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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 04:09 AM
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Question Altezza

Do anyone knows where i can get backlight covers for my 350Z? I have been wanting to get clear ones for a while now. Thanks in advance.
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 07:23 AM
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what do you mean...clear ones, do you have a picture?

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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 07:56 AM
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shouldnt use the world altezza on this forum....

anyway, back light cover... I assume you mean the red lens over the tail light?

no you cant get them in clear. cant even make it be clear. but if you give me oh... lets say 25000$ I can make one for ya.
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 09:02 AM
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Originally posted by ares
shouldnt use the world altezza on this forum....

anyway, back light cover... I assume you mean the red lens over the tail light?

no you cant get them in clear. cant even make it be clear. but if you give me oh... lets say 25000$ I can make one for ya.
I'll do it for $24000
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 09:53 AM
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I'd like to get something for my taillights too, I'm sure someone will make something, I just haven't found anything yet either... whether it be covers for the upper lens, or full tailights.

Let me know if you find anything
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 09:57 AM
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thats what I mean, I tried to make a new tail light from injection molding plastic, and figured, Ill toss in a new lens while Im at it. but the molds for the housing was about 20grand, mold for the lens(needs to be so perfectly smooth) was about 30grand. after that, the cost per peice is a couple of bucks, but to make the mold is just too expensive. unless I was sure I could sell atleast 300 of them or more thats the only way I could recoup the startup cost and even dream of making a profit for my time.
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 10:37 AM
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Originally posted by ares
thats what I mean, I tried to make a new tail light from injection molding plastic, and figured, Ill toss in a new lens while Im at it. but the molds for the housing was about 20grand, mold for the lens(needs to be so perfectly smooth) was about 30grand. after that, the cost per peice is a couple of bucks, but to make the mold is just too expensive. unless I was sure I could sell atleast 300 of them or more thats the only way I could recoup the startup cost and even dream of making a profit for my time.
do you have a good design? let see some pictures
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 12:24 PM
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the design WAS in my head. now its being put into reality, it was the concept Z LED tail lights.

I have a tail light downstairs all cut up, and fiberglassed to almost what I want it to be... but not quite... doing the molding was, and is as of now, out of the question, while I would love to just pop out 100 tail lights and start sellin em off, I dont have the cash for the molds. so the fiberglass method is the only method I have... which sucks cause that means I can only modify tail lights, not sell whole replacements. maybe one day.

in the mean time another week of so and Ill have the tail light done the way I want it to be. but I still have other stuff to do like the reflectors and what not, so tail light is just sorta in my spare time.
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 01:32 PM
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Ares,

I'm a little confused. What material are you trying to build this thing out of?

Building a mold should be pretty easy, especially considering you have a base tail light as is. Then you just have to take it to an injection or vacuum form plastics shop. I would imagine it wouldn't take more than $200 to get a prototype built (total off the cuff guesstimate). After that you would have something to show, and at that point you could offer them for purchase.

I guess odds are I just don't know exactly what you're trying to build. Post some pics of your fiberglass'd job, I'd be curious. Also, fyi once september rolls around I will have access to a vacuum former at the prototyping shop at my school.

Take care.
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 02:00 PM
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well it the form I was shooting for was injection molding, or casting. casting is not accurate enough. so that was no good.

injection molding requires a mold be made out of steel, I contacted a injection molding shop and they said they would need a cad file or a master, then it would be sent overseas to asia and they could make the mold, but the mold would cost about 20,000$ to make, assuming its an easy open-close mold.

thats what I was told anyway. I assumed they were correct... either way, untill I either had a cad or master, I couldnt go any farther with it.

now Im working on the master, ill have to hunt down the camera and take some pics for you guys.
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 04:56 PM
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ummm, why not just wait a couple months and buy one from APC? I know making ur own will be more unique and all, but its cheaper to just wait, plus...umm, just me but altezza's on something other than a civic? ew. they belong on rice-rockets, not sports cars.
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Old Jun 16, 2003 | 06:36 PM
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what Im making is not altezza, but yeah, if what your wanting is an altezza, you wont like what Im making.

teaser of mine, I just rinsed the sanded fiberglass powerder off, hence the fact that its wet.
Attached Thumbnails Altezza-taillight.jpg  
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Old Jun 17, 2003 | 06:36 AM
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ares

pretty cool, is that the final look? keep us posted on the final look

Does anyone have a design for a tail light cover?
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Old Jun 17, 2003 | 07:31 AM
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no of course thats not final, thatd be pretty crappy if it were. just gotta get it smooth before I can paint it.
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Old Jun 17, 2003 | 11:41 AM
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Where you get that tail light? I want to get me one too...
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Old Jun 17, 2003 | 03:29 PM
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actually..some time ago there was a thread that showed z's and g35s (it was from another forum) and i saw a Z with "smoked taillights"....it was like black..but not flat black..clear black (i cant explain it and i forgot where i posted it...but they were definatly modified
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Old Jun 17, 2003 | 10:51 PM
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theres a guy on this forum from socal and he professionally smoked his taillights.
i think they look good, but have not found a shop to do this locally.
check out the pics on the thread:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=32106
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Old Jun 17, 2003 | 10:58 PM
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you can have tail lights smoked, but not made clear.

I bought the tail light off a totalled Z. it hurt to hack it up. already have 200$ invested in the project for that.
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