dutchie101

Wasnt this thread about a mirror indicator mod???

If you wanna get creative with an air brush, you can copy styles similar to Grazio&Co: Blue Splash: Gold Splash: Example of the Black Pearl:

Thought some of you might like it... :) Careful guys, The Smoke is actually a transparent colour/tint. If you go with other Tamiya colours you bound to just get a opaque colour, not transparent colour over the chrome. Also be careful to stop when 1-2 shades lighter than you like, it will darken upon drying. And dont forget the clear coats after! Like Davo said, you can have some paint mixed up to your liking at your local painter. Perhaps a pearl white "watered down" with clear and a little more pearl mica added in would get you the white pearl you desire Vinh. I would say, you could then just take it to your local autobarn or similar shop and have them put it into a pressure pack for you... we did this back in the day for custom matching show car bits.... Or just give the painter another 6 pack and get him to paint it for you with a few extra coats of clear over the pearl. Debating whether to get some extra new Lexus badges to try it out... but considering there is a load of other chrome bits on the car, it might look out of place.. Other Tamiya Paints that may be applicable: PS-36 Translucent Silver PS-37 Translucent Red PS-38 Translucent Blue PS-39 Translucent Light Blue PS-40 Translucent Pink (looking at you John) PS-42 Translucent Yellow PS-43 Translucent Orange PS-44 Translucent Green PS-45 Translucent Purple Non translucent: PS-57 Pearl White PS-58 Pearl Clear

See here on club lexus: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/automotive-care-and-detailing/302602-tutorial-diy-black-pearl-style-emblems.html Copied here: Tutorial: DIY "Black Pearl" style Emblems yep, not exactly the same as this method is paint based but il be damned if it doesnt look good Materials Required: 1-OEM Chrome Emblems (duh ) 2-Soap+water+sponge+cloth+etc... 3-Tamiya Polycarbonate PS-31 Smoke Spray Paint (your local hobby shop should carry this) 4-beverage of choice 5-rubber/nitrile/latex/vinyl gloves now, let me note that the emblems i made-over were new, relatively clean, and therefore didnt need to be taken off the car or prepped much. Procedures: 1-acquire emblems: heres a set of V8 emblems BEFORE paint. 2-place beverage in cooler/refrigerator to chill 3-use soapy water and a sponge/rag of your choice to THOROUGLY clean (but try not to scratch) your emblems wipe dry with cloth. wearing gloves after this would be a good idea so u dont get any fingerprints on the emblems as they would show up thru the paint. 4-take your paint and follow instructions on can to shake and then spray several LIGHT LIGHT coats over the emblem maybe 10-15 seconds apart. remember, we DONT want a deep coat, just enough to darken up the chrome and still look even. heres the paint i used. 5-take beverage and relax for a few hours to let the paint dry, do NOT try to touch it early, because we're painting on a shiny surface any mistakes on your part will look worse. 6-enjoy your freshly painted emblems for a fraction of the cost of OEM black pearl heres the result of the V8 emblems from earlier Total Cost: Paint - ~$5 at hobby shop soap+water+rag - ~$3 beverage - ~$(?) Total Project Cost: <$10 questions or comments are welcome NOTE: if the emblem is on the front of the car or in a high wear area (near rear edge of a fender for example) putting a layer of clear coat is prolly a good idea. im not clearing the emblems on the sides of the car but am using clear on my front emblem. EDIT 10/25/09: Alright guys, to cut down the number of PMs flooding my inbox, here are a few additions. Clear: I prefer DupliColor Automotive clear, in several light coats as directed on the can, on ANY emblems going on the front of the car, or near the trailing edge of a wheel arch, as these will see the most rock chips/debris. i currently clear ALL emblems i do for protection. Shade: To keep your emblems the color you want, for the first pass, spray a couple LIGHT coats of the tamiya paint, and stop when the emblems are a shade or two LIGHTER than what you want as a final result. wait ~2-5minutes and evaluate if it's dark enough for you, if not, spray an extra coat or two, then pause again. the whole idea is that when wet, the paint willl appear slightly lighter, though varying results have been seen. overall, it's easier to make the final product darker, than it is to make it lighter. Once you have your desired shade, proceed to clear. Adhesion Promoter: I recco DupliColor Adhesion Promoter, use very light coats (1-2, keep it thin) on a well cleaned and degreased shiny surface, and proceed with the tamiya/clear process. Some members have reported hazing issues, so ymmv. Posted by PureDrifter.

I knew pilots couldn't be that thick!

Pre- Smoked tails... If Branno is a pilot and hes not kidding.... sh!t, i wouldnt be caught dead in his plane!!

Ben, there is no way you could use those ebay smd lights for driving in the dark, they are used as DRLs in high beam location. Making your own SMD/LED "useable" lights is quite a difficult task. The chips do need considerable heat sinks, and the larger chips are quite expensive to just play with.

Thought of Clazzio leather covers?

Never seen that colour for 2009 ZRE either....

Thanks Seby :)

8K is pushin it, they are majority blue, not lightly hinted blue...

Ahhh!! Stop looking at Rukus stuff John!!

Mazda Capella (lowered, mags back then, stereo etc..) Mazda Capella (2.0L dropped in, exhaust, 16" BBS copies, slammed..) Toyota Cressida Grande '91 ( First 1jzgte conversion done in Oz, 20k + Pure JDM mods on it, drift pig) Toyota Camry (intermediate) BMW 318iS Euro M-Spec (Remus exh, coils, new leather interior, shaved and coded exterior, wheels) (written off by Dad few weeks back) Toyota Corolla Levin ZR (daily) Lexus LS430 (weekender)

See, told ya just a matter of months till Taiwanese copies of the Revier ones... :D

Side skirts are shockers. Not a fan of the front end. Stockies FTW!!

"Could impact"... these words sound surprisingly like something someone said to me while they pulled me over in a carpark once... For someone to pull you over, fine you, defect you or even notice your indicators are in fact more visible and slightly different than OEM is a bit of a stretch... Using and LED globe in the same reflector would indeed change the output and the dispersion of light in the reflector on its own, No LED on the market thus far provides the same radial output as a halogen bulb. Given there are many multi output LED/SMD bulds out there, they still produce a linear output with more hot spots of output...... I cant see how this would be any different to the proposed modification.

Very nice! Are the SSR's 18X8 et20's? Front guards sitting on the top of the front tire??

Lookin fine man, well done!

Once you remove the cover you will find the indicator lens should have two screws holding it to the cover. Once separate, the lens and its backing are generally fixed or glued together. You may be able to easily separate them but i highly doubt it. Cracking the lens is very easy to do. I suggest a light and repeated dremel'ing around or below the join to separate the two halves and to gain access to the inside. Then silicon-ed back together once completed I would also opt for 5050 SMD's. If you go for 5050 strips, probably white back densely populated ones, not the standard issue strips would be the best to use. Or make your own custom board...

Nice link John, cheers. Awesome line up. Mick will love this one:

I see a projector retrofit there... Reminds me to finish mine... Dammit..

Castle Hill Toyota can order them in for you, or use one of the brokers, ie Geenline or Nengun....

No, TRD Japan now offers their version: Official TRD Facelift release PDF