Tail Light Change and Cutting New Gaskets.

[Big_John]

When I bought my 300L last summer, I thought the New Yorker tail lights would grow on me... and they just didn't. I do like them, but not on my car.

I scored some nice red lenses and polished them up... Sorry no pics of that... But 1200 grit paper followed by Meguirs 105 rubbing compound, then finished with Meguirs Plast-X got them looking better than new.

I wanted to use my existing housings and they needed a little love. This is the backup light housing. The gaskets are dried out too.

The taillight housing were in better shape, but there was a small crack in both. The gasket around the edge of the housing to the body had been glued on and was a mess.

Sand blasted and epoxied the cracks.

I did a little research and while a lot of folks think the housings were cad plated, but they were dipped in chromic acid that gave them the gold color. I decided because the housings aren't seen, some Duplicolor Cast Aluminum paint was good. The reflective part had been painted of the tail light housings once before and I decided I could do better.

So... I did some research and decided on Duplicolor Chrome paint. Turns out that a coat of black under the chrome gives the best results. These turned out better than I expected and the pics don't do it justice.

 

[Big_John]

And on to the gaskets....

I looked a bit for replacements, but didn't find anything and knowing that if I did, they would be 60 year old rubber and probably not worth buying. The gaskets looked simple enough, but the curve and taper on the lights made it a bit more challenging.

What I did was cover the lenses with masking tape. I buy cheap blue tape from Temu for stuff like this. It has the advantage of not being as sticky as good 3M tape. Usually, that's not what you want, but here it was perfect.

I trim around the outside and then peel it off and stick it to some light cardboard.

Then I did some measuring and cut the inside to match the existing gasket.

Cardboard pattern finished and flipped over.

I was going to use this as a pattern and cut with an X-Acto knife, but then it hit me that I had bought Mrs. Big John a Cricut machine a few months ago.....

A simple picture uploaded to the software along with a couple measurements to get the correct scale and we were in business.

She cut a paper pattern first to check fit.

A slight adjustment and then cut the foam.

Same process for the larger tail light gasket. To get a better scan, the pattern (a manila folder) was painted black.

And finished product.

I used some spray glue to hold it to the housing.

I did the same procedure for the housing to body gasket. She had never cut anything quite that big, so learning as we went, the first gaskets weren't quite as nice, but just needed a little trimming.

I also needed to make some foam gaskets to replace the originals. I used some left over packing foam. The large gasket was cut by hand (too thick for the Cricut) and the smaller gaskets around the studs were cut with a piece of 3/4 copper pipe and a 7/32" piece of brass tube. I made a simple piece on my 3D printer to go inside the copper and center the smaller tube. I also had to double that up to get the correct thickness. They didn't turn out quite as clean as I would like, but they will function well.

Old foam

New foam with new gasket glued in place.

 

[Big_John]

Back to the lenses. The backup lenses that match the New Yorker lenses have "chrome" stripes and the lenses for the red lenses don't have them. Otherwise they are identical. The chrome stripes weren't in great shape on one lens and pretty bad on the other. I decided to remove them as I couldn't find the right ones without buying complete assemblies at crazy prices.

The chrome that was left practically fell off one lens. The other took some scrapping with an X-Acto knife and then polishing with compound.

This one was half done.

Finished product!!

I still have to install them in the car... Since it's still kind of cold (high 20's now), I'm going to wait until the temperature rises a little. The old bones don't like working in the cold anymore.

 

[3175375]

Good work!
I always thought that the clear lensed taillight/turn signal lenses were unique and I would probably have kept them, due to their uniqueness. However, it’s your car and the result is great!

 

[Big_John]

Good work!
I always thought that the clear lensed taillight/turn signal lenses were unique and I would probably have kept them, due to their uniqueness. However, it’s your car and the result is great!

I waffled back and forth on it... I decided when I put the car up for winter that if I found some nice red lenses for the right price, I'd make the change. As it turned out, I found some a week later that fit my criteria of price and condition.

I still waffled back and forth, but decided to go for it.

 

[CBODY67]

I was thinking the red lenses were used to replace the clear lenses due to various issues? Looks great and thanks for the details on how you did things!

CBODY67

 

[Big_John]

I was thinking the red lenses were used to replace the clear lenses due to various issues? Looks great and thanks for the details on how you did things!

CBODY67

The clear lenses were New Yorker only, but others added them for a custom "touch".

There was a running change though... Early cars, like mine, only have one light bulb in the tail light. Later cars had two bulbs.

Versus mine with one.

And then the backup light was optional on some models too!

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

I love this sort of craftwork stuff!

 

[live4theking]

Looks great.

 

[1970FuryConv]

Excellent work. Saved to Favorites. Thanks!

 

[commando1]

Amazing attention to accuracy. My severe ADHD would have me give up part way through.

 

[NC300]

Really impressive work!

 

[fury fan]

I agree, @Big_John, I like the clear lenses but wouldn't really want them on my car either.

What you did reminds me very much of what I did to my 300L. I polished the lenses, but I powdercoated the housings silver, added LEDs, and made gaskets from self-adhesive foam that I spliced together. I didn't need the high shine on my housings due to using LEDs.

There's a Cricut at my house too, but I never even thought of doing gaskets on it.