I have seen the suggested way to repair and it looks great but for the original look type people. I have an idea. I used a very small drill bit to drill into the black plastic and managed to get a little water in between the two pieces. This "reconnects" the 2 together and looked good. I know the water will just create fog.
Since mine is in such great shape I don't want to experiment any further with it. Anybody want to donate a set or one so that I can try a glue or other material to see how it will turn out. It can be cracked ( preferably no holes or chunks missing) or pretty scratched up. Actually wanting to try a lighting mod to them as well. I will pay shipping.
I'd be willing to bet the lens could be put into a vacuum press bag to draw out the trapped air in the delaminated areas after injecting the adhesive, and it would put a lot of clamping force down to help the adhesive stick. Maybe an extra poke hole or two in the area to help the air escape. A strip of felt laid over the repair area would absorb any excess adhesive and aid in the clamping force. I think this could have a good shot at working, the glue will be the key though. It would be a great solution to a very common problem. What type of adhesive do you think would be good to inject? CA glue? What material are the lenses made from? I have a bag and pump setup if anybody has a extra lens they want to send me to try. Maybe one with multiple areas to try different glues.
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 10-06-2013).]
The easiest fix is to mask off the clear areas and spry paint black, remove the tape and clear coat. Tony Kania offered that service at one time. I have a set I plan on sending to him. When done right they do look really good.
Another Idea is to Vinyl Wrap the lenses and leave the illuminated areas out. This would however get rid of the PONTIAC lettering across the back unless you could have the vinyl stenciled out prior to laying it. With this method you could also creat patterns over the brake and turn area such as horizontal stripes going over it. Just a thought.
Mask off the clear area of the tail lenses where the brake/reverse lights actually show through. You can try to precision mask the PONTIAC too, if you want. Paint the rest with VHT Night Shades.
I'd be willing to bet the lens could be put into a vacuum press bag to draw out the trapped air in the delaminated areas after injecting the adhesive, and it would put a lot of clamping force down to help the adhesive stick.
That would probably pull air bubbles out of the glue and such, but it would not apply any "clamping force". The vacuum will pull air out, but not press things together. Think of a quarter sitting on top of another quarter in a vacuum chamber. The air will get sucked out, but it will not force the quarters together in any way.
quote
Originally posted by dobey:
Mask off the clear area of the tail lenses where the brake/reverse lights actually show through. You can try to precision mask the PONTIAC too, if you want. Paint the rest with VHT Night Shades.
No real need to mask anything yourself. FieroSails.com (3.4 of the way down that page) has made it super easy with a pre-made stencil to cover the lettering:
Originally posted by JohnWPB: No real need to mask anything yourself. FieroSails.com (3.4 of the way down that page) has made it super easy with a pre-made stencil to cover the lettering:
Using the Night Shades paint, you can get away with not masking the letters at all. They'll just be tinted, but will still light up. But a few good coats will definitely get rid of ugly sight of the paint separating from the plastic on the inside. And it'll look much better than regular black paint, be it gloss, flat, semi-gloss, or whatever; plus you don't have to mask the lettering to do it, just the already clear part (or don't and just tint the whole thing).
That would probably pull air bubbles out of the glue and such, but it would not apply any "clamping force". The vacuum will pull air out, but not press things together. Think of a quarter sitting on top of another quarter in a vacuum chamber. The air will get sucked out, but it will not force the quarters together in any way.
That is not quite the same thing, pulling a vacuum between to items that are able to move would pull them together if there is a seal so that the pressure on the other side of the object remains greater (atmospheric). So the edge of the black plastic to the lens would need to be sealed.
The easiest fix is to mask off the clear areas and spry paint black, remove the tape and clear coat. Tony Kania offered that service at one time. I have a set I plan on sending to him. When done right they do look really good.
For the record Eric Hinnekamp (aka Racingman24) used to paint them on the outside and lacquer them as we'll. He did one heck of a job. Mine still look great years later. Alas, I haven't seen him here on the Forum in years. Kit
Placing an item in a bag and removing all the air puts atmospheric pressure on every square inch of what ever is in the bag, that is approximately 2160 pounds per square foot. I use vacuum pressing all the time when veneering table tops or doing bent wood laminations. It's also used in the production of carbon fiber parts as well.
Placing an item in a bag and removing all the air puts atmospheric pressure on every square inch of what ever is in the bag, that is approximately 2160 pounds per square foot. I use vacuum pressing all the time when veneering table tops or doing bent wood laminations. It's also used in the production of carbon fiber parts as well.
I think the biggest thing to over come is the glue discoloring in the sun.
For the record Eric Hinnekamp (aka Racingman24) used to paint them on the outside and lacquer them as we'll. He did one heck of a job. Mine still look great years later. Alas, I haven't seen him here on the Forum in years. Kit
Actually, Racingman24 has initiated dozens of threads betwween 2007 and 2013, but apparently none outside of the "Totally O/T" section of this forum in over 6-1/2 years. Maybe one could try sending him a P.M., because otherwise --- given his focus on initiating threads within "Totally O/T" --- he presumably won't see this thread in "General Fiero Chat".
I'd think that if nothing else, he'd appreciate learning of your compliments re his work on Fiero taillights.
Since I'm a big fan of Plasti-Dip and several people have done it, I'd figured i would give it a try. I sprayed two light coats of black PD, a lot of other people will spray about 3 to 4 coats of gloss PD to give it the nice shine and peel ability. I want mine to stay at the matte finish so I sprayed 3 to 4 coats of smoke PD over the black. The light is still visible when the brakes are applied and when the lights are turned on. Here are a couple of pics of the outcome.
I could of used Night Shade but I didn't want anything permeant.
I'd be willing to bet the lens could be put into a vacuum press bag to draw out the trapped air in the delaminated areas after injecting the adhesive, and it would put a lot of clamping force down to help the adhesive stick. Maybe an extra poke hole or two in the area to help the air escape. A strip of felt laid over the repair area would absorb any excess adhesive and aid in the clamping force. I think this could have a good shot at working, the glue will be the key though. It would be a great solution to a very common problem. What type of adhesive do you think would be good to inject? CA glue? What material are the lenses made from? I have a bag and pump setup if anybody has a extra lens they want to send me to try. Maybe one with multiple areas to try different glues.
I googled UV glue and I get stuff related to head light repair. I am just not sure with the lack of air the glue would dry but I am will to try. I have a air conditioner vacuum pump but no bag. I would try sucking the glue from one end of the delam to the other with what I have. Anybody want to send a set to me and seajai?
[This message has been edited by LornesGT (edited 10-08-2013).]
I googled UV glue and I get stuff related to head light repair. I am just not sure with the lack of air the glue would dry but I am will to try. I have a air conditioner vacuum pump but no bag. I would try sucking the glue from one end of the delam to the other with what I have. Anybody want to send a set to me and seajai?
I bought my vacuum bag here. They're not cheap, I spent the the money on a poly bag because vinyl can't take too much stretch.
Does the vacuum pump have to run continuously? How many cfm pump is needed?
I have a GAST brand single diaphragm pump rated at 1.1 cfm. It works fine with the size bag I have and will evacuate all the air within a minute. I just let mine run, that way I'm sure to get every bit of air out of the bag. And it also makes up for any air leaks I may have in my bag closure.