Expect them to be for sale mid-June/early-July through our website that is being constructed specifically for these AND a large vendor most of you are already familiar with.
Hey Slammed! Eagerly anticipating an update with this project! Summer is coming, and I can't wait for these new lenses... Are you guys on time with your original production estimate?
------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
Hey Slammed! Eagerly anticipating an update with this project! Summer is coming, and I can't wait for these new lenses... Are you guys on time with your original production estimate?
I just saw this thread but am also very interested in an update. My GT lenses are currently cracked and delaminating, so I would be interested in a quality product in this price range. I cant wait for pics.
I am one of those grumpy bastards that didn't think this will ever happen (I have built tail light and lens molds before and know what is involved). I would LOVE to eat crow and say I was wrong, believe me. However, to those of you sitting around hoping for this, it is best not to get your hopes up. It is a lot more complex than it seems to make these. Hopefully this potential vendor comes through
Tooling for the lettering/tint is finished and we had a few unsuccessful attempts last week for a complete lense
But, they are very VERY close. We hope to have the process perfected this week and start building an inventory. As we get closer to our release date, we will be putting out pictures and video.
Should come out for sale right after the 68-69 GTO style nose hits the market .....................
That was a "fun" project that was never promised to be delivered. There was a possibility and desire but we knew there were no guarantees and that is why we refused to take any deposits. Sorry to disappoint you with our lives getting in the way of our hobby.
That thing is so ugly and looks so horrendous I'm glad it never did.
Actually it looked very good. I'm still proud of how far we got with it. Everyone who saw it in person said it looked even better than the pics. Not everything is for everyone. I guess it wasn't meant for you.
Tooling for the lettering/tint is finished and we had a few unsuccessful attempts last week for a complete lense
But, they are very VERY close. We hope to have the process perfected this week and start building an inventory. As we get closer to our release date, we will be putting out pictures and video.
AWESOME!!! It's great to hear progress is being made! I can't wait!!! Thank you for the update Slammed!
------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
I don't own a GT, but having a source for good quality repro GT tail lights would be fantastic. I'd like to get a GT one day and I'd want to keep the OEM style tail lights. I've not seen any aftermarket setups that I thought looked anywhere near as good as stock. They may not be show quality, but I don't own show cars, so I'm good with that. They need to be able to pass an inspection, but I've never seen an inspector in NC check for DOT markings, so that's a non-issue to me.
Good luck! I look forward to seeing how the product turns out!
I'M in for a set. Would be awesome if you make the deadline. But if you don't that's ok too. Just glad that they will be coming soon. In middle of swapping formula to GT now and need lights
Originally posted by Slammed: We will have pics and details about pricing, ordering and wait times by July 8th. That is the date we have right now. Things are looking very good.
every tail lamp thread on this forum get the negative? DOT approval?
really? does it need to be? NO! who cares its better than the cracked, delaminated units we all have, YES?
dot approval, state safety passing is gone the moment you get a crack in your DOT approved lens.
its gone the moment you clear coat it.
its guys like the ones I see whining, condemning, being negative why so many venders wont bother making us nice parts.
its why my 4 and 6 axis vmc's, cnc lathe, cnc plasma aren't offered up to the forum to assist in making items we all can use. I tried offering that up a year ago.
so for those who think your cracked, faded, re clear coated len's are better than a crisp clean new one that may or may not last 30 years, keep it.
id buy a set if they lasted 5-10 years, and have 3 more sets ready for when they fail.
go buy a brand new DOT approved set, for what cost? shopping cart in parking lot, someone at a car show leans on it, your neighbor mowing tossed a rock, who knows. one crack that changes the way the light transmits, allows moisture in the DOT approval is gone.
why aren't the whining crowds the ones who step up to help the community?
dot approval clear lens cant alter, change, detract the distance, angle and brightness of the light transmitted, aimed through the colored lens, or allow moisture in that will. we fail clear coated head lamp lens that yellow out, or have re cleared incorrectly.
strange that most of the DOT worried guys have either modified the DOT lens on the car by clear coating it, or are driving with slightly cracked lens now. take that lens in to see if it passes the DOT approval it was approved for.
members, manufactures try to help us. who will stick around? every post where one tries is full of such negative comments. too high a price don't fit like OEM., so great, go with out any parts because, there aren't any OEM ones left to fit like. something that works, holds up, fits is better than none.
I commend anyone willing to invest time, money, research in an attempt to try. while others use time to condemn most so I commend those who stick around through the negative and pull it off.
who wants to bet one of the first in line to buy these will be one of those who cried for most of the last 4 pages?
[This message has been edited by raptor_vrscx (edited 06-30-2015).]
every tail lamp thread on this forum get the negative? DOT approval?
really? does it need to be? NO! who cares its better than the cracked, delaminated units we all have, YES? ... who wants to bet one of the first in line to buy these will be one of those who cried for most of the last 4 pages?
What?! Most people are now just patiently waiting.
Since you came out "guns blazing", I'll ask... Have you been here for all the other failed attempts to make stuff for our cars? (Not that they didn't try, at considerable expense, I might add. I can't fault people for their enthusiasm.) Have you been here for the outright fraud that has been perpetrated upon some of the people here, over the years? Since you've only been registered for less than a year, I'm guessing that there's a good chance you haven't. Or maybe you have.
Hell... we can't even keep a reliable vendor for 3800 swap harnesses. Within the past 6 months, two of those vendors have disappeared with other peoples' parts and money. (And still have the balls to post elsewhere on the forum.) And that's just "by the numbers" stuff. Not any real investment involved. Or maybe a couple hundred dollars for tools, pins, and other material. Other than that, the only investment is time.
