Hammbones

iTrader: (1)

What you will need:

• Weather Stripping replacement
• 1-2 hours (3 Hours because I'm writing the How To for it)
• 18" x 5" strip of your choice color vinyl
• Razor Blade
• Needle Nose Pliers
• Socket Wrench w/ 10mm Socket
• Steady Hand
• MP3 Player
• Couple of Beers
• Patience

BEFORE MODIFICATION


AFTER MODIFICATION


Step 1: Open your trunk and locate the 4 plastic push bolts on the liner. Use your needle nose pliers to grip from the edge. Twist off using gentle pulling pressure. Be careful not to snap the heads off of these or you'll be spending $5 on new ones. I only took the 4 off that I needed to get access to the brake light assembly and I snapped one of the push bolts.


Step 2: Gently pull the liner down until you can see the brake light assembly and the 2 anchor bolts on either side. Grab your 10mm Socket Wrench and remove these 2 nuts from the bolts. I didn't remove the bolts, just the nuts.




Step 3: Remove the power ballast from the rear of the assembly by pushing forward against the retaining clip on the unseen side. I used my index finger and it came out without a problem.


Step 4: After removing the power ballast, remove the assembly from the opening by shimming it around until one side drops down. Slide the assembly out to the left or right, whichever drops out of the opening.

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Step 5: Locate the 4 tabs holding the lens cover onto the assembly and gently push to release the lock. I started with the large tabs located on the top side and the bottom 2 came apart on their own.



Step 6: Place the assembly back into your trunk or working space away from dirt and debris.

Step 7: Once you remove the lens from the assembly, its time to clean off the weather stripping and anything you may have put on the lens such as paint. I used Lacquer thinner to remove my handpainted work that was on it before.


Step 8: After you clean the lens up, Its time to prepare the stencil or cutout that you will reverse onto the vinyl piece. I used Photoshop to make a 600x600 pixel document and free transformed my text stretching top to bottom. After my first print was done, I dry placed it on the lens cover for fitment. I adjusted as necessary.

Step 9: Once you are happy with the result of Font type / sizing, take your print and a razor blade and carefully trace the outline of the letters out of the print. Use a shoebox top or piece of cardboard so you don't damage any surface you are cutting on.


Step 10: After you have cut all the letters out as precisely as possible, mask the letters with clear gift wrapping tape to hold the small pieces in place during the cut transfer.


Step 11: After masking, Place the piece of paper on top of your vinyl piece which is also on top of your cardboard / stock protecting the worksurface. Be sure that you place the lens on top of the vinyl when placing the stencil on the vinyl to be sure you have plenty of material around the stencil. I estimate about 3" perimeter around the entire word / text.


Step 12: Once you are comfortable with centering the text / word inside the vinyl area, repeat the process of cutting out the letters. Of course the layers from top to bottom should be STENCIL - VINYL - CARDBOARD - WORKSURFACE. Also be sure that the "shiny" part of the vinyl is facing up. This is a pain staking process and takes up a majority of the time on this modification so just be patient and steady with your razor blade. Once you get through a few letters, you can lift the stencil slightly off the top of the vinyl to check your progress. The masking on the Stencil holds it gently in place so if you rip the stencil off the vinyl too much, you'll likely run into the word being skewed or slanted on the final product.




Step 13: After you have completely cut the stencil out again onto the vinyl, If you gently lift the paper off the vinyl, the masked letters should remain on the vinyl. Check for errors at this point and be sure that any overcuts are addressed so when it comes time to actually remove the letters from the vinyl cutout, they don't stretch or rip in a wild direction. You can verify the depth of your cuts on the rear side of the vinyl wax paper. This is also a good time to go back and make sure the corners are fully cut and not hanging on by a thread.



Step 14: After you have verified all the cuts and made any necessary corrections, Gently pull the letters away from the vinyl leaving the vinyl cut out in the text / word. The hard part is pretty much done.



Step 15: Take the brake light lens and the vinyl and dry fit it without taking the wax paper off to align the letters or center it perfectly on the lens. At this point, a thick card and some patience will be needed for placement.

