Clear amber lenses

I am doing a follow up to one of the other posts here. Has anyone managed to find clear amber lenses for the front end yet? Or way to clear them?

KillaKeninaRiv wrote:

I am doing a follow up to one of the other posts here. Has anyone managed to find clear amber lenses for the front end yet? Or way to clear them?

Do you mean Clear Turn Signal Lenses for the front of the car.
The ones in the corner of the front bumper.?
They cannot be both Clear and Amber at the same time, unless one half of the lens is Clear and the other half is Amber.!!!!!!!!
If someone knows where to get these I'd be interested as well.

KillaKeninaRiv wrote:

I am doing a follow up to one of the other posts here. Has anyone managed to find clear amber lenses for the front end yet? Or way to clear them?

No and no.

The closest you'd probably get would be to get a couple junkyard ambers, separate the lenses, make up plexiglas inserts and fit them with a heat gun and clear epoxy filler.

The problem will then become dulling and yellowing of the plexiglas over time.

It occurs to me that maybe the acrylic flat lenses for grid ceiling lights might work in this application - the clear translucent (as opposed to white translucent) one with diamond diffusing pattern molded in. You probably have to mount them diamond side in to the lenses so they don't hold dirt and car wax and stuff. TO do that you could grind an 1/8" flat chamfer at the edge so they will epoxy onto the turn signal reflector housings and fit back in the factory spots. I've never tried this, so you're on your own with it. The ICL brand of diffusers have good UV stabilizers in them and shouls not yellow out as fast as others, although I imagine they will yellow too over time.

I think what we'd *really* want to know is who made the Riv headlights. They are the first plastic headlights I've seen that did not get dull and yellow over the years. How they did that I don't know, although I have my suspiciions.

Albertj

That 50/50 might not look bad either. Maybe I'll get creative and cut two in half and try to solder it together. I dont know...

albertj wrote:

I think what we'd *really* want to know is who made the Riv headlights. They are the first plastic headlights I've seen that did not get dull and yellow over the years. How they did that I don't know, although I have my suspiciions. Albertj

Alright, you got me to bite on this potential conspiracy;
Just what are your suspicions or conclusions.?

Rickw wrote:

albertj wrote:

I think what we'd *really* want to know is who made the Riv headlights. They are the first plastic headlights I've seen that did not get dull and yellow over the years. How they did that I don't know, although I have my suspiciions. Albertj

Alright, you got me to bite on this potential conspiracy;
Just what are your suspicions or conclusions.?

And WHY didn't they make the cornering lamp housings from the same materiel???

So they could get you to keep coming back to buy more and more of the corners at $75 apiece???

I thought the headlights were made of glass which is why they haven't discolored??

They're plastic, but it's a type that does not break down from exposure to UV light.

I don't know who made the Riv headlights. I do know that various companies making polycarbonate resin ("Lexan" that used to be made by GE for instance) had been trying to make polycarbonate windshields for some time. The realities of plastics are against them - not sure people want "disposable' windshields and as thin as the glass is in many of them I'm not certain there is even much of a weight advantage. Plus the ability of the glass windshield to absorb energy in a collision (it fractures instead of fracturing your head, up to a point) is useful. Plus IIRC they never did solve the windshield scratching problem. You can make the plastic stand up to a rubber wiper but not to random abrasive atmospheric dust.

That said, the point is that on the way to trying to make windshields, someone had to have solved the UV deterioration problem. I am *really* impressed that it was done so well on the Riv. Those headlights, from a polymer chemistry standpoint, are a nice piece of work.

And no, I don't know why they did not make the corners out of the same stuff but I guess it had something to do with bean counting.

Albertj

I just went and got the amber lenses and the taillight, spoiler third brake light and the red corner lights laminated to match the tinted windows. So the car is all black and white now. I'll take some pics today. Man, its looks good! And I waxed it.

In your Sig, you have multiple cars listed. Which one did you put the spoiler on and had the tinting done to that you've mentioned above.?

If some of those other cars are gone for good could you delete them or make reference to the fact that you don't own them any more.
Sure would be easier for us to understand.
I can't remember who owns what at time's without looking at the sig.

This is just as bad as not putting a sig in there with info about your car.
Do you know what I mean.

They were listed in chronological order, however, by the time you had posted this I had already deleted them, since I was updating my sig. It was getting rather cluttered!