So excuse people if they're just a little bit cynical. (Which I really haven't seen a lot of, lately, in this thread.)
I really hope this project is a success. A roaring success. Heck... I haven't had anything much to say, and even I might buy a pair of these things, when they're done. Even though my lenses are a 8.5 of 10.
Let's wait and see...
[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 06-30-2015).]
Originally posted by Raydar: What?! Most people are now just patiently waiting.
Since you came out "guns blazing", I'll ask... Have you been here for all the other failed attempts to make stuff for our cars? (Not that they didn't try, at considerable expense, I might add. I can't fault people for their enthusiasm.) Have you been here for the outright fraud that has been perpetrated upon some of the people here, over the years? Since you've only been registered for less than a year, I'm guessing that there's a good chance you haven't. Or maybe you have.
Hell... we can't even keep a reliable vendor for 3800 swap harnesses. Within the past 6 months, two of those vendors have disappeared with other peoples' parts and money. (And still have the balls to post elsewhere on the forum.) And that's just "by the numbers" stuff. Not any real investment involved. Or maybe a couple hundred dollars for tools, pins, and other material. Other than that, the only investment is time.
So excuse people if they're just a little bit cynical. (Which I really haven't seen a lot of, lately, in this thread.)
I really hope this project is a success. A roaring success. Heck... I haven't had anything much to say, and even I might buy a pair of these things, when they're done. Even though my lenses are a 8.5 of 10.
Let's wait and see...
I don't know what all tools some of those harness vendors have invested in, but I can tell you that if they are buying the 100% legal/proper tools to work with all these connectors, "a couple hundred dollars" will nowhere near cover it. I was looking at some tools for working on the harness for my swap, and just the tool to remove pins from the ECM connector (the one that connects directly to the ECM) is like $60, and it's literally just a tiny push pin like tool. The crimp tool for the pins for the same connector, was about $600.
Originally posted by dobey: ...I was looking at some tools for working on the harness for my swap, and just the tool to remove pins from the ECM connector (the one that connects directly to the ECM) is like $60, and it's literally just a tiny push pin like tool. The crimp tool for the pins for the same connector, was about $600.
I own the "pin pusher". Don't think I paid quite that much for it. I also own a crimper. (Yeah. A suitable one for the job, although you have to know what you're doing.) Don't remember how much it was, but it wasn't even close to $600.
The point that I was trying to make was, that (even using your examples) with the prices that were being charged, the entire investment would have been recouped with the sale of one - or maybe two - harnesses. The only other "outlay" they have is their time. And they still can't produce, reliably.
[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 06-30-2015).]
Originally posted by Raydar: I own the "pin pusher". Don't think I paid quite that much for it. I also own a crimper. (Yeah. A suitable one for the job, although you have to know what you're doing.) Don't remember how much it was, but it wasn't even close to $600.
The point that I was trying to make was, that (even using your examples) with the prices that were being charged, the entire investment would have been recouped with the sale of one - or maybe two - harnesses. The only other "outlay" they have is their time. And they still can't produce, reliably.
I have several pin removal tools as well, all of which I think I paid less than $30 or $40 for, but none of them work with the ECM connector on the e38 ECM. The pins on it are different, and they "require" special crimp and release tools which you can only purchase from the same manufacturer who produces the pins (yay patents), and are sold at extortionist prices. The removal tool I could probably turn on my hobby lathe out of delrin or steel or something, very easily.
I wasn't defending those who failed to make good on their commitments by any means. Just pointing out that if they started out "doing it right" and bought the correct "official" tools, or were expanding to do harnesses for other things as well, the costs can be pretty outrageously beyond "a few hundred dollars," as I've been looking into these things to build my own harnesses.
I really hope that this comes together, But to be honest I have seen so many other GREAT PLANS fall through. Or it will be like so many other threads where all of a sudden there are no more posts and we never know what the end result was as the OP just stops posting or answering posts.
mouser, digikey are but two you can buy such crimpers, connectors from. if you don't know the style series by site, then find a gm number and cross it.
my 3800 wiring harness given i have the crimpers did reuse many of the housings, and any seal that were in good shape certainly didn't cost me $400 for a swap harness. its also handy in case i end up needing to re-crimp someone else"s bad crimp,, its why i needed them in the first place. wasn't and still isn't uncommon to trace a foolish driveability issue to a bad/loose crimp. are cases where there was a glitch in the car, 2-3 strands of wire in the crimp, the rest was insulation. can make for an interesting day. that was in a buick that had 6K miles on it. the dealership gave up sent it to our shop.
not everyone builds their swap the same, so why buy someone else's idea of what he thinks is the best routing for your harness? then rush him asking how much longer, and hope like hell every connection is good?
a cheap set of crimpers that aren't multi action can be had for under $50. they aren't as fool proof but work, just make sure you load the terminal in the correct direction, as they are tapered, the side with the insulation must always be loaded on the correct side. its not ideal, but any terminal not subjected to lots of vibration, flexing can be lightly hit with tinning flux, or silver solder. again mostly if you don't trust your own crimp. by far its cheaper than buying a harness. most of all its done your way,
maybe pcm is different? unlock the color terminal lock, reach in unlock each terminal as you need? once the colored cover was off, its then done the way fords been doing it for years. the colored cover is what keeps each of the individual terminals locks from unlocking. don't recall needing any special tool.
