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Since no one has stepped up and made repops yet we must save our old taillights. When they were built the parts were assembled and the covered in a black goop that is nastier than Mississippi mud on a stormy night. I really have no idea where that came from but it sounded cool so I kept it. You must take off the chrome rings, the foam gaskets then very carefully separate the plastic lenses from the housings. |
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Here you can see the terrible pits that form on the rings due to the design holding moisture around the lights. These have little posts that have been squashed over to hold them on. Care must be taken to not break these posts, as they will be used for the re-assembly. |
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This is a good close-up of the black goop that was smeared all over the taillights and the rings. I used paint thinner to get it off the rings and a single edged razor to get it off the lenses. Be very careful not to cut into the plastic. |
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After cleaning up all the goop and a trip through the glass beader the housings received a shot of "Mexican Chrome" inside where the bulbs will reside to brighten them up. Just make sure not to paint the housing this color as it not only would be incorrect but damn, it would be ugly too |
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The rest of the housing got a shot of Eastwood's Alumni-Blast silver to duplicate the original color. |
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This pretty much what the lenses looked like after the goop was removed and the lenses wiped down with a little thinner to remove the last races of sealer. |
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I had some of the Foam Pad Glaze left from the Road Runner paint job and I have found it useful for hand polishing many parts on the Charger. If you use a little on the corner of a shop rag and put a little elbow grease to it the lens will start taking on a shine. This will remove the deeper cuts and start to even out the surface of the lens. |
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You can start to see how this is smoothing out the surface and getting it ready for the final polish. |
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Nice and clear and almost ready for final polishing and paint. |
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