Step 16: Trace the outline of the lens onto the backside of the vinyl (Wax paper side) and remove it from the rest of the stock. You should have a vinyl piece that is about the same size as the lens in diameter.

Step 17: Remove the wax paper backing from the vinyl very carefully. Avoiding fast movements and skewed angles will help the finer parts of the words to not get stretched or torn. The tab on the lens that is near the middle on the side is the top. Verify which way is up by dry fitting the lens back onto the assembly and fitting it near the opening.Place the vinyl non adhesive side face down with the sticky side face up. Take the lens and place it centered on the vinyl. Do not apply pressure. This step is to make sure your fitment is correct.

Step 18: Work the vinyl onto the lens paying careful attention to bubbles or stretching within the word. If there are bubbles or stretching, gently pull the vinyl back off and start over until you are happy with the result.


Step 19: Take a thick credit card or ID and fold the sides of the vinyl around the lense to cover as much of it as possible. Once you stretch the vinyl around the lense, grab a heat gun or hair dryer and slowly work any folds or bubbles out. Once you complete this step, Take your razor blade and trim the excess vinyl off the lens at your discretion.


Step 20: (Optional) I put 2 light coats of white paint on the inside of my lens to avoid glare light making the letters un-readable. Don't over coat the inside because light still needs to pass through the letters to remain seen.

Step 21: Reassemble the light by snapping the lens back onto the assembly housing, slide it back into the opening and tightening down the 2 nuts that we removed from earlier. Be sure to check the light placement before you snug the nuts up, otherwise you'll snap the plastic holding the light into the assembly. Once you verify replacement of the brake, put the power ballast back onto the rear of the assembly. Replace or put the old liner bolts back in. You may have to use a mallot to snug them all the way back in.

Project finished. Hope you enjoy the results and since its vinyl, you can change it up later at low cost (Paying for the vinyl).

Night Time Shot


** Note that I still have a little work to do to make the light not bleed through behind the housing.

Black SS/SC 06

iTrader: (6)

Approved.

Nighthawk243

Another note: You can do the same method of cutting out letters, except to a piece of construction paper to make an inlay that you tape to the inside of the housing. Looks better than an overlay, IMO.

SilverSS_TNR

this is pretty badass little mod here, i will def do this when i get the required patience

RA040424

iTrader: (1)

Hey make me one, my last name is Hamm haha

SilverSS_TNR

i def would like to do this, where do i pick up the vinyl tho?

C_A_D88

Just order it off eBay lol much easier

Hammbones

iTrader: (1)

I got it from a local Sign Shop. The type of sign shop that makes signs for business that they put on top of plexiglass signs. I got the vinyl for free because I paid 60 for my fender stripes and he had the vinyl I used in extra.

freakta

iTrader: (1)

nice looks good

scottydoh

Looks good! And thanks for inspiring a genius idea, I can doing mine on the laser cutter at school, that removes all of that tedious cutting with the razor.

Hammbones

iTrader: (1)

No problem. This was more of an extreme low budget modification using recycled vinyl from other mods. Its kinda like making custom rear bumper grill inserts using excess from a custom front bumper grill insert.

Also, once you get yours done, if you could post a picture of your results =)

SilverSS_TNR

i dont have a steady hand or patience, wanna do mine for me, for a price of course

Hammbones

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't mind doing it if the piece was worth it (time spent + shipping / delivery). Just shoot me a PM or call me @ 8176009261. I'm local to Fort Campbell, Kentucky / Nashville, Tennessee.

scottydoh

Definitely, I just have to wait for a slow spot during the semester considering this isn't exactly "school related" and people get pretty upset when you waste precious laser cutter time....and I have to decide exactly what I want it to say

nabrian84

iTrader: (1)

i am doing a similar mod but what i did was make an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of vinyl.... flip the image in photoshop and print on the back of the vinyl on the white side so that when i put the vinyl on my image comes out the correct way.... i am planning on putting together a little how to on my taillight mods.... gonna be pretty cool i think