ok i was trying to make a clear third light (97 explorer)

[Saleen_SR71]

Well like I said "trying" failed horribly, but at the same time succeeded greatly!

Heres what I did,I took off the uper portion of the rear door pannel, unscrewed the black module, then unbolted the 3rd light (3 nuts hold it in from the inside), then drilled the rivets out (there are 4 holding the metal piece over the light), then I took the metal piece and light off.


Heres where I failed, in trying to figure out how to get the red plastic cover off i was dremelling away, broke a disc, then used a chisle (stupid of me but thus far nothing broke), then I used a dremel disc again and once again it broke, so out came the chisle again... this time I was wondering what the rattling was that I heard inside... and to my suprize the neon tube inside broke! so that sucked...

I was about to give up when i rememberd I had extra white cathodes that I had ordered from OZNIUM.COM, and I also had Transparent Candy Apple Red spray paint... so I put 2-and-2 together hoping for a temp quick fix, and well... I didnt really know that the black module was a transformer for the neon tube... but noticed shortly after that my transformer from the cathode kit was gone... but luckly i had tons of them from a previous mess-up project... so I pluged in another connected it to the battery and it worked, I removed the transformer from connection then stick the wires in the other plug (the one before the transformer) and success! it worked!

So I put it all back together for now and now i need to go to the store to buy a thiner piece of acrylic (the piece i got that i was planning on molding to the housing will take forever to grind down correctly, but i may still do it as i got to wait 3+ days to get my cathodes)

so now to order some Red cathodes or led tubes off OZNIUM.COM

 

[410Fortune]

Hua?
So you have a custom third brake light, but its not done yet? red LED's with a clear lens?

Speak english man! hahaha

 

[Saleen_SR71]

well i got a piece of clear plastic... put it on, and yeah its clear... and it sorta shines red for now.

well i called and they dont make red led tubes... so im thinking of zooming to autozone before placing my order

ill take a pic when i get back to show.

no not finished... still in progress..

*edit*heres the picture of it installed, ill make the "how to" when i take it apart again tomorrow (if i remember to work on it tomorrow)

im going to spend hours dremeling it down so that it plugs in to the black trim... i think using a router would be easier, but i dont have one... im giong to go to the store to find some bits in order to make this a bit easier... i dont want it to take more than 6 hours because i dont have any days off work for the next few days, also because i dont want to keep putting it up there and wasting rivits.

 

[DirtyDog]

I did that on my '95 but I re-used my stock neon

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=942474#post942474

 

[Saleen_SR71]

i would of too if i didnt break it on accident, how did you get the red cover off? i used a dremel but apparently wasnt using the right bits for the job, if i could find another light im going to see how much it is, and do it the right way, because right now it looks fugly

 

[JasonF]

I have a used 3rd brake light for 95-97 for sale (bulb is shot but the housing is good). This makes a good replacement if you want to cut yours open or goofed one up doing a conversion. Email me if interested... jbond007 at lycos dot com

Jason

 

[Saleen_SR71]

the neon bulb is shot? as in broken? i need a working one, sorry

 

[DirtyDog]

I just pulled the red cover off after I took all the guts out(the bulb and housing). I just pushed/pulled it out but you gotta be careful cause you could easily bend the black housing

 

[Saleen_SR71]

the red cover was hella stuck to the black housing, i tried pulling it, i tried to get something between the red cover and black housing, it wasnt very easy.

if i get another one im going to use the metal grinding bit i have to get it off, or even the metal plastic cutting bit i just bought, hope the part isnt rediculously expensive

 

[Glowin97x]

Well they do however make Red individual LEDS http://www.oznium.com/led which in my opinion would look better. If i were you I would mount a row of closely spaced Red leds (with the top of them chopped tp diffuse the light. and then i would frost the acrylic a little so that you cant them. I think the indivudual leds would be better than the tube. (Even though they do make red cathode tubes without a red tube (just the element lights up red). Check out the oznium forum for both the cathodes and leds several members have switched to led tail lights

*edit
a good thread on red cathodes (even though id go w/ the leds)
http://www.oznium.com/forum/topic5724-highlight-brake+light

& for a bit more money this thing looks sweet
http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/IntelliBrake/intellibrake.php