anthraciterunner

About 2543 swear words later, it's done!! What a Pain in the . I wanted to get rid of the orange and I couldn't really justify paying for the newer style lights. I almost gave in and got a pair of clears from ebay but it wasn't really my taste. So here goes. If anybody wants to do this mod, make sure you have plenty of patience and the right tools. The first one took me like two hours because I had to go drive to my parents house to get a drill. the second one took me a little under 40 minutes. Make sure there aren't any kids around, because I am pretty sure you can't finish this without a couple of .
Here are the tools I used.
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A dremel was a big help. Heres the bit I used.

Start to drill the crap outta the orange piece. The more holes you drill, the easier it will break apart. You can also use the holes to grab the piece with the needle nose pliers. That is when you use the dremel tool to grind away as much plastic as you can later on.

After drilling the holes, use a flat head screwdriver to pry/break off the orange piece. This should be fairly easy, it is only held on by one screw.

After that, start the dremel work. The way I broke it into little pieces was by using the cutters to grab the edges and I hammered away until the piece was cut up(easier to break apart that way).

Becareful when you do this because you will grind away some of the plastic where the bulb screws in. IT's okay as long as you don't scrape too much off. Mine still fits tightly. You should now be able to use the needle nose pliers to twist and snap the pieces off. Just grab and start twisting and pulling. Pull them out when you get the pieces small enough. Takes a little bit of elbow grease, but the more you cut it up and carve away w/ the dremel, the easier this will be. Take your time and just try not to scratch the inside too much. The most important thing is to not drill through the orange piece AND THE LENS. Drill slow. When you are done, vacumn the stuff out. IT's also a good idea to vacumn after every time you drill and use the dremel. The stuff will fall into your eye when you try to hold it up and grab the orange piece with the pliers and cutter. Here are some comparison pics.
BEfore:

After:


More:




Getting the bulbs tomorrow. I am going to enjoy my beer now. Then I need to vacumn up my mess.

Ken

Looks good! Nice clean look.

Someone say beer?

Henryv

That looks great! I've always had that idea to break off the orange piece but never attempted it. After seeing your results I may have to have a go at it.

Jboy

It`s probably just me but I don`t see any worth in doing that, or am I missing something here? Anyway, enjoy the

anthraciterunner

Just personal preference. It looks a little cleaner. Kinda like replacing the corners and turn signals clear.

SLC Punk

Looks good!

Can't you just take the lens off by putting it in the oven (at a lower temp) for a few minutes? I know that the Honda Civic guys do that to their headlights to get rid of the orange reflector.

SEAN_at_TLT

now just get rid of those shopping cart guards and they'll look great!

-Sean

CLin9383

good job! looks good

bike4miles

Really looks good. That's one of my themes, no color showing trough any of the lenses. Really good job.

anthraciterunner

After I started on the first one, I was really considering doing that. For awhile, I had no idea how to break up the orange piece. I thought I was SOL and I just sat there shaking my taillight. MAybe that's why the 1st one took me soooo long. I unscrewed all the screws on the tailliglt but it was glued down really tight. I didn't want to risk compromising the seal. I live in L.A. so I see alot of ricers and I've also seen a lot of people with head and taillights full of water(bulbs fully submerged). The process wasn't too difficult, but it definately calls for paitence. I had limited access to tools as well. I'm sure that if I had a longer bit for my dremel, it would've taken me even less time.

anthraciterunner

lol. Those things saved my taillights on two occasions already. The worst was the time I backed into a barbed wire fence and immediately after that, I hit a wooden gate/fence. It was on this narrow dirt road out in the middle of nowhere and it was completely dark. The kinda place where you would think people get murdered and stuff. There was no where to turn around so I just booked it...backwards.

SLC Punk

I see. I may need add it to my summer to-do list. If I do the "oven" method, can't it be sealed up with silicone?

anthraciterunner

I don't know. I guess you could try if you have limited access to tools. I don't know how those people driving around with fishtanks for taillights resealed up their units. I'm happy the way I did mine becuse I know I won't have to worry when it rains. I'm sure there is a tool somewhere out there that would have been easier to use to break apart the orange part, but that's how I did. Once I figured out the process, the second one didn't take long at all.-good luck though. Maybe you will find an easier way.

2001Millrunner

looks good, certainly different =) I've done the same for my bottom corner lens. I just melted the orange part with a soldering iron and broke it apart. It takes time and patience(lots and lots of it) but knowing that it stays factory makes me feel better as opposed to having the aftermarket one which are known to leak and turn out ugly in time. Good Job!

anthraciterunner

Her are a couple more pics I just took. I got the yellow bulbs, but am trying to decide whether to use the yellows or the clear oem ones. When the oem clears light up, they have a small hint of yellowish to them...maybe because I am use to superwhite bulbs. Take a look
Here's another look in the day time w/o the amber plastic piece:


Here's some with a yellpw bulb(a lot brighter IMO):



Here's some with the stock oem clear bulb:



I am leaning towards the yellows. I go down to westhollywood a lot(sunset strip) and the clear bulbs are just giving the cops probable cause to pull me over.

2001Millrunner

oh no, this means WAR!

SuperRunner98

You can get some of the chrome bulbs that light up yellow. That way you can keep the clean look and still have them be bright and yellow.

bike4miles

That's what I use. They work great.

kevin444

spray paint them silver?

FUZION

Just did this mod today and it looks good. I decided to go with super white bulbs all around though. For anyone else who does it, it can get quit frustrating w/o a dremel.