# Custom Tails



## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

Ok, after seeing the thread with the custom tails and bumper that were made by ScorchN200SX, the sun finally decided to pierce the sky and shine upon me, so i began doing my tails. this will be a step by step photo process, so expect to see many edits with new photos and the final end result.

Step one: masking off and glassing the stock tails:










I used 2 layers of fiberglass cloth, with high build fiberglass resin, waiting for it to dry as we speak, but since its dark now, thatll take a while, even with a heat lamp fixed on the wet area.

P.S. If you're new to using fiberglass, I highly suggest you mask a much larger area off than this including a portion of your rear bumper, because brushes do drip if you don't watch carefully while applying the resin, which very rapidly removes your clear coat and paint. For future reference I'm using Cargroom Fiberglass Cloth (the kind with a weave pattern that flexes and stretches to fit contoured areas). Regular mat will not work in this case, the tail lights have too many curves and you'll end up with wrinkles. I am also using Cargroom's High Build Fiberglass Resin for added ridgidness, and a large array of disposable nylon brushes. Triple the amount of hardener, if not quadruple the amount they recommend. 8 drops of the MEKP hardener will not set with the recommended amount of resin, even in optimal drying conditions, and 16 will take 24+ hours. quadrupling the dose in optimal conditions for drying will take an hour or two to ocmpletely set, longer if its colder or more humid than normal. Keep in mind the more MEKP you use to set the resin, the more brittle the fiberglass will be, so experiment for your weather patterns. The brushes will also be completely useless after each use, they will harden into fiberglassed nylon clumps.

After the resin hardens completely, slowly peel the mold from the masking tape and outline the stock light onto the glas using a gel ink pen or a pencil. trim along the lines and sand the edges smooth. Next we use Cargroom's Easy Sand Body Filler and Car Groom's Red Paste Hardener. Use the specified amounts on the container, in this case it works well. Mix the recommended proportions and quickly coat the entire piece with about a 3mm thick coat of bondo. It will set after about 5 minutes and you can begin lightly sanding it at this point, dont begin to heavily sand until about 15 minutes have passed. Once you have sanded the piece completely smooth it should look something like this:

Back:









Front:









Note that the mold has stretched away from the actual fit of the stock lens slightly, this is ok because provided you havent used an excessive amount of body filler on the top you can still flex the piece into the black bucket trim that surrounds the colored plastic on the stock lenses. If you want to avoid this completely, use more layers of fiberglass and thicker coats of resin, and less bondo. In future sets I make I will be doing this, but since this is my first attempt consider these beta tails, and a learning experience for everyone. Once you've completed the sanding and bondo-ing, check for imperfections or air bubbles in the bodo and fill them and resand. The best way to find air bubbles in your bondo work is to place the piece infront of a high powered lamp (or headlight in my case), the areas with bubbles will be MUCH brighter than solid areas, if you find bubbles beneath the surface, pierce them with a pin or a needle and try to work as much bondo into them as possible, remember if you live in a hot area, the air in any bubbles can expand and possibly crack the bondo, making for a decent amount of refinish work. The piece is now ready for primer and paint, however we wont primer or paint it until we drill the holes for the lenses.

Ok so I lied, I primered before i drilled the lens holes, but only because the varying colors of the bondo were distracting me from what the actual tail will look like with the lenses on! So anyways here we go:










