BUILD THREAD 87 Cutlass EFI build: 9/13/23..NEW STUFF!

[liquidh8]

I do the lenses as well. I did my parking lights on the wagon, the headlights on my HHR, and the headlights on my daughter's Monte Carlo SS. I used to paint buffing compound from 3M, on foam pads to polish after I'm done sanding

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[Injectedcutty]

I do the lenses as well. I did my parking lights on the wagon, the headlights on my HHR, and the headlights on my daughter's Monte Carlo SS. I used to paint buffing compound from 3M, on foam pads to polish after I'm done sanding

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Sweet! I will add that knowledge along with what Donovan and Clutch suggested to this noodle of mine. I stopped at 2k grit, but what's another 2 rounds when I'm this far in!
Thanks for the tip Jim!

 

[liquidh8]

Not a problem, I go that fine and it leaves a dull shine on the lens. And polishing takes little to no effort.

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[Clutch]

Clutch, I use 3M trizact sanding discs on my mini buff before final polish. I have 3000 grit and 5000 Grit.

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That stuff works good

 

[Injectedcutty]

That stuff works good

Yeah it does! I've used i honestly don't know know many of the 3m discs through the process of my resto. They aren't cheap per se, but quality matters over some knock off brand that falls apart as soon as you start....i had to learn the hard way years ago!

I will have to get some 3k and 5k and give it a shot. Finally back home for the night, unusual for me but killed a bottle of Jameson with my brother n law and ready to start on the other taillight woohoo !!!!

 

[Injectedcutty]

Alrighty....the humidity was low enough for me to paint my taillight surrounds for the 2nd time(got a couple bugs stuck the other day, wet sanded the bugs away). Again, i used SEM trim black as it sprays and flashes very nicely!

I was able to get 3 good coats and no bugs woohoo! However, i did get a little run on the pass side piece. I will check it out after curing, and if need be i will wet sand it out and hit it again.

All in all, they look really good and should make the taillights pop once i finish them up!

 

[Injectedcutty]

Well i got my taillights wet sanded up to 5000 grit! I'm pretty much out of daylight though so polishing will have to wait until tomorrow....might give it a go later by porch light lol!

I know there are some cracks, but as previously stated...they are within the layer of plastic....the top of the lenses are as slick as glass!

 

[Injectedcutty]

It seems all I've done the past several days is sand lights geez! I've got both reverse lights knocked down to 400....

Tonight i got out the rear marker lights and went to town. I knocked the lettering off with 220, then 320 and 400 again.

Then the normal process of wet sanding from 600 up. However, mother nature started to unzip the clouds so i wet sanded with 800 and 1000 as it started raining!

I'm liking the progress, just the tedious time spent for subtle mods is very boring!

Oh yeah, and for sh*^$ and giggles I put a taillight surround on just to get an idea. I really like how they are turning out.

Whatcha guys think???

 

[Opie Knievel]

Looking good man. Anything worth doing is worth doing right and to get good results sometimes it takes a lot of time and effort. You're making progress just keep at it. If you figure your time and materials is gonna be cheaper than the ridiculous cost of Cutlass tail lights then you'll come out ahead. I can't believe how expensive those lights are. You'd think they were for some super rare car or something.

 

[Injectedcutty]

I had some time this evening to finish wet sanding the rear marker lights. Thanks to Jim suggesting going to 5000 grit, i now have popeye arms lol!!!!!

Seriously, these lights are small so it didnt take long. After 5k wet, i hand polished with enough force to cut the polish pretty good. They are officially done, and i can move on to the other lights. The humidity is supposed to be low this weekend, so I'm going to try and have more stuff ready to paint!

I think the results speak for themselves. These suckers are as slick as glass!!!