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Anyone put different tail lights on a Z before? JK :) Look


nish

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Sorry about the title, I couldn't resist. I posted to show off what I feel is a cheap, easy, and attractive taillight mod. I'll start with the disclaimer that this is not my original idea. I got it from Brian Holdeman. I was already wild about round taillights then I saw his car on zcar.com. I had to know what he used, so I emailed him. He was nice enough to share what he had done. This is my interpretation of his idea.

 

The lights are from a 70-73 Camaro. I got mine off Ebay for $40 in great shape. This pic shows how the lights come as a complete unit that is easy to mount. You can also see how I mounted the stock wiring harness. I cut in new socket holes with a dremel.

 

ztl_light%20cluster.jpg

 

These are the custom steel panels the clusters mount to. Four 1/4" bolts fasten them to the body.

 

ztl_panels.jpg

 

Here are the holes that make the clusters removable from the inside. It is a pretty tight fit, but you don't need to remove them often.

 

ztl_body1.jpg

 

Now with panels bolted/riveted in.

 

ztl_body2.jpg

 

I used fiberglass filler to fillet around the new panels. This should help bond the panels to the car and hopefully not crack. At this point you could pound on the middle of the panels and get only a dead thud. I also took this opportunity to give myself four 1/4' license plate bolts.

 

ztl_body3.jpg

 

Bodywork done and ready for paint (which I royally screwed up)

 

ztl_body4.jpg

 

The finished product

 

ztl_body5.jpg

 

Another shot

 

ztl_body6.jpg

 

A nice 3/4 view just for good measure

 

oldskool280.jpg

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Thanks, Nish

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Great Work!! I love the ideo of the round tail lights as well. Maybe I'll grab hold of my "pair" and try to hack the rear of my Z someday for the same type treatment....

 

lol poundz i think your Z has to much camaro in it as it is :wink::D

 

but very cool job! love it.

 

mike

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Good, clean job. Thanks for sharing this with us.

 

BTW, this is the king of the "tail light" threads: http://hybridz.org/nuke/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=11275 and it would be great to have this information posted to it as well, just to keep all this related data on one string for future searches.

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Thank you all for your encouragement and welcome to the forum. I've been a lurker for over a year now, wouldn't want anyone accusing me of not using search. :) I'm in southern Butler county if anyone ever wants to swing by.

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Great work! I love that look and the 'style' of the lights and bezels match the car so well. I think that is due to the fact that they are from the same time period. Doesn't make the car look too modern.

 

I have some other thoughts but I will start another thread on the MISC forum...

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Guest 73Turbo240z

good execution on the bodywork itself... but the amount of real estate you picked up by going to such small tail lights is not sitting well with me... the recessed thing is cool, but they just seem dwarfed by the rear of the car..

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Awwww, man! I thought I was going to be original with those lights. I bought a pair of '70 Camaro taillight housings at a swap meet two years ago for my Velo Rossa project. Haven't installed 'em yet.

 

Anyway, the lights look great on your Z. Nice work! :2thumbs:

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