Here you see what the front plate will look like with 2 of the now four lenses mounted (I know I strayed from the way i was gonna do the lens layout, but imo this looks better) Keep in mind I can use however many lenses you want, provided they fit onto the front plate. So if some of you order these fascias from me we can do 2 lenses, 3 lenses, 4 lenses, up to about 6 or 7 small lenses. Drilling through bondo is a real bitch, your best bet is to purchase a masonry bit and do so at low RPM's, you will still chip areas of the bondo, and possibly crack it, but once we mount the plate to the headlamp assembly it will be getting a final coat of bondo anyhow, so dont worry about it. You can purchase these lenses at any semi-truck store, they usually have several varieties in stock, but ask the guy at the counter to look at their lighting catalog anyhow, cause they have some sick ass parts they can order that will fit on these plates or into our lamp assemblies. Once youve decided how you want to lay the lenses out, trace a circle around them onto the bondo, and mark any mounting points where the lenses will screw in as well. Make sure when you are drilling through the front fascia you do so in a SMALLER diameter than the circle you traced, or the screws used to mount the lenses will have nothing underneath them to sink into. The best way to do this is to use a circular pattern of drill holes, so you can eventually punch or cut the center ring out. Im sure if you were good enough with a jig saw you could use a jig saw to cut the circle out, or you might even get brave and try a door knob drill bit (The kind they use to punch holes in doors to mount doorknobs with). Once the holes have been punched, paint the area beneath the lens on the fascia black, or rubberize it, or coat it with a mirrored silver reflective tape, or do whatever the hell you want to do, just dont leave it a bondo color or you will be able to see the hole through the lens. Notice the lenses are a bit high profile, to remedy this you can use a dremel or coarse grit sandpaper on a sanding block and lower their stance so they dont stick so far out on the plate.

Now screw the lens down. Continue this process untill all your lenses are mounted. If you purchased lenses with no mounting holes for screws, you will need a silicone sealant and a caulking gun, and you will definitely need to build up the bondo layer to help secure the lense in place and hide all that nasty silicone. In my next step I will demonstrate how this is done, but for now this should keep you busy.

By the way, this is what happens to your tail lights if you get hasty like me and use a heatlamp unattended to dry your fiberglass mold. (Dog knocked my lamp into my fender, while I was inside eating, and voila!)


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

Sounds sweet... so what exactly are planning on accomplishing? Something similar to ScorchNX's tail-lights.. or something better (sorry Scorch.. not trying to hate to anything, love the work and can't see anything wrong with it)


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

It will be similar, only since Sentra and 200SX tails are so different, ill have 2 small clear lenses where the amber turn signal is, and one large clear brake light on each side, surrounded by chrome bezels, with spray tinted lenses and instead of bulbs, im gonna install the colored LED tail lights so its still street legal from the rear.

Heres a 3 second photochop to show how the lens layout will look the entire housing will be rubberized black minus the lenses and the chrome bezels which i might spray with a gunmetal exterior paint:










P.S. Here's to hoping this works out, cause i got that heat lamp a little too close to the tail lights. Heatlamp > Plastic =P


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## babyjbrooks (Sep 22, 2002)

looks good so far thinking of tring to make some for mine while i wait on a new engine to get here

keep us up to date on the details


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

Nissan Tuner....U got me excited!!!:banana: >>>I really hope this works out for u--JUST REMEMBER Im first in line for the secound set--- 

How much time do U think this is going to take exactly?? U got any idea....????


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

Hopefully not too terribly long, depends on how long it takes me to source lenses and fine someone who can cut the chrome rings for me. After that its just a matter of getting the cash together for the LED replacement lights since ill nolonger be using stock bulbs.

Note the new steps added above.


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

Im still excited........:banana:


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## Equivocal (Sep 6, 2002)

Does fiberglass come out crystal clear?


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## nismoprincess (Sep 27, 2002)

Equivocal said:


> *Does fiberglass come out crystal clear? *


No it won't come out clear. 
He's going to paint it and have cutouts for the lights


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

yah what she said =) after it cures its a opaque brownish nasty poo poo color. Anyhow my ISP has cancelled my account until I pay the bill, which Im not doing until I get the cash for Kristinspapi's HS CAI which i told him i would buy a month ago, then had problems arise, so updates will be sporadic as I only have internet access from classes right now. Good news is my class PC has a built in compact flash card reader so any photos i snap i can port over to here without bringing the whole digital camera and the software etc etc.


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

so its gonna be a while huh.....


