Another project from the batcave.

Anyways, imagine a cross between a 4th gen LS1 taillight and a 3-stripe 2nd gen taillight put together on a thirdgen taillight. Thus, the 4-3-2 Firebird Taillight. I got one exterior part of one taillight done. The third stripe is actually cut out from another taillight, its not just spray painted. And the fog light(or reverse light) uses an H3 bulb. This thing has really been a pain to make perfect and I haven't figured out if I want to continue with it. It would use LED's for the red part. I'm also throwing around the idea of making a one piece taillight completely from scratch which might be a lot easier to make. Anyways, here's a pic of the taillight:


Does it look cool?

 

Until I saw the round reverse light, I thought it looked kinda cool. Replace the round one with a square/rectangular one, whatever fit best, and I think ya got a winner.

 

yea, i think what your doing is awesome, but i think let the round stay with the new gens, we had a squarer body and trying to put that in there looks odd, maybe it's just the blueness, but i know where u got those lights and the concaveness of it's lense, i'm not so sure about it, but another thought to add to this, wut if you kind of trans-am-ed it with using a tint kit all the way across??? any thoughts towards that?? and as far as making a one piece...i know we never bestow these thoughts upon others, but for the sake of an accident, kids playing around your car, or just plain age kicking in and cracking the lense, woudln't it be easier if you really liked it to replace just one insead of the entire unit.

In the end, do what you like, bump for great idea!!

 

I think this taillight would match with a 4th gen spoiler very well. Other than that, i don't know. That fog doesn't match up as well as I thought it would for the tails. That blue is just the blue bulb.

Oh yeah, I've had a cracked a taillight lense before because of a kid that didn't know better. But a one piece would look so sleek.

I was thinking about putting a 130W H3 bulb back there for the reverse. Would make it easier to see stuff when backing up, thats for sure.

Probably back to the drawing board though.

 

Im going to go against the grain here... I like the round tail light. I like it because you are goin for a blended look. If you take the round light out, its cutting its 4th gen ties in my opinion. I think it looks ok.

What I would have done, is mount the fog behind clear plastic, and tinted over the light opening. So when its off, its hard to see, and when its on, its not a blinding light. Although, that will probably help with reversing. So in that aspect, its a great way to incorporate a reverse light to see while backing up...esp since you can sort of aim it still.

Ide like to see some more/better pictures. Ide REALLY like to see a pic of it mounted... Good thinking though! Way to go outside the box. No real aftermarket solutions for 3rd gen bird rear lights. And alzetta or whatever they are called look like pure crap imo.

J.

 

yea i agree with ghettocruiser, i do like it, i'm just not positive about the round light myself, maybe if you mounted it i would be convinced. But as far as the putting the backup light behind tint, either that or do the whole lense and make it trans-am ish, i don't know, there is still a lot of wiggle room to play with this design, i personally would like to see a two piece taillight setup like this (like the 90-92 trans am i think), two piece with the three bar light like the 2nd gen as wide as it can go with the back up lights in the middle. But definally a one piece would be very sleek! Then again i think if you put the back up lights behind tint, and black out the center piece, it would be real clean and slick, and extremely like the 2nd gen taillights becuase you woulnd't see the backup light until you were in reverse Kudos, keep em comin!

 

That would look sweet on my car since it's a 91 with a 4th gen wing and round fog lights up front.

How did you do this? Any in progress pics? I would LOVE to have tail lights like that.

 

Basically, used a dremel with a cutting disc to cut out a circle and the yellow lense. Used PVC pipe for the fog light indention. Epoxied everything together with the best plastic epoxy in the world(permatex 5 minute epoxy). Then used the best plastic spray paint you can buy off the shelf(Krylon Plastic Fusion, Satin Black), then primer, then more plastic fusion again. Some sanding, some plastic polishing using mothers aluminum polish somewhere in there too.

A lot of the same process I used when I made the clear front blinkers for an 82-90 firebird. Dremel-epoxy-fusion paint

 

I'm going to "borrow" your idea. That's just too cool to pass up. I've gotta have me some of those. But, I'll probably VHT them or black them out a little in some way.

I like the fog lights for the rev light idea. But, I'd want to have them on a toggle switch to use them for revenge on bright lighters that ride too close.

Very nice work!

 

Thats cool, just mention my name when you get them done.

That would be easy to add a toggle switch. The reverse wire goes to the center console even.

You might be able to use testors transparent red paint on the yellow part. I tried it but it wasn't the red didn't match up, which is why I cut out the yellow part. However, if you were to black it out, the difference in reds would not be noticeable.

 

I like it, but I have to see on car for my final decision fabrication looks great btw

 

I was curious what it would look like on my car too, so I paint-chopped it. Hope you don't mind. Here's how it turned out....I definately am going to make a set of these.

 

I think it looks pretty good.. I dont think it's the actual roundness of the taillight that takes away from it, it think its the light itself. If you had a white lens, instead of the chrome looking light, that was set back a little in the housing. You could just cut of a set of 4th gen lights and steal the lens from it.

 

Well, those are cheap walmart 3.5" fogs and there has got to be better fogs out there. The 4th gen ones don't have H3 bulbs, they are smaller too.

 

I like it myself, You make some nice stuff there Firebat.

Finish the other side, and get them in the car for a pic already!

 

I'll get a pic for you guys next week with one side on the car but it won't be functional. Just for show.

I'm researching how I'm going to do another set of custom taillights and if I don't think they'll be better than the 432's, I'll finish the 432's along with a better foglight for the reverse. I'm looking for about a 3.5" fog with halo's, maybe 4". Either set of tails will probably have round fogs, just to use 100W bulbs.

 

Those do look pretty cool though I dont think the exposed lamp on the reverse looks good. I think it looks out of place like that and it makes the round look bad too. I think if you had that under the black it would look even better.

 

I thought they looked bad at first besause of the round light, but after seeing it on FYRCHKN's car I really like it. Good job!! Any chance you can make camaro lights?

 

I like it. Looks good. It looks no more out of place than the 4thgens version. Maybe on the 82-90 birds that are a little more square but still goes well. When I had my 87 formula I did the TA tailights and after awhile I started to dislike them. The amber part of the base bird lights was the only thing I was iffy on. And this improves them. Awesome job and worksmanship.

 

updates?

 

For now, I'm not going to continue working on the taillights. They are a lot of work to get perfect. Plus, I haven't found a fog light I like yet. I'm just going to vht black out some other taillights I have.