Morning all,

I just dropped by to ask a question of you knowledgeable lot. I custom make a range of clear lens products, most of which are unavailable elsewhere. I have been asked by an owner on 6gc.net who also has a Scion TC, if I'd be interested in making a clear replacement for the amber front turn as shown in the pic below.



From browsing the forum, I've read several threads and understand the headlight units can be split using the old oven trick. I see some folks have tinted or colour coded these parts, but I'm not aware of them being available as clear in OEM style.

So my question is.......'Would there be much interest if such an item was made.

If you're interested in my credentials, you can check out my thread on clear front turns for the Celica GT4 ST205, which has been on the first page of the styling forum for 2 years

http://www.gt4oc.net/viewtopic.php?t=37250

Any feedback you can give me would be much appreciated. Just a thought while I'm here.....are there any clear items for your cars which aren't available on the market, as I'm always happy to consider new products

 

There have been some random ones made by some people. And I think clearcorners.com will do a set if you order them with new lights or something (but the package is $$$).

I'm sure you'd get buyers if you made a set... but the baking to install is what turns me away. Just not something I'm interested in doing... so I smoked mine from the outside.

 

Many thanks for your input. Oven baking doesn't bother me as I've already done this for a number of different rear clusters inc Lotus Esprit and Mk3 3 Supra. What's more important of course is how happy owners are to undertake the operation.

Links to pics below show a few things I've done inc a couple of U.S customers cars.

















Actually producing them wouldn't be a problem and they'd be inditinguishable from OEM, it's purely a matter of whether there'd be sufficent interest. Without having the lenses in my hand I can't give an accurate price guide, but probably in the order of £70 GBP at a guess.

Any comments greatfully received.

Richard
www.protocast.co.uk

 

Richard, I would be able to send my 2 units to you for a prototype if you wish. My car is far from a daily driver, but I would need them back within 3 weeks from mailing them out. Let me know if you need them



thanks!

tQtC

 

That's a very kind offer tQtC, but I think shipping of the units would be pretty expensive. It cost nearly $100 to send those Supra Mk3 rear conversions to California

I'll go back to the guy who first asked me to look at this project and see if he can split his and send me just the amber inserts. If not, if there's somebody on here who maybe breaks Scions who could split a pair, that would be another idea.

Firstly to get a better idea of cost and mould size, it would be very helpful if someone could give me dimensions of the part inc the depth allowing for the curvature of the part(hope that makes sense)

With any new product I decide to produce, if an owner supplies the part for me to mould from, I send them a clear pair FOC.

BTW..... did anbody know the rear clusters on the S.4 Lotus Esprit were actually originally fitted on the '85 Corolla ? Fact!

 

i have a set of the amber inserts sitting around my house. i took them out when i baked my headlights and made my own kind of clear inserts. i dont need them for anything. if you want them i dont need them for anything.

 

umm wow, $140 for these things? that's kinda expensive.

 

Neo, in lotus land $140 probally is more like a jiggle in the pocket


I used to work next to a place that did lotus work, and they charged $95 an hour.. this was 5 years ago.

maybe Richard can come up with a more scionized price point.

 

If the price point is reasonable. I'd be interested.

 

figure the boys on here making them now (me when i'm not lazy/patrick/corey) are selling them for $40 shipped.


that's your pricing to beat

 

Mornin' all,

Problem is, you expect a mass market price for a mass production car part. The fact is that all my products are individually vaccuum cast using U.V stabilised resins. After making the original moulds(which can take a day), each lens is hand cast then oven baked for 2 hours, cooled for an hour before the part can be removed, trimmed and polished.

This way, I achieve an exact copy of the OEM part with a perfect fit and finish. The other way is to use a piece of ceiling light diffuser or similar

Here's a few pics which show the diiference in result - can you tell which is which?



.

You pays your money and takes your choice, but I'm into obsessive detailing.

Still need the dimensions of the item in question before I can give a better idea on price. As an exmple, those Esprit rears needed 4kgs of mould material per side @£20/kg = $320

FWIW, I paid $180 2 years ago for clear fronts for my 944 S.2 which weren't the best quality and that's why I started doing this.

Richard
www.protocast.co.uk

 

5 3/4" long x 3 7/8" tall x 7/16" thick with the curve (though the plastic itself if it wasnt curved is 1/4" thick).

if you need a pair of sidemarkers and/or headlight bezels to test fit, lemme know. I have several sitting here in my room.

 

This is real nice talking about a Lotus but , HOW ABOUT TALKING ABOUT A SCION ?????? It IS a Scion forum guys . You know what ? Doing clears for a Lotus does not matter . Scion people . SCION

 

Fair point - I only used the Esprit as an example of how a pair of lenses weighing about 75grms each needed moulds weighing 8kgs and the cost. No more mention of Lotus, it was purely to help establish the quality of products that I make.

Right, so looking at the SCION sidemarkers, thanks for the dimensions Neo, but I'm abit confused by the curvature measurement - I'd have thought it was more like a 2inch curvature looking at the radius of the headlamp ? Clarification please.

It's not easy for me as we don't have the Scion over here or I'd check it out first hand.

Does anybody have a digital balance or postage scales so you can give me the weight of the part?

Also out of interest, how is the part held in position? Does it just kind of clip out of position with the unit apart or is it glued to the backing case?

Superblue kindly offered his inserts as he's got them extracted already - I may well take you up on that :D

From what I can make out so far, I think I'd be looking to achieve a price of around £50/pair. I can't see them being much less than that due to the way they're made.

 

£50/pair

dollars please?
other then that if you need another set i have them laying arou dsomewhere ifi can find them. ill be happy to send them to you (just at shipping costs).

 

I think people are more afraid to bake their head lights open, it would cost to much to mass produce these, plus they are very easy to make as well as affordable.

 

weight is 19.4 grams

on the backside of the marker, there are several little tabs (6 total) that click into the headlight bezel to hold it in place.

here's a picture showing the tabs


as for the curvature...


the smaller dimension is 1/4". it's the thickness of hte sidemarker. when the curve is accounted for though (the larger dimension), the thickness becomes 7/16th's.

 

Not another one... hahaha!


we'll see how this one turns out...

 

hehehe ^ we'll see

 

Thanks for the detailed pics/weight etc guys....as I suspected, it's slightly trickier with the tabs, but more importantly, if you can achieve a result as good as as blackonblack91's close up shot using off the shelf materials, I'm not going to be able to beat that price/look on this one

Hey Ho...on to the next project i guess

Time for bed.........