DIY REMOVAL OF THIRD brake light!!!!!!!!
 

here you go guys.... i thought this deserved a DIY... its such a pain in the as$ to take out this lil guy... anyways i took pics while taking out my third brake light... this is for those of you that wanna paint or tint your third brake lights... :tup:

alright!!! lets get started shall we :D

tools:

4 spreaders for body filler
a 10mm socket
flat head screwdriver

step 1....
pop out the panel on the hatch..... there is enough space to pry the edges start with the left corner then right and work your way around.... there are fasteners on the center of the panel soo your gonna have to stick you hand in the middle of the panel to release these clips.... im pretty sure there are special tools to pop out the fasteners.... BUT i dont have them sooo i used what i had... my hands LOL the panel looks like this...

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...poiler-018.jpg

step 2 ....

now the back of the hatch is exposed go ahead and remove the plug that plugs to the third brake light... ull see a tab on the plug push down and pull it straight out :tup: super easy :D

step 3....

unbolt the single 10mm bolt holding the third brake light.... once you are done with that your done and ready for the fun part....

step 4.....

you are now ready to pry the third brake light out... BUT first there is a seal that holds the lense onto the body... sooo start prying and work your way around the third brake light... this can be done even with a sport wing on... i did it with my wind on.... dont be scared... BE GENTLE though there are small plastic tabs that hold the lense onto the housing it will snap or crack off if your not careful

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ve-3rd-006.jpg

once you have broke the seal around the third brake light start using the plastic spreaders and shove them all on the bottom side of the lense... this will start to make the tabs release... now start pulling upward and prying it slowly..... eventually it will come out and you have the lense out :D

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ve-3rd-002.jpg

step 5

now here is a tricky part... and the part that needs the 4 spreaders....

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ve-3rd-001.jpg

since the housing is stuck inside your hatch at this point... wedge the spreaders on the metal clips.... like this position

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ve-3rd-005.jpg

this will push down the metal clips so it makes your life wayy easier... now one the back side there are the guide shafts... these are the two long plastic looking things.. push them together STRAIGHT forward... if you did the spreaders trick correctly it will go forward with ease.... now the tabs will hit the edges of the hatch before the light housing can fully come out.. u can just pry them with a screwdriver and then viola!!!!

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ve-3rd-003.jpg

there your go the light is out.... all you have to do now is line it up and pop in the lense again...

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ve-3rd-008.jpg

now you can tint your third brake light paint it or whatever... BE CREATIVE :tup: installing it is a breeze... just pop it back in and bolt the one 10mm and plug the plug and ur good to go :happydance:

i wish all of you luck... first thing is always be sure you are aware of the risks that you are taking when you are gonna do this mod.... like breaking all the clips on the lense... take your time and dont rush... having a buddy really helps!!! i did this alone and i was holding done the hatch with my forehead hahah yup!!! my FOREHEAD then i pushed the guide shafts with my hands.... lastly... i am not responsible for anyone that breaks their third brake lights... you all know that you can break stuff while taking parts out of your car be sure you are willing to risk this and have enough belief in yourself that you can do it.. if you dont then.... dont go through with it... you might end up breaking something and regret it....

Nice! I'm waiting for some clear smoke replacements (wink wink.... EVO-R).

whoa!!! i didnt know they make clear smooke ones?!? since when?!? lol that'll look perfect with the jdm taillights :tup:

Not sure yet, but I did inquire them. IIRC, I was told that it is in the works. There has to be one sooner or later.

Great DIY Simota. +1 Rep

:tiphat: thanks schrute

thanks for the DYI Im workin on it right now and took off the third brake light it was not that bad taking it off but pushin in the metal clips to take it out in order to put the third brake light cover in to the assembly

in progress http://www.the370z.com/members/thezm...-light-lol.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/thezm...rake-light.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/thezm...ure22849-a.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/thezm...ure22848-a.jpg

no problem man :D looks like its working out good bro

Thanks Simota it came out pretty easy, I work in a body shop so it wasn't to bad no broken parts.

