I lost interest when I saw there was only going to be one color but now that it has changed I cant wait for them.

Hey guys,

Is there any information on what the inside surface of the lens will be like? What I'm wondering about is whether the inside is flat, basically creating a perfectly clear lens or if it is going to "bumpy" like stock?

I made some photoshops of my car a couple of years ago with what Im asking:

All red "stock-type" lenses:




Red+clear in "clear" lenses:




Anyone know?


Ken

that look sir, would be the Sh!t

(dont kill me for this) but hows it comin?

E-mailed for updates, also asked about the bumpyness of the insides.

AWESOME UPDATE:

E-mail Response:

Hello Chris,

We're actually coming along quite well right now on the tails. It's been very bumpy along the way, but we're ready to begin casting. I still have the problems with my mold rubber, but have resolved them good enough to work. Basically, in a nutshell,... once I make new molds, I have to pour castings every 12 hours without exception for the first 20 sets or else the molds will break down and become worthless. I am actually ready to make the molds right now, but we are going on vacation next week, so that wont work as the molds would breakdown while I was away.

We are going to be back on the 24th of August and the molds will be made 25th - 28th. From there, production 'WILL' go under way on the 29th. I'll be making 2 sets per day until orders are filled. I know its been frustrating people who have given deposits. I really wish I could have had the tails to people in early spring so they could have ran them for the summer. It just didn't work out that way with all the hickups along the way. Attached to this email are three pics. One shows a $650 chunk of wasted mold materiel when the first mold attempt didn't turn out, so I'm allready WAYYY in the hole on this project. I am as anxious to get these underway as people are to recieve them.

The other two pics show one of the polished lenses which I have cut into segments for casting. People will be able to choose any color combination for each of the four sections in the tails. The inside will be just like the oem pattern,... the same 'bumpy' light diffuser pattern.

Also, one other idea if people are interested would be to stick LED boards inside each of the tail sections. I've worked with LED's for years and could probably fab up something pretty nice to fit inside the housing sections that would be really easy to install. I guess that is something we can talk about further down the road once the tails are in production.

(If we get a good enough interest we might be able to get KLEARZ to make us some LED kits...)

As far as people who are worried about their deposits, if they reallllllllly want, they can get their deposits back. We have a HUGE waiting list for these, more interest than we've ever had for ANY other lenses. They can have their deposits back but they will be moved to the bottom of the waiting list. The price is also going to be probably $225-$250 a set for people who DIDNT give a deposit due to the overhwelming amount of work and costly materiels into this project. I'm sticking to the $200 for people with deposits only as we had a deal at that price.

I think that covers everyting. Try to let people know that I reallly haven't been jerking them around on this project. The set production date IS going to begin on August 29th. So about three weeks before the first people on the list start getting lenses. Hopefully just in time for the Fall car shows.

Have a good one,

Jason

Another Update

E-mail Response:

Hi Chris,

You'll be the first to know and get pics once we get the first couple sets of tails casted. I'll make the smoked red and 5% smoked first and send pics. I really don't think the LED kits will be hard to do for the tails. Basically,..you just need to figure out what materiel you want to use for the boards,.. stainless steel or maybe just plexi glass. Figure out how many led's you want in each section and where. Drill your holes,... then use the screw together mounts to install the LED's themselves. Wiring them in is really easy as well. You just solder the legs to one another providing they are close enough and then install the right resistor for the # of bulbs you have on the 12 volt circuit. Finally,... I'll probably cast some sort of "plug" which you can solder the two wires to that will plug right into your OE harness.

One thing I do need to mention is that I do not plan to cast the refector insert on the inside for the outside corner lens. I figured most people would be removing their OEM lenses and using their housings anyway. The reflector comes out very easy,.. and is in perfect shape seeing how it has never seen any outside exposure. You just pull it out and put it into the new lenses, and you save the $60+ more that I would need to cast that as well. I'll be in touch as soon as I get the first couple sets cast.

Have a good one,

Jason


SO WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK NOW, GOOD UPDATES OR WHAT? Pictures coming soon.

Looks like I might have to buy some when they come into production.

ditto for me i like the way the smoked black ones look

How much will the L.E.Ds cost?
I cant wait for these!

Well, he said (Jason @ KLEARZ) that he can make the plug for the bulb sockets and boards but leds and soldering them up with the right resistors still needs to be done....so

I might just go with LED bulbs, something like the 13 watt ones I have in my 300zx. Their very bright and you cant tell they're LED bulbs like others. $20 a pair. Cant wait until the end of this month...OH YEAH, time to save back up.

P.S. Jason told me they have the highest interest in this group buy than they have EVER HAD in any item they have made. Not to mention this is their biggest set to date too. Were breaking records yo...haha.

Hi Chris,

Yeah, I'd say that spraying the boards with a nice glossy black would probably be the way to go. I'm not really sure yet how to do the corner lens. Perhaps I'd just have to make a prototype out of steel,.. and then make a mold and cast them out of resin to make sure they are all the right size/shape.

