North American Turbocoupe Organization



What holds the tail light covers on?
bhazard Offline
Posting Freak
#1
One of them just pulled right off with little to no effort. Im glad it didnt fall off on the tow home...

I would like to get the other one off though, they are literally filled with dirt and sand.
88 TC, 170k, K&N, $5 Boostvalve, Stinger 3" ex., 3" Magnaflow, 3" Stinger tail, Zoom clutch
15.26 @ 86mph, 2.18 60' killed valvetrain & headgasket
Reply

Martin Offline
Senior Member
#2
They were just glued together. I had mine off once, same reasonn, full of dust and dirt. Which tells you that they are not well sealed and not much glue was used. Regardless, I pulled them apart, gently prying between the smoked outer cover and the inner plastic housing. Bear with me, many years ago now. But it was a simple job. I washed and dried everything up, ligthly sanded any high spots and dry fit the lense a few times to make sure it all lined up, no plastic bits to high, NO surprises, and then glued it together with a good plastic cement, but only in about 8 spots, both ends, and top and bottom. Used masking tape tightly wrapped around the lense and body to hold it tight in place while the glue set. ( the Canadians will be moaning now as the cardinal sin was commitied, I did not use Duct Tape(- Smile This so that I could pull them apart agian in the future if needed. After the glue dried, I put a small bead of Black Silicone sealer all around the gap, nice and smooth, and after that dried, put them back in! Never know they were apart! Been many years, still together, and fairly clean.
Stock 87, no mods, Black with the grey interior.
Boost High, Fly Low
Reply

bhazard Offline
Posting Freak
#3
No no, what actually holds them to the car?

And I wouldnt have used duct tape either, you woulda spent more time cleaning up all the residue and sticky crap left behind than the whole job took alone.
88 TC, 170k, K&N, $5 Boostvalve, Stinger 3" ex., 3" Magnaflow, 3" Stinger tail, Zoom clutch
15.26 @ 86mph, 2.18 60' killed valvetrain & headgasket
Reply

Pete D Offline
Administrator
#4
The part the lenses attach to is held to the rear lid support by studs and nuts. Take the inner trim panels (fuzzy stuff) off an you will see what I mean
Pete Dunham


Reply

bhazard Offline
Posting Freak
#5
oh...those

i already broke one of the studs, with little effort at all.

ill take a closer look tomorrow
88 TC, 170k, K&N, $5 Boostvalve, Stinger 3" ex., 3" Magnaflow, 3" Stinger tail, Zoom clutch
15.26 @ 86mph, 2.18 60' killed valvetrain & headgasket
Reply

bhazard Offline
Posting Freak
#6
Okay this has got to be the most rediculous thing I have ever seen. Apparently only little clips on the reflector part of the assembly holds the covers on. All I could do is push the covers back into place and hope to god I never hit a bump big enough to throw the things off the car, as it is not hard to pull them back off myself.

The studs do nothing as far as I can tell, maybe they hold the reflector assys onto the car I dunno.

At least people can see my tail lights now.
88 TC, 170k, K&N, $5 Boostvalve, Stinger 3" ex., 3" Magnaflow, 3" Stinger tail, Zoom clutch
15.26 @ 86mph, 2.18 60' killed valvetrain & headgasket
Reply

dezridin2 Offline
Member
#7
Where can you get thoes little clips bhazard is talking about? Can you still get them at FORD?
Reply

Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#8
There are about 8 studs per tail light that hold them to the car. Even if a few are missing / broken, it should still hold the assy on good enough, but you may get water leaking into the trunk.

In addition to the clips, there was this gooey butal rubber stuff that sealed the assy. together. You can reassemble the tail light assy using RTV. If done properly, it will seal out dirt, etc, and hold the assy together very well.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
Reply

bhazard Offline
Posting Freak
#9
oh man

so you are telling me the relector assy and the cover are supposed to be one piece?
88 TC, 170k, K&N, $5 Boostvalve, Stinger 3" ex., 3" Magnaflow, 3" Stinger tail, Zoom clutch
15.26 @ 86mph, 2.18 60' killed valvetrain & headgasket
Reply

Qwertys Offline
Senior Member
#10
yes. they are supposed to be one piece.
mine fell apart while washing them, its a really weak seal if you ask me.
'85 TC BPV and Ford FMIC
'88 TC Kirban AFPR, Autometer Boost, FP and A/R Gauge, 8.8 to 4.10 rear, Walboro 255lph Fuel pump, Garrett GT3071R T3/T4 Dual Ball bearing Turbo, Custom AWIC.
Reply





Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)



Theme © iAndrew 2018 - Software MyBB