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

nah, im still working on the tails, updates will just be sporadic, possibly every other day instead of every day now, and probably nothing on the weekend. Right now im stuck hunting down lenses, cant do much more to the faceplate itself short of drilling the lens holes, but i need lenses for dimensions first. Someone PM'd me today with a place I could go check for lenses, gonna check it out after class today, I'll let you know whats going on tomorrow, if I find anything useful.

BTW MP2050, is that the VIS Omega frontend on your car? It looks sweet, would go well with a set of these tails and stealth projectors/corners


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

NissanTuner said:


> [
> BTW MP2050, is that the VIS Omega frontend on your car? It looks sweet, would go well with a set of these tails and stealth projectors/corners  [/B]


Nah its the Arotrends R33 front end and yeah IM thinking of your lights with a black housing and Black Halos with stealth corners if it all works out.....

Like this.....hoefully your tails look better....










and this up front


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

that a photo-shop??
Cuz I am wondering.. where the hell did the corners go.
Those tails would look sweet.....


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## dry (Oct 21, 2002)

yea that is a photo shop (I DID IT!!!!) The turn signals are now at the bottom and there is a side marker turn signal so that you can see the signal from the side (that was a bunch of gibberish)

OK not trying to steal the thread so I just wanna say good luck to nissan tuner it looks dope as hell


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

I found lenses today, courtesy of 1CLUBN4 validating my idea on where to find them, just a matter of getting the cash together to buy them now. I molded the other tail today, this is gonna work out, im not even worried about it now, when im done i wont be using standard bulbs in the housing for the tails anymore, but instead the colored LED's that are a direct replacement, ill also be splicing in a second tail light connector into each turn signal so each rear turn signal will power two colored LED bulbs when im done. I havent found a source for the chrome bezels yet, but I will, in the meantime it will be a black rubber bezel that surrounds the tail lenses. Its just a matter of buying the lenses, the tail bulbs, 2 more harnesses to splice into my turn signals, and then mounting them onto the fascia which will directly replace the stock plastic lenses that come with the B14.

In my applications case i plan on seam molding my entire rear end into one piece, the tail light housings will nolonger be removable or visible for that matter, all you will see is the tail lenses and lights with the bezels surrounding them, the rear end will look similar to an acura's ass end when im done, but the tails ive designed can be used in a standalone application as well since they fit straight into the black tail light bucket that surrounds the stock lenses, all youd have to do is paint them the color of your choice. Give me a few days to get the cash together, the lenses are between 2 and 5 dollars each, and im not sure how much the LED tail bulbs or the wire harnesses will cost, but im assuming they wont be too expensive.

Big things in store for my sentra =), i was worried at first that it wouldnt pan out but now im sure it will work. On that note, can anyone refresh my memory? What do I bake the tails at and for how long to remove the stock lenses? Also what do you think would be a fair price to charge for the production of these custom tails? OEM tails from Nissan are 89 bucks each including the seating bucket, so im figuring with labor, and parts, $180-$200 fair for a pair? I would say $275 if you want a whole assembly done (I.E. I go order you new tails and customize them myself instead of you sending me the "core" to work with, or me sending you just the front fascia so to speak), these fees would also include the new bulbs and the wiring harnesses. Input would be appreciated, this will be my first mass produced production part, and I dont want to gouge the community with shoddy parts like a lot of aftermarket civic suppliers hehe.

If you're interested in purchasing a production set PM me, and let me know so I know what kind of demand I'm looking at.

BTW I have an ISP again, everyone give a thumbs up to my ISP admin, he hooked me up for free. I love being friends with the techies!


