SupraOfDoom said:
yea, I knew you put your two cents in on that one...lol
yea, stanzaspeed, i think i posted it b4 the hack,
Will
CLEAR REAR INDICATOR CONVERSION.......
- Thread starter wolfie308
- Start date
yea, I knew you put your two cents in on that one...lol
yea, stanzaspeed, i think i posted it b4 the hack,
Will
stanzaspeed said:
no man, get yo self a set, , honest, clear with green paint,, I can dig it...
the clear to me is like a nuetral color, it would go wioth any color... not like your getting a set of blue tails with green body paint,...
know what I mean ?
Will
:icon_biggwillfish said:
Well, if worse turns to worse and they dont sell them anymore remember, an offer you cant refuse. ^_^
willfish said:
maby ill look into it once i pick up my new turbo / mani etc. I need to get my ass back to work first! :rofl:
Morning Guys,
And first thanks for all the positive comments and interest. To try to answer roughly in order, the lens shown was taken from the rear cluster which fits an '89 U.K spec car. Unfortunately, not having done this before, my friend destroyed his spare set in the oven in order to extract the amber parts. I was told that although there are differences between the ealy and late model units, the inner amber part appeared to be the same. I don't know if that's true and whether there are differences between U.K/ Euro spec and U.S / JDM units.....all a bit of a minefield
Although I have a lot of experience with various Toyota front and and rear units including the Celica ST202 and 205 fronts - these are quite easy using the oven trick. The Corolla '85 rears as used on the late model Lotus Esprit need a different technique involving immersing in a bucket of near boiling water !!.......trust me it works - it's how I got the master to make my clear indicator conversion. Click on the links below and you'll see one of the cars that now sports my exclusive rears - looks so good I could lick it all over :icon_bigg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/EspritAlexsbefore058.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/Espritwithclears0091-1.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/Espritwithclears012.jpg
However, when it came to the Celica rears, I was defeated, as what I thought was black trim round the outside turnd out to be part of one single lens including the amber, red, and clear reverse parts.
So.........I'm waiting to get hold of a used maybe damaged unit that I can try different techniques on and then photo and document the procedure if I'm successful.....fingers crossed.
I was also considering doing the front indicators for the late models as I understand they can be difficult to get hold of. The ones I've seen are the 'crystal' clear type which I personally don't like and don't think suit the original styling cues of the car as well as an exact OEM copy would do.
Here's a pic of my Celica fronts which show the incredible detail that I achieve in the moulding which is similar to the look I had in mind for the Soop
[/URL][/IMG]
Be interested to hear what you think, bearing in mind the price would be in the £65/pair region.
Regards side repeaters/ side markers, I am awaiting a side marker for a U.S Elan which I intend to try cut apart and cast both parts in different materials then rebond/glue them together. This will be tedious and not cheap as I'd need to make 4 moulds just for one set units. Then there's the question of do I do the flat U.S type or the Euro type with the bulge ? Best let's see if it's worth me doing in principle first.
Will keep you posted of progress or more likely back shortly with some questions
Richard
www.protocast.co.uk - Clearer by Design
And first thanks for all the positive comments and interest. To try to answer roughly in order, the lens shown was taken from the rear cluster which fits an '89 U.K spec car. Unfortunately, not having done this before, my friend destroyed his spare set in the oven in order to extract the amber parts. I was told that although there are differences between the ealy and late model units, the inner amber part appeared to be the same. I don't know if that's true and whether there are differences between U.K/ Euro spec and U.S / JDM units.....all a bit of a minefield
Although I have a lot of experience with various Toyota front and and rear units including the Celica ST202 and 205 fronts - these are quite easy using the oven trick. The Corolla '85 rears as used on the late model Lotus Esprit need a different technique involving immersing in a bucket of near boiling water !!.......trust me it works - it's how I got the master to make my clear indicator conversion. Click on the links below and you'll see one of the cars that now sports my exclusive rears - looks so good I could lick it all over :icon_bigg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/EspritAlexsbefore058.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/Espritwithclears0091-1.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/Espritwithclears012.jpg
However, when it came to the Celica rears, I was defeated, as what I thought was black trim round the outside turnd out to be part of one single lens including the amber, red, and clear reverse parts.
So.........I'm waiting to get hold of a used maybe damaged unit that I can try different techniques on and then photo and document the procedure if I'm successful.....fingers crossed.
I was also considering doing the front indicators for the late models as I understand they can be difficult to get hold of. The ones I've seen are the 'crystal' clear type which I personally don't like and don't think suit the original styling cues of the car as well as an exact OEM copy would do.
Here's a pic of my Celica fronts which show the incredible detail that I achieve in the moulding which is similar to the look I had in mind for the Soop
Be interested to hear what you think, bearing in mind the price would be in the £65/pair region.
