Tail light / license plate light / fender eliminator mod ???

[Miketegra]

I've been trying to figure out the best way to hack off the the exposed ugly part of the rear fender on my '95. I think I'm going to simply remove all of the fender sticking down below the tail light, leaving just enough plastic there to mount the license plate to. I also plan to ditch the ugly license plate light as well.
My question is: has anyone modified the tail light so that the running lights will illuminate the license plate? I read somewhere that if one cut out the bottom of the tail light lense and glued or plastic welded in a clear section of plastic so, the light from the running lights would shine down on the plate. I like the idea of having a clean install...dont want to have to wire in an additional light to illuminate the plate, nor do I want to buy those license plate bolts with the lights in them.

I have a tail light on the way from ebay that I plan to experiment with....any ideas before we begin surgery?

Mike

[Rev]

Mine is chopped off at the bottom of the tailsection:



You can see a dark area above the reflector, that lets a little light through. If you thought it wasn't enough light you could carve that out and replace it with some clear plex. I think it allows enough through and in the nine years i've had it this way, I have yet to be pulled over for it.

[Miketegra]

Looks pretty clean Rev....how did you do the actual cutting? Any advice before I get going on it?

Mike

[Rev]

Well, the first thing I would say is don't cut it too short. As you can see from these better pics I took, the fender is really too short. The plate bolts rub on the bottom of the tailsection. Fortunately they are plastic, but they are still flattened off from rubbing.





If I were to do it again, I would leave an inch at the back under the reflector. Or I might take off the plate and light then hold the plate where i wanted to mount it and draw around the sides and bottom of it with a Sharpie. That way when i cut the fender and put the plate back on, the back of the plate wouldn't show, it'd be covered by the fender.

As for the best way to cut it, I'd say use a jigsaw with a 10 to 14-tooth per inch blade. That way if you wanted to radius-cut the transition from the side to the back of the fender it would be easier. I suppose you COULD use a razor knife but that plastic is pretty thick, thick enough to make it dangerous work anyways.

[Miketegra]

Thanks for the tips Rev. I can see one of the "somewhat downsides" of the mod in the amount of road crap stuck to the bottom of your tail light lens.
Oh, the sacrafices we make for beauty ;)

Mike

[R.W.]

I did my 99 the same way as Revs except I left the tail piece about the same size the license plate. After you do the cutting on put the clear plex over the hole using silicon, there is plenty of light to go over the license plate...

This is the link where I got the idea from...

Rear Fender trim

[douglasthecook]

I used a Dremel to cut off the rear fender, got some aluminum sheet and cut it to shape. I also cut the bottom out of my tail light, and clear RTV'd in a piece of plexi-glas to illuminate the liscense plate. I bought a spare rear light off ofebay just in case I messed up on the cutting, but I was careful, and didn't need it. I still might mod it to have as a spare. I will post picks in my album later tonight. Hit me up if you have any questions.

[flameface]

I used a 1" dia holesaw and cut one hole directly under the filament of each taillight bulb. Then glued a clear piece from half a cassette case over the two holes. Quick, easy and clean. The cassette case plastic even has a smoothly beveled edge...
I moved my plate to the fender, onto the flat, plate-sized surface where it clearly belongs, then cut the fender off with a jigsaw just below the plate.

[douglasthecook]

Pics up in my gallery as promised.

[oss]

you could remove the whole fender and make a bracket out of aluminum plate ,i used one of those windshield washer l.e.d.s for the light with the old wires.

[ride]

Hey All....I did this mod to my '90 (not sure if its the same for the '95, but has to be close). I designed a bracket that allowed me to use the existing licence plate brackets and light assembly. It just bolts further back where the fender itself is bolted to the rear sub-frame. No cutting of anything required. (except for the bolts of the licence plate frame...they're a little long). Attached is an image of the bracket I had made. Sorry I can't take any pics of the finished product at the moment...all my back fairings are off and getting nice coat of new red paint....