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

Instructioons for removing original lenses from the housing : (written from 94xe-r)



> trust me there IS GLUE in between the outer and inner lens, the color is usually grey. the BLACK goo ur talking about is nissans way of saying leave it the way it is, I CANT STAND IT!! anyways, thats the water barrier, if you can scrape all of it off the car as it never gets soft enuff to reassemble without making a sticky mess, use a putty knive (preferebly plastic, although it wont matter, it wont be seen if u do scrape) to make it easier use 'acetone" to clean the goo off the inner lens. and use silicone to reassemble ( i used a caulk gun with silicone because it took so much, OR you can go to nissan and get a new black goo strip. as for disassembling the inner away for the oute lens, heat it up first , OVEN works best, im not gonna give degrees and a time for obvious reasons... get them ALMOST to hot to touch NOT melting!! take a small flat blade screw driver, and pop the lil tabs (youll see them if you look close enuff) pop and ur prying out ward, do that all the way around, sometimes thats all u need, if not take a utility knike and cut the glue (usually grey in color) the lens should be free,(watch out for the difusser lenses inside the unit , dont forget those, they usually stay in place) clean the outer lens as much as possible, the inner lens is a lil hard due to the tiny groove, and by now the lens has cooled assembly is in reverse, heat them back up not to hot, jus enuff to make the glue pliable use a clear silicone( u dont have to but i recommend it , or they may leak) and put a small bead all the way around the outer lens edge ( the part that fits in the inner lenes groove) then press the inner and outter together and hold for a minute still applying pressure. hopefully the lil tabs went back into place if not , heat it up a lil and keep pressing... they should go , or be extremly close, if you DID use the silicone with common sense, it should be fine with no leaks ... hope that helps..... ive done it quite a few times, so far its all good


 SO oven temp about 200-250 up to you


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

So anyone have any ideas on a price tag? I did the math today, and for a new set of these tails, with the new bulbs, wiring harnesses, and oem tails theyre built on, it would run about 350, but that would keep your daily driver in legal running condition, with a stock set of tails to stick back on if you ever decide to sell the car or custom tails. if you can afford to go without tails for a week or so, I can do them for 180 which includes shipping costs, but youd have to ship the tails and tail light wiring harness (plug etc) to me.

BTW MP2050 your PM box is full, clear it out some so I can send you info =)


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

why don't you buy a pair of cheap ass altezza's and use the housing and clear lenses. Tint the lenses with transparent red sprey if you want. Would that be cheaper??


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

PrOxLaMuS© said:


> *why don't you buy a pair of cheap ass altezza's and use the housing and clear lenses. Tint the lenses with transparent red sprey if you want. Would that be cheaper?? *



Yeah this is what I was gonna do....but this I think would look alot better and I would rather be as diff. from an Alteeza as possible...


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

new photos posted above, in first post.

And proxlamus, cause even cheap ass altezzas are more expensive than stock oem tails from nissan by a large margin


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)




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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

MP2050 said:


> *
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Ok so the two little red circles are going to be yellow or will they be red or even better can U get them in clear...

Although maybe the yellow wouldnt look too bad--I dunno

Or can the two little reds be replaced for one long slim light or something???

I know this is alot...... IM just coming up with some diff. ideas


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

I can do one long slim red, yellow or blue, still having trouble finding clear lenses. I can do the lenses in pretty much any array of color. In my case theyre gonna be all red, with the layout posted above. If i do wind up finding clear lenses, you can bet your ass the colored lenses are coming off and getting replaced by clears


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

MP2050 said:


> *
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Im confused the Big red light is the Brake light--- the two small reds are the reverse...so whats the medium sized red bulb for-or is that a brake light too???


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

yes, its part of the brake light assembly. the 2 small reds are turn signals, reverse lights are on our center panel.


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

NissanTuner said:


> *yes, its part of the brake light assembly. the 2 small reds are turn signals, reverse lights are on our center panel. *


Im an idiot...thats right the reverse is in the trunk panel.... so the two small reds would blink at the same time as a turn signal....hmmmm thats intresting..

One more thought: is their enuff space to fit two medium sized circles instead of having one large and one small.. Than it would loom more skylineish....

DAMN Y did Nissan give us such pathetic small tails....


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

yes i can fit up to 6 or 7 small lenses on the tails instead of the varying sizes. When i do your tails you can take the picture of the blank plate above and use paintbrush/photoshop to show me how you want your layout done, i should be able to do pretty much any layout without having to modify the bucket that the plate seats on.