Regards side repeaters/ side markers, I am awaiting a side marker for a U.S Elan which I intend to try cut apart and cast both parts in different materials then rebond/glue them together. This will be tedious and not cheap as I'd need to make 4 moulds just for one set units. Then there's the question of do I do the flat U.S type or the Euro type with the bulge ? Best let's see if it's worth me doing in principle first.
Will keep you posted of progress or more likely back shortly with some questions
Richard
www.protocast.co.uk - Clearer by Design
Im interested, but dumb photobucket is in maintenance and I cans se any of the pics!!!!
****Fixed****
they look excellent I want some, fronts too!!!!
****Fixed****
they look excellent I want some, fronts too!!!!
Last edited:
SacoMan said:
Bu@@er - just happened as I was uploading pics. Try this instead..
Should give you a bit of a taster :icon_bigg :icon_bigg
suprahero said:
For the Esprit or the Soop? :icon_bigg
Just knocked up a housing out of cardboard, sprayed it chrome, then set against a black bacground, took a couple of pics on auto and you can see from the links, one with a standard amber bulb and one with a 25 LED cluster bulb. I'm not easily impressed by my own work, but I have to say I think these are looking hot......IMHO :evil2:
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/Suprarearclearlensamberbulb.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/SupraclearrearLEDbulb.jpg
Hopefully this'll give you a bit more of an idea of what the finished look might be like. Work still in progress to source a complete unit to check my surgical skills.
Richard
www.protocast.co.uk - Clearer by Design
The U.K. MKIII supras all had the 86.5 to 88 rear turn signal units, the 89-92 USA spec lights never made it on the late supras because of the license plate requirements and fog requirements for European supras. This reflector is for 86.5 to 88 USA tail lights only.
I think a clear Bulge/bubble side markers (And usa spec flat ones) in clear would be a very good seller.
I think a clear Bulge/bubble side markers (And usa spec flat ones) in clear would be a very good seller.
willfish said:hope they dont look like these since I was told by someone that there wernt any of these in the states.....
Will
Will, just to give you piece of mind. I've never seen your lights pictured on any other car but yours.:bowdown:
I have an 86.5 and i would LOVE to buy a set of clear fronts, which BTW i think you could sell a LOT of... i dont know about the rears though... i'd like to see the older style rears without the orange....then i'd decide. sounds cool though!
like i said, side markers ftw, bubble would be awsom, but usdm flate in clear would be just as sick!
you would have no problem sellin these.
you would have no problem sellin these.
xrated89 said:in the 89 and up you can just remove the amber piecejust to let you know
Cheers for that chap,
But now I'm getting very confused :icon_conf . Are the early and late models different in their construction? How easy is to remove the amber piece?......my mate overcooked his in the oven in order to split he case apart. Are the amber inserts possibly the same even if there are other differences in the units?
just removing the amber alone would IMHO look like somebody had smashed you lens.......not quite the effect I had in mind :nono:
So I'm still waiting to get hold of either an early or late model unit for close inspection - I am at a distinct disadvantage to you guys as I don't have one on my drive
Anyroads, there seems to be enough interest in the side indicators for me to have a look at those. I have one bubble type which my mate sent me - I'll just check with him that it's okay for me to try cutting in 2 which is the first stage.
What I had in mind was to use my Dremel in its pillar stand, then I'd have to buy a right angle attachment and then fit a thin cutting disc. Guess I'd need to ake up a small jig to hold the unit square and feed under the spinning cutter.......is the theory.
Got one in front of me now........and looking at it, it doesn't look a lot. However, if I can make a factory looking replica out of 4 bottles of liquid and some sticky stuff, I'm a freakin' wizard !! Let's see how good this boy is :evil2:
I've got an extra set of side markers. I once tried to pry the lens off the backing and it has some insane glue on there and would have surely broken apart before splitting. Perhaps if we could donate a couple of pairs of these to you, you could carefully cut out the part you need from each peice, giving you the 2 moulds required? I'd chip in my extra parts for the project.
tekdeus said:
Cheers Buddy,
And thanks for the offer. Actually, I reckon they aren't glued, but pressed together whilst one or both is still hot and soft.
Cut the lens off the backing on one and the backing off the lens on the other......good idea but hugely more work. My plan is to get the cutting wheel set up and real carefully run the unit in the jig under the disc along the joint seam. I may need to shave 0.5 mm off the bottom of the lens as I cut, but I don't think that'll matter. Once the 2 cut surfaces are cleaned up, I can check the fit before making the 2 moulds.........well that's the plan anyway
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f11/wolfie308/Suprafrontambersideon.jpg