That is actually about the price I was guessing except with the reverse lights and corners as well. Please don't get people too excited yet, as I still have to do some research, and see if I can get someone relaible to do them, but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to make this work. I'll be in touch when I get back from vacation and let you know how its going with the lenses and led's.

Have a good one,

Jason

And once again, more updates....

Hello there,

I just wanted to give you a quick update on the camaro project. I finishing cutting my other tail into segments and ready to cast. When the tails from the donor came in the mail, they weren't packaged well. The end of the wrap around part were broken off where it comes to a point. I thought I would be able to glue them back together and make it work for casting. There were just too many pieces missing, and it wasn't going to look good enough. There were also some deep scratches that I wasn't able to buff out all the way on a couple of the other segments.

Yesterday, I ordered in another set of nice tails from the parts locator service at $150. I've began molding 4 of the 8 segments for now. It will be a couple days until I get the new tails in, and then I have to hack them up, add materiel, sand it down and get them ready for casting. It's basically pushed the tails back another week. I wasn't about to put all that work into a product that people wouldn't be happy with though.

As far as the LED's,.... as of right now I am kind of at a stand still. I had forgotten that when the headlights are on, the tails should glow at half intensity and then go full intensity when you step on the brakes. I am not sure how that is done with LED's so I am looking into that now.

I've attached two pics of the broken corners on the tails. I think you'll agree that getting a new set was the way to go. The one was also spider cracked internally very bad.

Jason

E-MAIL UPDATE: I asked who/what/where/how/when about the lenses being cut into segments and if they can be made into 1 piece after the colors are set.

Hi Chris,

I'm taking extra precautions to make sure the lenses are all a nice tight fit to one another at each joint. I've added materiel to each joint to compensate for the width of the saw blade that cut them apart, and then sanded all the edges smooth and flat. I had planned on sending them as individual lenses. I'm affraid if I send them as an assembled unit, they might either break in shipping or break during instalation. From what I've seen so far with my segments, and the housings, assembling these on your housings should be a piece of cake.

Basically, you will just need to heat up your housings to make the adhesive gooey once again,... intall the corner lens,... put some adhesive on the bonding surface,.. install the next lens,... etc until they are all installed. Then clean up any adhesive that may squish out the front. I'll be making full install instructions once the lenses are done, and I have installed a set on the housings I have. I also have a specific kind of adhesive that works great for this application. One of my BMW tail lens distributors uses this exact process for cutting out the amber segment and gluing in a clear lens. They look great when he is done.

Update on the lenses I am waiting on. I went to pick up the ones I ordered two days ago, and they sent one camaro lens and one iroc lens. They are supposed to have the other iroc lens in today, so I can go pick it up and cut it apart over the weekend.

Have a good one,

Jason

Now I REALLY want to see the finished product...

SOON SOON SOON

progress!!!

Any news on this? its been 8 days since I H8 WWD has logged in. Im really curious about this.

Are you some kind of a stalker?

a Fellow Member here on thirdgen did his own all red tail lights (and it turned out awsome), he spent about 10-20 Dollars on it. Tho it would be nice to have these

Nah I just clicked his user name looked at his profile and saw that he hadnt been active for a while. Only reason I checked is because usually he posts on the forums atleast every few days.

IM BACK CAMARO5690....haha

UPDATE LIKE A MOFO:

FIRST, E-MAIL UPDATE:

Hi Chris,

I have some good news and pictures for you. I poured the first castings from the passenger side molds last nite. They turned out great, so now I will make the driver's side this week and be in full production of both sides by next weekend. I engineered a peg/hole system on the lenses for assembly so that they slide together in the right position making assembly by the owner much easier. I'm pouring clear and smoked versions next and will have pictures of those as well in the next couple days. In the meantime you can post these pictures to the forum for people to see.

Have a good one,

Jason

NOW PICTURES AHHHA WAYYAH AHYAYHYAH YIPEEEEE OH YEAH FRICKIN AWESOME

those look good

nice, when they go into production can we still get clear reverse lenses? Id like to be street legalish.

Yes, according to previous post in this thread.

Nice progress so far!

BE SURE TO WHEN ORDERING STATE YOU WANT clear reverse and smoked red brake, turn and wrap around...

SEND AN E-MAIL BEFORE YOU PURCHASE, OTHERWISE IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DROPPED THE $20 DOWN PAYMENT, just state what you want when they e-mail you back....

CANT WAIT GUYS, SMOKED AND CLEAR VERSIONS NEXT....

Have you thought abotu asking them if they would consider doing sidemarkers, and front turn signals?

so they are going to be all color? i kinda like the look of the black lines in the stock grids.
those are eye catching for sure. i might have to splurge for a set after i see some feedback.
dont want to be a 250 dollar guinea pig.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/gr...ww-klearz.html (Group Buy: www.KLEARZ.com Camaro Turn Signal Markers (Side & Front))

Anyone have a p/n for the housings, or the black part that holds the license plate lights? I have the older style tails, dont wanna have to buy a set of grids just for this.

absolutly beautiful. definately worth the 20$ and the wait. I cant wait to see the smoked.

