tail lights and rust

[docscb7]

my next priorty for my car is new gaskets for my tail lights and fixing my rust spots.

1. what can i use to make new gaskets? i have a tube of gasket maker for small areas but the gaskets on the tail lights are huge.

2. im opting not to cut my q.p. above the rear wheels as my rust is not that bad. if i bondo it will it stop the rust or just mask the area so that i cant see it getting worse?

3. I attemped to heat up my tail lights today so that i could black house them and reseal them. my heat gun on low started to melt the plastic. is there a trick to this or better option?

[Jarrett]

1. Search is your friend, friend.
http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=187312

2. There is no reason on planet Earth to use Bondo to fill your rust holes in the quarter panels. The rust may not be bad now but it will gradually get worse. The only real way to fix it is to grind away or cut away the metal and weld patch panels into place. If you get your patch panels from a junkyard this can be done for relatively inexpensive. Bondo is just a cheap, trashy way of "fixing" spots like that. It will come back. Do it right the first time and use rust preventatives on the new metal and the entire area and you'll be golden for as long as you're alive.

3. Stop where you are and put your tail lights back on the car. You're asking for the right way to do something wrong. You want to blackhouse your tail lights so that when I'm behind you I can't see you brake? Seems like a dumb idea to me. I know you wouldn't be the only one with it so to make things fair I think everyone else who does it dumb too.

[docscb7]

Thanks for the pointers and the help on the thread. I think im gonna take the bondo back to the store and pick up a saw zaw and head tp the j.y.

as far as the tail lights goes...Im cleaning up the lights and using L.E.D.'s to replace the stock bulbs. safety and visibility will not but and issue.

I love this forum, the amount of knowledge and helpful tips and hints is amazing. The one thing i can't stand is when someone gives you there opinion in a non constuctive way because they;

a. dont have all the facts.
b. do not agree.
c. simply do not understand.

I'm replacing my gaskets and black housing my lights doing an led swap so that i can fix my leaking problem and my lack of visiblity from my warm stock tail lights and bulbs!

[cuate01221]

Do you have any pics of the rust? If it is bad, that may be why your trunk is leaking. I know my trunk was leaking because there was a hole in the inner quarter panel.



In that pic you can see where I am grinding, there is a bit of the lip missing which was causing water to get into my quarter.

With pics of your car I could tell you better of how to fix it. It's not easy though, I went through hell doing mine.

Here is a better pic of where it was leaking

[dbug454]

wow u did a lot of work dude, but is going to look good im going to be doing some of this my self b4 i paint my car, some one hit my honda by the back light and i got rust lol.

but i want it done right to

[cuate01221]

wow u did a lot of work dude, but is going to look good im going to be doing some of this my self b4 i paint my car, some one hit my honda by the back light and i got rust lol.

but i want it done right to

I already finished it haha Here's a pic of it now





and if it's just surface rust due to having the paint scraped off, Just grind it down, put on body filler to cover the grind marks, sand with 320 grit, prime, wet sand with 800(Don't break through the primer, paint and body filler do not go well together!), paint and finally clear!

[docscb7]

ill take some picture and post them tomorrow. I was looking at it today and i have rust spots forming all along the lip of the rear wheel wells.

[dysfunk]

Blackhousing tail lights won't harm visibility if he leaves the reflectors in. But with the reflectors in you can't tell that they're blackhoused.

[docscb7]

so visibility will be that same with or with out black housing if the reflectors are in what about no reflectors and led's?

[Jarrett]

Assuming by "blackhousing" he means exactly that and not tinting the lenses. But you're right.

[cuate01221]

ill take some picture and post them tomorrow. I was looking at it today and i have rust spots forming all along the lip of the rear wheel wells.

If it's bad, you would have to cut off all of the rust and weld/glue in new panels. And you should hope nobody has been there before and just filled it with body filler to get rid of the car. That would mean some nice big surprises for you!

[dysfunk]

so visibility will be that same with or with out black housing if the reflectors are in what about no reflectors and led's?

If you remove the reflectors the bulbs won't be as visible and you may encounter a little nudge from behind. I wouldn't do it.

I took apart an oem tail light and lined the inside with black tape, put the reflectors back, then the lens.. couldn't tell that they were "blackhoused" because of the coloration of the reflectors.

Also, you have to be careful with what LEDs you use because some really aren't visible during the day.

[docscb7]

thanks for the imput. Ill be researching the led before i purchase more of them i got the ones from the auto part store. I reall want to make my own and come up with a way to mount them on the inside so they look oem.

[docscb7]

Update, Today at work I lucked out and came across 4 free mouse pads that where still in the packaging. Im going to use them for new gaskets. Thank you Army Supply SGT! now i just need to replace the right side lights since i melted them. Although its not visible to the naked eye its going to bug me.