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## Psch91 (May 18, 2002)

Im sorry, but its just me. I dont dig those things at all. And I dont see where you are going with these 'things'...


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

to each their own, keep in mind theyre not even halfway done yet. I still have to sand the lenses down so they sit nearly flush with the face, have chrome bezels manufactured, and rubberize the housing, not to mention remove the stock lenses from the housing and affix this plate over the big gaping hole they leave when theyre gone. You dont like them, thats cool, theres plenty of people who have PM'd me that want a set of their own, or stock them for people in their area who might.


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## Psch91 (May 18, 2002)

Yeah, maybe ill like them once their done. I respect the work that youre doing either way.


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

thanks


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## dry (Oct 21, 2002)

"When i do your tails you can take the picture of the blank plate above and use paintbrush/photoshop to show me how you want your layout done, i should be able to do pretty much any layout without having to modify the bucket that the plate seats on."

Hows this??? sorry I know linking sucks 

http://www.geocities.com/ninja_cereal/wootwoot.html

Whatever you do... dont press control + a mwahaha


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## JustMe (Jan 24, 2003)

I think it looks great so far and have been considering trying something simular myself. One question tho, what do you plan on using for the light housing behind the lens? Maybe take apart the stock tail light and attach the new lens to the factory housing? Or did you have something else in mind?


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## G_Funk013 (Jul 9, 2002)

The lenses look good. Cant wait to see the finished version. And DryBoy, your hopeless.


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## dry (Oct 21, 2002)

I'm used to hearing that... just not usually from guys


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## holy200sx (Jan 8, 2003)

one small tip, i just figured.. i made the molds like you did nissantuner, put in some red cover lights from trailors, put the first one on, and turned the brake on.. the entire lense lite up.. lol.. fiberglass is very light hesitant, so what i did, is spray painted the INside of my fiberglass moldings, and it fixed everything.. just a little FYI... the fiberglass like. lit up.. lol.. you can also ducttape it if you want to be the poor mans way... *which i think alot of us are*.. but 2 coats of primer should do the trick.. black


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## andre (Apr 30, 2002)

Here's my opinion....the 2 red circles you have on the right should be signal and reverse lights....I know you are having trouble with the clear lights, but I'd put the reverse light there, and shave the center panel....just my opinion.


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

> I think it looks great so far and have been considering trying something simular myself. One question tho, what do you plan on using for the light housing behind the lens? Maybe take apart the stock tail light and attach the new lens to the factory housing? Or did you have something else in mind?


Yes ill be affixing the plate to the stock lens housing, and removing the stock lenses.



> Hows this??? sorry I know linking sucks


Thats uh... kinda rainbow bright =P, people might be gettin the wrong ideas if you drove down the street with tails like that... especially if you have one of your boys in the passenger seat eheh.



> one small tip, i just figured.. i made the molds like you did nissantuner, put in some red cover lights from trailors, put the first one on, and turned the brake on.. the entire lense lite up.. lol.. fiberglass is very light hesitant, so what i did, is spray painted the INside of my fiberglass moldings, and it fixed everything.. just a little FYI... the fiberglass like. lit up.. lol.. you can also ducttape it if you want to be the poor mans way... *which i think alot of us are*.. but 2 coats of primer should do the trick.. black


The whole plate will be rubberized black when im done, no way in hell the tail lights are gonna penetrate a thick black rubber coat hehe.



> Here's my opinion....the 2 red circles you have on the right should be signal and reverse lights....I know you are having trouble with the clear lights, but I'd put the reverse light there, and shave the center panel....just my opinion.


I thought about doing this too, its a simple matter of rewiring the bulbs after the plate is installed. I could have it regular one day then get a wild hair up my ass and change it all around to confuse the hell out of everyone the next day.


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## JustMe (Jan 24, 2003)

Thanks for the info, I think I might see if I can get some tails from a junk yard and give this a shot myself. 

