Trying To Polish A Broken Turd
A few weeks back, I "attempted" to install a cleaner set of Taillights and Center Bezel on my 93 Talon. It didn't go so well.
I cracked the Reflective Panel of the Center Bezel, ruining what was at the time, a fairly clean and defect free piece. Not so much now, unfortunately.
I couldn't find another Center Garnish, clean or otherwise, so I decided to try and do something with the one I pulled off the car.
The scratched, dirty and rusty one? Oh yeah, this will be....fun
At Least It's Not Cracked..
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| It's A Little Rough |
This thing has definitely seen better days. The Reflector Lens is fairly scratched, dull and worn. The black plastic Surround where the License Plate sits is faded as are the black plastic Pods under the Reverse Lamps.
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| It's Worse.. |
The rear Support Frame is made out of metal and is pretty rusty in some spots, and overall just very dirty.
The Support Frame is plastic welded to some tabs on the rear of the Reflector Lens. It's also bolted to the Reflector in two places where the License Plate sits.
The Plastic Welds are very fragile and have a tendency to separate from the metal Frame as time goes on. Automotive Goop seems to work well to repair these connections when used sparingly.
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| Repair 1 |
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| Repair 2 |
Tear It Down
The entire Center Taillight Bezel Assembly is made up of several different components and is overall, a bit fragile due to it's construction and age.
Use Caution When Taking This Assembly Apart!
1. Remove The License Plate Lights- The two Lights for the License Plate are secured to the Metal Support Frame by a total of 4 very small Phillips Head Machine Screws. The threads on my screws were corroded, so a application of Liquid Wrench or Kroil was needed to remove them. Be sure to use the correct size Screwdriver. It's very easy to strip these fasteners out.
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| There They Are |
2. Remove The Reverse Light/Pods- There are two Reverse Light "Pods" screwed into the Garnish Assembly with a total of 8 Fasteners for the two Pods. There is a small plastic "Trim Cover" located on the Inboard Side of both Lights. This can be removed from the rear by pushing then out from behind, with your fingers, or by using a small Flat Tip Screwdriver to pop the covers off.
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| Screw Covers Removed |
With the covers removed you will see two large Phillips Head Screws. Remove these carefully. They're screwed into ABS Plastic, so they could be brittle enough to crack.
The Reverse Lights are also retained by screws that are on the Outboard side of both Light Assemblies.
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| Sneaky |
The easiest way to remove the lights was to use Penetrating Oil on the Metal Screws and CAREFULLY loosen them from the housings, using the proper sized Phillips Head Screwdriver.
You should now be able to maneuver the Reverse Lights out of the Main Assembly.
This may or may not be the actual way to remove them, but it is what worked for me.
Your results may vary.
3. Wiring- Remove the Bulbs/Plugs from the various Lights in the Panel. The Wiring Harness is secured to the Metal Support Frame with Push Through Wire Clip. You should be able to use your fingers to push the Clip out without cutting it. Or cut it if you need to. It's probably overkill anyway.
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| No Cuts |
4. Cleaning- I rinsed everything off in the tub, because I'm in a apartment, and that's all I had available. If you're lucky enough to be in a house with a water hose, get after it then. I wanted to remove as much loose dirt, trash or other debris from the parts, before the next step.
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| Cleaning/Polishing/Masking Supplies |
5. Polishing- The Main Lens of the Bezel was pretty scratched up and dull looking. I used some Sandpaper to prep the surface before I started polishing. Starting with 800 Grit and progressing to 1000, 1500, and finally 2000 grit, the entire Reflector Lens was wet sanded to try and knock out the scratches and cuffs present on the lens.
After wiping down the sanded areas with a clean cloth, the prepped surface was polished using a Headlight Restoration Kit from Mother's . Follow the directions on the box, and you should see some great results. I also polished the Reverse Light Lenses as well.
6. Masking- The Main Reflector and the Reverse Light Assemblies were masked off to be repainted. I opted for a Semi Gloss Enamel to try and freshen up the faded areas on the Rear Bezel.
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| Reverse Masked |
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| Main Bezel Assembly |
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| Curves Suck |
7. Painting- I should have taken a bit more care with this step, and gotten better results. Everything turned out OK, but if I had invested a bit more time in the process it, would have turned out a lot better.
I gave the areas to be painted a cursory pass with the 1000 Grit Sandpaper. Cleaned the affected areas and then applied the first coat of the Rustoleum Black Semi Gloss Acrylic Enamel Paint. What I should have done was use a primer coat and then, applied the paint.