Anyone every figure this out? I'm currently emailing back and forth with Tap Plastics about a material I can use to make my own that will stand up to the elements. Right now its between water-clear polyester resin and Epoxy resin (Which I know will not stand up to the elements).

Just wanted to know if anyone else had already done this a better way. Right now, not counting mold materials, looks like I can get enough plastic to make both front and both rear (red and amber) lenses for around $40.

Actually, only $31 for the material. $9 for a "special" catalyst dropper.

Bowersk wrote:

Actually, only $31 for the material. $9 for a "special" catalyst dropper.

I don't know that anyone else has figured this out.

If your molds are reusable you may be able to recoup your $$.

Albertj

Yeah I'd be using Urethane RTV for the molds. This guy I'm talking to there says that both of their pourable plastics will come right out of the mold if you use a release agent, so should be re-usable (barring I don't damage the mold myself with my own uncontrollable red bull twitch )

I can even tint the plastics different colors so if anyone knows what colors to mix to make a transparent black (absence of color) that would be fantastic..lol

Looks like I'm adding this to the list of things to do to the Riviera after I get the motor done.

"Our casting resin is UV stabilized so its performance outdoors is much
better that polyester resins in general. That said, clear urethane would be
my first choice for tail and turn lenses. Do a search for clear casting
urethane."

Have to use a poly mold for the urethane casting and those are a little tricky. Have to heat the mold up for something like 8 hours post casting to fully cure the mold, then heat it up for 4 hours before you pour the urethane in it. Little more expensive too, would come out to about $60 in material but should be able to do a couple sets of each.

Guess we will see how easy it is soon.

Bowersk wrote:

Yeah I'd be using Urethane RTV for the molds. This guy I'm talking to there says that both of their pourable plastics will come right out of the mold if you use a release agent, so should be re-usable (barring I don't damage the mold myself with my own uncontrollable red bull twitch )

I can even tint the plastics different colors so if anyone knows what colors to mix to make a transparent black (absence of color) that would be fantastic..lol

If you get it to work would you be willing take orders and sell the finished product to those of us who might be interested

ghpcnm wrote:

Bowersk wrote:

Yeah I'd be using Urethane RTV for the molds. This guy I'm talking to there says that both of their pourable plastics will come right out of the mold if you use a release agent, so should be re-usable (barring I don't damage the mold myself with my own uncontrollable red bull twitch )

I can even tint the plastics different colors so if anyone knows what colors to mix to make a transparent black (absence of color) that would be fantastic..lol

If you get it to work would you be willing take orders and sell the finished product to those of us who might be interested

Absolutely...Getting the rest of my motor back this week. Plan on attacking that for the next couple of weekends and then I'll order up some of this and give it a couple of tries. Would most people want a more opaque milky color clear or a water clear? With the urethane they do have black dye so that is an option as well.

I would also be willing to put in an order after I see the finished product. Something I've always wanted to see done, but never had a chance to. I would be wanting a water clear one.

I did something like this one time with my protege and it turned out pretty good. Just have to take your time and think about how to best setup the mold to limit imperfections. Those lenses were easy to bake off though. I've heard that the ones on the Riv are not. If I can get them of in one piece, I have no doubt I'll be able to come up with something cool looking.

Bowersk wrote:

ghpcnm wrote:

Bowersk wrote:

Yeah I'd be using Urethane RTV for the molds. This guy I'm talking to there says that both of their pourable plastics will come right out of the mold if you use a release agent, so should be re-usable (barring I don't damage the mold myself with my own uncontrollable red bull twitch )

I can even tint the plastics different colors so if anyone knows what colors to mix to make a transparent black (absence of color) that would be fantastic..lol

If you get it to work would you be willing take orders and sell the finished product to those of us who might be interested

Absolutely...Getting the rest of my motor back this week. Plan on attacking that for the next couple of weekends and then I'll order up some of this and give it a couple of tries. Would most people want a more opaque milky color clear or a water clear? With the urethane they do have black dye so that is an option as well.

Good question...I think I would prefer black.

I'll make textured "sample cubes" so that people can see the different finishes and colors. All kinds of crazy things you can do when you make your own stuff.

COOL !!!

Bowersk wrote:

I'll make textured "sample cubes" so that people can see the different finishes and colors. All kinds of crazy things you can do when you make your own stuff.