64 taillight lenses

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SASSY
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64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

I removed all 3 chrome trim rings from the broken lense.
I will post pics and a drawing later. I used a heat gun to soften the lense and pryed the ring off. There is no glue it is a mechanical grip. The outside of the ring is curved under
and in production I think is pressed onto the lense with heat involved.
Overheating the lense is a problem, too hot the lense distorts, not hot enough the lense chiped where I pryed. The backup clear portion of the lense is more sensitive to heat and distorts quicker.
If the lense you want to put the ring on is really good with a bent ring I would cut the ring off rather than chance ruining it with heat. Pics to come.
Fred
I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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SASSY
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

This broken lense was just what I needed discover how the trim rings were attached to the lense.
I used a heat gun to free the ring and then pry it off.
The crack was there but you can see how the heat distorted the edge of the crack.
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On this ring mount I used less heat but the lense chiped easily when prying the ting off.
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And the heat still distorted the lense a bit at the ridge on the rib.
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This pic shows the retaining groove the ring rests in.
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And here a drawing showing the ring cross section which convinces me it is pressed on in production, maybe with heat too.
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The clear backup lense was even more susceptible to distortion from the heat. The clear lense is molded into the tailight in production and I wanted to see if I could remove it but not without destruction.
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I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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lavron
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by lavron »

Cool thanks for the instructions, it looks like if you have a broken lens with good rings and a good taillight with bent rings you could get the good rings and cut the bad rings off and maybe end up with a good taillight. Have you tried reinstalling a ring yet?

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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SASSY
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

Well I sorta tried installing one. I pushed one back on and had a heck of a time to get it off again :lol:
Think I'll just use some good glue.
Redhotcomet is sending me a decent pair of standard lenses.
Guess they have bent rings but not broke so perfect.
Gonna order the flasher units this week too.
Fred
I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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Jims65cyclone
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by Jims65cyclone »

I wonder if you could heat the ring in an oven to a temp below that of the melting point of the plastic, but hot enough to expand it to slip over the lip on the lens. As it cools, it would shrink onto the lip. :idea:

Jim
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SASSY
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

Got the standard lenses from Redhotcomet yesterday.
That man knows how to ship!!
Waiting for the modules now, they're probably on a slow boat from China.
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I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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SASSY
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

Got the modules yesterday, they're tiny for some reason I thought they were bigger.
So gonna set up a lence and housing and do so bench testing.
Fred
I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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lavron
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by lavron »

SASSY wrote:
Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:39 am
Got the modules yesterday, they're tiny for some reason I thought they were bigger.
The biggest issue I ran into was getting the wire in the hole and finding small enough screws to mount them, I ended up just putting two screws in each module.

I have all the parts to build a second one just haven't gotten around to it yet, hopefully, will be a little better than the first because I have experience now :roll:

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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redhotcomet
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by redhotcomet »

Glad those lenses arrived safe Fred!

I also received my timer modules a week or so ago. Have yet to mess with them though.
1964 Caliente hardtop, 302/T5/8.8"

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SASSY
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

redhotcomet wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:33 pm
Glad those lenses arrived safe Fred!

I also received my timer modules a week or so ago. Have yet to mess with them though.
I think you should apply for Canadian distribution rights from Mike,,, could be your next million,,,
Fred
Ya havent touched mine either,, honey do list at the moment.
I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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lavron
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by lavron »

SASSY wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 6:35 pm
I think you should apply for Canadian distribution rights from Mike,,, could be your next million,,,
Fred
Ya havent touched mine either,, honey do list at the moment.
I think the Chinese should be giving me a commission on module sales :P

I have too much to do to put together my second one, guess it is not so important when I have a working set :roll: I have enough other things not working at the moment.

Good luck guys.

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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SASSY
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

Got side tracked and never moved forward on the sequencial tailights.
Lately been playing with the garbage lense seeing what hacks would work on it.
Here are a couple that may save partially destroyed from being tossed.
They can be cut apart and glued together with invisible results.

This would be very beneficial if you had a taillight broken at the outter lense. Here I cut the lense off at the rib, sanded and glued back together with super glue. Left it over night. Have handled ths lense tons since trying other hacks, still together.
I didnt spend anytime cleaning it up but would be invisible if I did. The glued joint is up along the rib by the broken out piece.
I broke the piece out sawing it apart,,, careful they're brittle!
Sorry forgot before pics on these two hacks.
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If a lense gets broke,, save the pieces!
Here I broke a piece out and glued it back in with super glue.
Very strong if you don't have another lense the rest of your cruising won't be put on hold till you find another lense.
I broke the bigger half of the lense out gluec it back in.
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I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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SASSY
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by SASSY »

Settled on the two lenses Im going to use for my sequential taillights pionered by Mike.
I bought a pair of all red lenses from Redhotcomet but once I got looking at them I decided to only use one of them. After some "testing" I figured out how to modify a backup lense to an all red lense and change out trim rings.
The first three pics are the reset of the two pieces, removeal of backup lense and replacement of bent trim ring.
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These two pics are before and after on the other lense.
A portion of the lense had a big crack which I didnt think I could get glue into effectively so I broke it off. This also loosened the trim ring enough to be removed. Under the trim ring some of the ring mounting area had broken away so I just used a bit of black RTV to resecure it.
I used super glue or same with different name on all the lense setting I did.,, theres a long name for this type of glue. The word starts with a C and continues on,,,,, for while.
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[url=https://postimg.cc/WD0Hdky5]Image

Now to play with the wiring. Mike used Sylvania L e ds and never tried old school bulbs. Those are$100 where I live so I'll be seeing if incandescent bulbs will work with the required electronic boards first!
I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about

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Joe Travers
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by Joe Travers »

Found these today, Fred but they aren't cheap. :?
Stick with it! :)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403398388574?c ... FcQAvD_BwE

Joe
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1963 1/2 Custom Hardtop
342 stroker, solid roller, T-10, 3.55 posi

A/FX
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Re: 64 taillight lenses

Post by A/FX »

Joe Travers wrote:
Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:52 pm
Found these today, Fred but they aren't cheap. :?
Stick with it! :)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403398388574?c ... FcQAvD_BwE

Joe
Wow! The price! Makes me almost upset that back in the early ‘70’s I bought a new pair of lenses from the dealer and decided I wanted install “blue dots” in them to be unique. So I drilled holes in each red lens and installed the dots. During the last rebuild I realized I was tired of the blue dots, but now I had holes in a perfect set of lenses. To solve the problem and still be unique I found some red dots, they blend right in an almost look like they came that way.
Jim

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‘64 Cyclone/ Boss 302,quads,4spd, Winters 9”

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