out?
Yes, there are bits of remnants of its altezza roots, but I think it's something different... somewhat of an improvement... yet something stock. Matched with a painted center piece, it looks GOOD. :0)
Currently, 99eclipseguy is rocking the set that I made. PM him to get some opinions. He also has my HID Retrofit setup as well.
I would love to see other variations of Altezza get used for this process. We know that there are plenty of abhorrent designs out there...
Anyway, one set of happy Altezza that's been rescued: de-riced.
Thanks for watching.
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