87 reverse lights restore

[john87442]

I was just talking with Mr. Kieths who purchased the GM rights and I believe he said the molds to reproduce the rear lenses to factory specifications. And he informed me that the candy clear lenses out there still look bad when lit up. They also have other items, not promoting anything but I found this helpful

 

[69hurstolds]

I was just talking with Mr. Kieths who purchased the GM rights and I believe he said the molds to reproduce the rear lenses to factory specifications. And he informed me that the candy clear lenses out there still look bad when lit up. They also have other items, not promoting anything but I found this helpful

Meh. Anything coming from him take it with a grain of salt. He's kind of a cheese eater in my book. If he bought a license (GM hardly EVER sells their rights to anyone) then they would have a GM hologram sticker on them somewhere.

I'm not worried about buying any tails from anyone anytime soon, anyway. I'd be curious to hold some of those repro parts in hand, though.

 

[john87442]

Good to know, my tail lights have a bunch of very small cracks so I’m hoping to find a good set.

 

[oldsofb]

Try these guys on ebay. They both usually have a good supply of GBody used parts.

BCGBody
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_tr...ksid=p3542580.m47492.l71970&_ssn=candynchrome

chevy5_7
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_tr...&_trksid=p3542580.m47492.l71970&_ssn=chevy5_7

If you message Chevy5_7 through ebay and tell him what you're looking for, he'll usually keep an eye out for you.

Hutch

 

[88hurstolds]

Meh. Anything coming from him take it with a grain of salt. He's kind of a cheese eater in my book. If he bought a license (GM hardly EVER sells their rights to anyone) then they would have a GM hologram sticker on them somewhere.

I'm not worried about buying any tails from anyone anytime soon, anyway. I'd be curious to hold some of those repro parts in hand, though.

Heard they are wavy, not worth the $500... emblems also look cheap, probably same ones from GBP where they claimed to be NOS defects but were confirmed not to be... lost $117 from that crappy vendor.

 

[CopperNick]

Was going to suggest scoring the small bottles of Testor's Model paint and a very fine artists brush but getting the exact match to the OEM colors is, as has been noted, going to be a Bear.


Nick

 

[69hurstolds]

A funny thing happened on the way to the decal plotter...

I used a steel rule to measure the lamps. I figured, if I get one end of it, the other end will be the same. Perfect rectangle. Got the dimensions plugged in and cut a practice decal. Fit great on that end. But then was a tad too tall on the other end. WTF? Checked the cut and it was perfectly done. Checked the measurements on both ends and there's a super slight TAPER along the length of the reverse lamp edges. Not noticeable since it's only 1/8" along the nearly 19-11/16" of edging.

The inside end of the driver side (the one I used as a model) is 2-1/16" tall, and the outside end is 1-15/16" . The inside edging in front of the license plate lamp area is 5/32" wide, with the rest of the edge being 3/16". Now the difference could be from the mold, or something else. Either way, it would take a bit of massaging to the mylar dimensions to get it right, but would it be just for this particular piece?

Can it be done? Maybe. Are all the measurement "flaws" the same, or will it make a difference as to which mold was used? They used several different molds to make these parts. It wasn't one at a time, I can assure you. Was it on the factory pieces too, or did it just affect the replacement GM parts? I don't know. I'll have to measure the ones on the car to check.

Depending on the outcome, I'm not sure it'll work, since the mylar is not very flexible.

 

[john87442]

Would be willing to pay for a set when you get something you like.

 

[john87442]

Also after months of trying to get a good set of tail lights I did buy a set from him and yes center pieces are a little bit cheap looking, I have a set of OEM center plates so I’ll have to look into changing them. But I think the lenses look decent. Not OEM but a lot better than what I had.

 

[john87442]

Was going to suggest scoring the small bottles of Testor's Model paint and a very fine artists brush but getting the exact match to the OEM colors is, as has been noted, going to be a Bear.


Nick

Nick I thought the same thing, but I can hardly draw a stick man so not too confident in my artistic ability.