After adding a few more coats, I allowed it to dry overnight. The paint on the Reverse Light Pods, ran in a few places and generally looked like ass. I tried to wet sand the Light Pods and the Screw Covers, applied a few more coats of paint and allowed them to dry again.
Once the paint was dry, I again Wet Sanded the Reverse Light Pods, Screw Covers and the Black Area for the License Plate on the Main Bezel. Using a Cordless Drill and some Polish from the Headlight Restoration Kit, I buffed the painted areas slightly. This brought out a bit of a shine to the painted areas and also removed some of the imperfections.
In the future, if I have to do something like this again, I will take more time to do the job properly. This way worked, but it could have been done a lot easier and looked better.
I gave the areas to be painted a cursory pass with the 1000 Grit Sandpaper. Cleaned the affected areas and then applied the first coat of the Rustoleum Black Semi Gloss Acrylic Enamel Paint. What I should have done was use a primer coat and then, applied the paint.
After adding a few more coats, I allowed it to dry overnight. The paint on the Reverse Light Pods, ran in a few places and generally looked like ass. I tried to wet sand the Light Pods and the Screw Covers, applied a few more coats of paint and allowed them to dry again.
Once the paint was dry, I again Wet Sanded the Reverse Light Pods, Screw Covers and the Black Area for the License Plate on the Main Bezel. Using a Cordless Drill and some Polish from the Headlight Restoration Kit, I buffed the painted areas slightly. This brought out a bit of a shine to the painted areas and also removed some of the imperfections.
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| Slightly Polished Bezel |
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| Wet Sanding To Try To Remove Paint Runs |
Reassembly
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| Don't Eat These Pods Kids |
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| Looks Better |
Once everything was Painted, Cleaned and Polished, I went ahead and reassembled everything. The Reverse Light Pods were reattached, along with the License Plate Lights and Wiring Harness.
The Weather Strip on the edge of the Bezel was reattached with some Goop and Painters Tape.
The Bulbs for the Reverse and License Plate Lights were replaced with Sylvania Silverstar Bulbs.
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| Back Together |
The Weather Strip on the edge of the Bezel was reattached with some Goop and Painters Tape.
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| Gluing Seal And Replacing Lights |
Installation
*Don't Crack It This Time Dummy*
Remembering the fiasco from a few weeks ago, I wanted to ensure the installation went better this time.
I removed the Rear Hatch Trim Cover and exposed the hardware for Removing and Installing the Center Taillight Bezel. A total of 7 small 10mm Nuts need to be removed from the Mounting Studs on the back of the Center Taillight Bezel. Once these are removed, the piece can be carefully removed by pushing on the studs.
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| Interior Trim Panel Removed |
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| A Total of 7 10mm Nuts Hold The Center Taillight Bezel. |
The Bezel was carefully removed and placed aside. The refinished Bezel was placed on the car with the Studs aligned with the mounting holes. The wiring harness was plugged in as well.
Using some GENTLE pressure, the Bezel was pushed into place and held in place while the Nuts were started on the studs. The Nuts were tightened down slowly a bit at a time until they bottomed out. It's in and I didn't crack the stupid thing this time.
Using some GENTLE pressure, the Bezel was pushed into place and held in place while the Nuts were started on the studs. The Nuts were tightened down slowly a bit at a time until they bottomed out. It's in and I didn't crack the stupid thing this time.
Go Me.
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| Uncracked...This Time. |
A Little Polish
The Left and Right Taillights were in very good shape, but had some spots that needed to be addressed.
There was a small dried blob of Contact Cement on the Right Taillight and several small Blotches from what looked like Spray Paint on the Left Taillight. Some light wet sanding with 2000 Grit Sandpaper took care of the Paint Splotches, and some Goo Gone and a Razor Blade took care of the dried Glue on the right.
Both Taillights and the Center Bezel were wiped down with a wet rag and the polish from the Headlight Restoration Kit was used with the Cordless Drill to clean everything up. After a quick wipedown with a Microfiber Cloth, and a check of the Lights, this job was finished.
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| It's Not Perfect, But It's A Lot Better |
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| Finished |
That Was A Lot Of Work
Unfortunately the supply of Talon specific parts for this platform is dwindling as time goes on. These were popular cars at one point, but a lot of them were abused and junked over the years.
In order to keep these things looking decent, sometimes you're going to go the extra mile and do more work than the average enthusiast.
Part of the price for driving, modifying and maintaining something old and unique.
Until the next thing breaks...
Alpha, Mike, Foxtrot...
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