Great write up! Im still trying to decide what to use to black my lights. Ive heard problems with regular window tint bubbling/peeling due to the shape of the tail lights.

I was scared to do this 3rd brake removal, so I used Oracal (think that's how it's spelled) tint vinyl from Andy at Bluebatmobile, and had the actual tail lights and the fog light (which I made a 4th brake light) painted by my local body shop for $175. It all matches up really well.

Don't have a pics from straight on back, but you can see the tails here.

Check that, I do have pics of the rear.......

simota1 YOU are the man!

+Reps for you dude.

:tiphat:

I want a clear one point blank

My brother made clear replacements for his S14 (and upgraded to LED), I can ask what material he used. Most likely stretched Lexan over a mold of the old lense.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...25809647_n.jpg

Does the light have to be resealed when reinstalled?

:tup:

B@t

I just put my tail lights on after using VHT on them and they look great, but I need to do my 3rd brake light now. Does anyone know where to find a video on the removal process? The DIY video on the tail light video was way off from my model but it helped to have some video footage to reference! Thanks for the help!

The DIY mentions a seal that holds the lens to the body... Does that seal needs to be fixed back up when you reinstall? I want to remove mine to have it smoked.

boy was this fun

only broke 1 tab not too bad :ughdance:

Doing this right now...this is a great car but in all the cars that I have removed the tail lights and 3rd brake lights this is the stupidest/hardest 3rd light removal I have ever done...

No one ever responded to this but I am just going to put a thin strip of some 3m double side tape around it just in case...

The seal was probably to help prevent vibrations. I'm not sure I would replace it with something with adhesive ... at least not strong adhesive. I'd just get some backer rod or a rubber gasket if I felt it needed it.

Have you ever taken it off? The original is adhesive..you have to essentially cut through the seal to get it out....pita...
But some thin rubber gasket/weather strip would work and wouldn't be a PITA to get out in the future....

Weatherstrip sounds like a pretty good idea. Any idea what kind of adhesive it was?

Some gooey black crap...you have to essentially cut through the crap/seal...
I managed to get the stupid light out without breaking a clip. Not sure how exactly...I have a Nismo so the instructions of putting the plastic spreaders on the top did not work because there is no clearance with the rear spoiler. I did pry from the bottom all the way around had multiple plastic panel removers jammed all around the bottom and slowly pried up. The lens actually comes out separate from the base ...
I hear by give the 370z the biggest PITA mounted 3rd brake light award....I have taken out tons of 3rd brake lights in my life on different cars and this one takes the cake for PITA...

I offered tools and a helping hand to someone several years ago who did it in my driveway. It was a mess. Hence, I wouldn't recommend putting something with a strong adhesive back in there. We used Naptha (basically lighter fluid) to clean everything up, which worked pretty well. He didn't replace the seal with anything.

I just got finished putting it back on ..I believe that the original gasket crap was meant to create a bit of water resistance and noise vibration reducer like Jarblue mentioned. The top portion of the gasket was in tact and allot of the lower portion was still present. So I simply added a small amount of black caulking to adhere and form to the rest of the gasket that was still present at the bottom... When it clips in it is a tight seal....and with the remaining gasket and caulking it is back to new...or at least good enough for a stupid 3rd brake light..
2 coats of night shades and 3 coats of clear and its looking mean instead of red....lol

I saw what was required to take out that light, and just used some leftover film from the tinted taillights I had on another car.

Yeah could probably just use some RTV.

Yep...thought about RTv but it can dry up like glue.....maybe real light coat if you ever want to take it off again....

Does anyone know if I’d be able to replace the red lens with a clear one? If so where would I get a clear lens or how would I be able to make one?

Has anyone had problems reinstalling the 3rd brake light back in? I followed up the write up to remove it and it worked great. However when installing it back I find that the 2 outer corners of the red lens dont sit flush with the tailgate/hatch. Is as if it stretch out?? Its weird. Can anyone help?