Hey everyone,

I have been working on building some custom taillights for my parents C3. I need to remove the white portion of the lens which the reverse light shines through. It looks like it is glued to the reflector portion. Does anyone know of a way to separate the two of those pieces, preferable without cutting?

Thanks in advance,
Aaron.

 

What year? Can you get away with using "switchback" or plain red LEDs and not changing the lens itself, or just adding a red film?

I have a set of four tail-lights (all red) on my '80 right now. I hope to do something clever with the set of the backup lights, perhaps using red/amber switchback LEDs. Others on this forum have gotten very creative with LED halo rings.

 

I haven't looked at them that closely but assuming that there are two separate pieces the answer to remove any adhesive is always the same: heat.

The problem with a lot of plastics is that the 'glue' actually melts the plastic and chemically bonds them together into a single piece so you may not be able to remove that section without cutting it out.

Anyway, good luck and let us know what you find.

 

it might be easier to put all 4 lights to brake lights, and then add backup lights in a different place(IMO). any pictures of the custom lenses???

 

All of the switchback bulbs use the 1157 base, where there are 2 contacts plus the ground. C3 backup lights use an 1156 base with a single contact plus ground. Switchbacks are not useable in the reverse light, even if you change the base because the bulb is oriented vertically (pointed up). Switchbacks need to be oriented vertically to be effective.
While examining mine (77) I tried every method to remove the center section, I came to the conclusion that it can't be done (without destroying the entire light) without the use of machine tools.

In my project, I bought a pair of brake lights, cut off the entire lens from the reflector using a dremel cut off wheel. I did the same with my reverse lights. I installed a 60 mm red halo into the brake reflectors, gluing them in place. These shine through the red reflective portion of the lens to provide an additional pair of parking lights. I then made a tube out of some thin gauge aluminum and glued it to the rim where the clear backup lights join with the red lens material. This extends back into the body of the reflector and serves to isolate this lens from the light put out by the red halo. After gluing the backup light lens to the brake light reflector, I installed white/amber switchbacks into the 1157 sockets. After some rewiring, I now have amber turn signals, white (and bright!) backup lights and
dedicated outside brake and parking lights.

 

what year car, the lights are different on different years of cars.

 

Thank you for the response.The car is a 81 and the reverse lens must be removed for what I am doing.

 

Thank you for the response. The car is a 81.

 

That is pretty much exactly what I though would be the case. Thanks for the response.

 

I considered that at the start but didn't find a place that we liked enough for the reverse. I will post pictures when it is completed! Thank you for the reply.