Anybody know where i can get new seals that go right next to the turn signal/body?

Thanks KRISB410 for the help...haha.

I started that thread hopeing we could get the front and sides done but so many people stated there is already ones out there and this and that, but I figured why not have a set of front&sides that match our tails...it would be nice.

I have purchased a set of smoked front and side markers, the markers were nice but the fronts were basically clear...

So if you guys want to get together and do the fronts and sides as well, I'd be down to do so also, I just want a smoked set to match...

We will need I believe the new standard @ KLEARZ is 20-25 people for group buys.

Ill e-mail jason about it and maybe he can set up another GB for those...but I'd like to wait until after the tails are done to address this so we can keep Jason on the tails and concentrated on them as well.

SO IF YOU WANT TO START THE FRONT&SIDES GROUP BUY, go to the above link POSTED BY: KRISB410 and say im in or something, haha. Ill make a list again.

OH AND AND AND....what about the license plate markers, on the sides of the inner tails, we need to get those made full housing KLEAR...haha, let me knwo about this as well, I will most likely put this in the MARKERS page.

Thanks guys for helping this fall through.

CAMARO5690, I am buying ALL NEW left and right housings to go with my all new lenses and bulbs.

I got am e-mail from klearz today saying there ready. The smoked clear look bad ***. I can't decide. http://klearz.com/camaro.html

hehehegot my email to. waiting to hear if the all red dark smoked are ready to ship

Got my email too.

Now I can't decide!!!!! I was gonna do red with white reverse. But now I'm thinking smoked red with clear reverse, or smoked red with smoked clear reverse. What do you guys think?

Kris - Smoked red with clear reverse.

I think i will go with smoked clear. I must say these lenses look awesome...only wondering about the middle parts where the black was once outlined. I would hate to have to paint those parts but i think it would look a lot better then leaving them the same color. If you guys know what i mean.

So...can we do a 20-25 people GP deal here or are these where the prices will stand?

Just told Tina to send mine all smoked, gonna look good. Anybody know what
kind of 3rd brake light lens they are going to make? The kind in the spoiler are the 91-92 kind high up on the inside back glass?

For the black lines between the lenses I think I'm going to try some black autobody line tape, if I can find a suitable size. It would be way easier than painting them I think. Tina put up a pic with clear reverse and red for the rest. But the clear overlaps the red so you would have to black out the red lip then it would look good.

As far as I know, they arn't doing them, they may be doing the lense in the spoiler (87-89, I think), not the one in the back window, There is another thread about it, I think. Because I have a 91, I didn't bother reading it.

We were told early on by Klearz that they were not going to include the black for the grids. Shouldn't be to hard though. But I am willing to paint them (or have them painted) in order to have "custom" tail lights.

Here is my lastest news from Jason at Klearz

So things are really starting to get close to us getting our hands on them. I can't wait. I think I have decided on smoked red with smoked clear reverse. But I'll make my final decision when a picture is posted of that combo.

Got my email and put in my order and payment.
Will look nice next season if I can get the car painted like I hope to.

Ya i'm just not sure which i want. I want a smoked clear but not as dark as the smoked clear they made. Can't decide between going with the clear or getting the smoked clear...its a tuff choice.

I'm going with smoked clear with clear revese lights i think it will match my car quite well. ~ payment sent~

I just paid for mine and Im going with all smoked. I will see what it looks like on the car before I decide if I will paint the black lines on it.

Wow, I have kinda been watching this thread. Too bad they dont have these for firebird. I would figure they would also be alot easier to make... I may have to pick up a camaro now...

Just read my email......AHHHH THE SMOKED CAME OTU SO MUCH BETER THAN I THOUGHT.

Ordering mine end of week...09, Im coming with style.

New housings to come for x-mas to have completely new tails. Oh yeah.

LETS try to get the third brake light and front&side turn markers made from them as well, to better match each other...

Anyone want to start that one, Kris, wanna do it up? Im ready for another DP...we need to get the license plate lenses made as well, new klear lenses, the old factory ones are ugly looking....aside the new tails hahaha...

L8er guys let me know about the other GB's and if someone would like to set that up (I have the other threads open, just go off of those).

YUMMERS

Are they going to start a new project? On there site it says they arent doing that right now?

Im completely down for some license plate lenses. We need replacements bad for those they turn all yellow and most of them are cracked.

So everyones gonna post up pictures of the lenses on their car once they get them right?

I want to give them some time to get toher things done and out fo the way before I ask for another GB, unless someone else wanst to ask and start it...for another reason is i dont have the upfront cash to provide...

So I figure get the tails in, see some installed, see how they react to daily life then go for the other GB's.

E-MAIL UPDATE:

Hi there,
We have stopped taking any new orders so im not sure if doing those projects in the future will be possible.
Just let me know when you are ready to put in your order.

Klearz
Tina