I kinda like DryBoy's idea for tails...they are...kinda...unique


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## andre (Apr 30, 2002)

NissanTuner said:


> *
> I thought about doing this too, its a simple matter of rewiring the bulbs after the plate is installed. I could have it regular one day then get a wild hair up my ass and change it all around to confuse the hell out of everyone the next day. *


I wanted to do that before myself, but I knew nothing about fiberglass. I saw how it looked on a GM car in Austraila (starts with M...cant remember the name...gonna be the next GTO).


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

Looks like everyone will be doing their own version pretty soon huh...

Oh Dry Boy--Ill give U some credit for originality but I dunno Tuner has a point about the Rainbow Affect.

Yo I cant wait to get these tails...then Ill finally be able to park head first and still be PROUD....lol


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## andre (Apr 30, 2002)

MP2050 said:


> *
> Yo I cant wait to get these tails...then Ill finally be able to park head first and still be PROUD....lol *


Uh-uh....thats wrong.


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

Just waiting on some cash flow to finish the tails up guys, hang tight, its a matter of time. Especially if MP2050 puts a down payment on his set.


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

any luck yet? how's it working out?


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## whiteb14 (Jul 7, 2002)

*...*

yea... hows it turning out?? i cant wait to see the final product!!:jump:


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

Theyre just sitting and waiting for MP2050 to send a down payment so i can buy the rest of the lenses, dont worry I havent forgot about you all  He said hed send me the money sometime in the next week. as soon as i get it ill resume posting updates. I bought the top end of an SR16VE engine, and a SR20DE block, that ate a huge hole in my bank account, but ill be sporting a fast as fuck nissan in about 2 months while we do the buildup on the engine. Anyhow thats why im short on cash for the tails this month.


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## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

NissanTuner said:


> *Theyre just sitting and waiting for MP2050 to send a down payment so i can buy the rest of the lenses, dont worry I havent forgot about you all  He said hed send me the money sometime in the next week. as soon as i get it ill resume posting updates. I bought the top end of an SR16VE engine, and a SR20DE block, that ate a huge hole in my bank account, but ill be sporting a fast as fuck nissan in about 2 months while we do the buildup on the engine. Anyhow thats why im short on cash for the tails this month. *


ITs coming ....sorry for the delay (my girls b-day-is to blame)-lol


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

damn girl-friends.. always suck every penny out of us


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## samo (Apr 30, 2002)

Yeah, and they steal your stuff too, _like my damn black sweatshirt_. *sniff*... I loved that sweatshirt  ...


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

been a long time now..... have enough money to wrok on em? 
I hate it when these damn threads get us excited and make us wait..


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

hehe, was wonderign when this was gonna get bumped again, yes im still working on them, but to be on the safeside im buying a second set of tails to do the work on so i dont destroy my only set, this is whats causing it to take a bit longer than expected, dumping my money on a lot of stuff atm.


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## bigmke184 (Feb 14, 2003)

another member told me to check out your post because i am intested in some custom taillights and none of the pics came up for me so what i was woundering was if you could e-mail me the pics of your progress and the final product and give me a final price i would love to get mine done like this i ahve a extra set just layin around for me to do this so if you could help me out that would be great 

my e-mail: [email protected]

thanks 
mike


www.revtekmotorsports.com


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## NissanTuner (Dec 1, 2002)

yeah, im in the middle of 6 chapters of ethics homework (damn i hate being sick) when im done ill send you the pics or upload them to my cardomain site.


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## bigmke184 (Feb 14, 2003)

thanks keep me posted


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## PrOxLaMuS© (Aug 11, 2002)

done yet?


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## go4broke44 (Jan 14, 2003)

all i saw where "x"'s where all the pictures were
nissantuner, you stole my idea, of skyline style 200sx lights made from fiberglass!! lol, j/k, if you are compelled enough to do it, more power to you, i've just been too lazy lately to work on it


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## xt_out (Jun 23, 2003)

so...hows the project coming?


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## 97gxe (Jun 17, 2003)

Hey NissanTuner, you still need those custom chrome bezels cut? I could probly do it for you for a small fee...


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