Tail Light Guards

[yellowgizmo99]

Tom found tail light and it should be there friday. USPS.

[tom4bren]

U Da Man

Will bring it back next time we stay at Kroker/Norge.

[VX KAT]

Darn....had appointment with the fabricator shop for tomorrow Thursday 2/23, but guy he wants to work on these will be out, so we're re-scheduled for next Thursday.....darn.....another week.....


BTW...Doug or anybody...
since I believe the 3rd metal tab is secured by that first screw behind the fender cladding.....
any special instructions or cautions for accessing it??? These guys have never seen a VX in person (there's a surprise! )...so they won't know the ins/outs of our how to remove the rear fender cladding.

[Ldub]

BTW...Doug or anybody...
since I believe the 3rd metal tab is secured by that first screw behind the fender cladding.....
any special instructions or cautions for accessing it??? These guys have never seen a VX in person (there's a surprise! )...so they won't know the ins/outs of our how to remove the rear fender cladding.

Prolly don't need to remove it completely, just do like we did (when we installed your hitch) & remove the torx screws in that area, & gently pry the cladding away so they can loca fastening points.

[VX KAT]

Here are the pics:



Still need to do a little tweaking when I have more time, but the tailgate opens fine, just want them to be perfect. Anyway, thanks Julian911 for the idea.

*** NEED SOME INPUT!***



Fab shop got the passenger side guard no problem, BUT the rear gate comes within about 1/8" of the Driver's side lens when open, and the metal tabs would rub the carp on the metal.

Doug or Julian or anybody - DID YOU ADJUST THE DOOR, or how did you get the rear door to clear the tabs?? Thinner metal? More offset than Pass side?

*** ANYBODY HAVE SOME PICTURES? ***

[wekilled]

You still need pics??

[VX KAT]

You still need pics??

yeah, pics would still be helpful.
I'm actually "trying" to get 3 different sets made:

1) CUSTOM, from scratch-
we're deciding if we want to bring the tabs out any further than in the pass side pic. Thinking of welding the frame right there to the tabs, instead of an L or Z shaped tab. This way the guard will be a little more flush with the plastic lens (which was my request). They removed the tail light assembly, made some adjustments to move it to the left a little, and sanded down the inner vertical edge of the plastic lens a small bit...so we're making progress

2) Manik guards I got last week (tubular style like yours).
Have the same shape/pointy corner as yours on the top and bottom of the vertical bar. Looks like those corners will catch the rear door when opened. We felt they could grind down both corners a bit, weld corner back together if we need to really grind it down pretty far into that welded joint.
Did you offset yours a little to the left to avoid that corner, or was it solved simply by ?
Also they've cut the tabs off the Manik ones, and as soon as we decide on what style tab, they'll weld it on these.


3) Stainless steel FLAT style metal.
I haven't given up yet on these. One idea was to make a cut vertically at the junction of the 90 degree curve, then get them at the right curvature and weld a piece back in where the small section was removed, grind it down into the flat shape. Then try to bend the outer tube frame to match the new curvature.....or cutting out a piece of outer frame if necessary.

[VX KAT]

Wohoo! got the custom tail light guards finished, powder-coated, and installed.

Theyre very robust to say the least. They used thicker steel for the tabs than Manik or the SS ones, so they're really solid.

They did manage to get the driver's side tabs to clear the rear door....by about a whisker! One pic below I have a toothpick stuck in the gap, that's as far as I could get it.

Going to hold off modding the black Manik and stainless steel ones. Turns out it's pretty difficult to get the chrome-plate off...and I can't afford another custom job right now, so these are both on hold. The shop did make a few extra tabs, so they'll have them on hand if more are to be made.

Here's the custom ones in RAW METAL, and then POWDER-COATED:in a black 50% gloss. I requested they design them to fit more flush to the lens like this.



























POWDER-COATED:

[Ldub]

Look'n good Kat!...

[VX KAT]

Oops, forgot to mention.....the fab shop def wasn't the most careful during fab/modding/fitting/adjusting/install of these......

Well, now we know what cladding that has ShowRoom New dye looks like when a sander/grinder hits it.....
I don't actually know what caused it since they shaved/sanded the inner vertical part of lens...and only on driver's side. Maybe a tool rubbing on it...I don't know....but the place has a shop full of sandrails, VW dune buggies, and everything in between, and they're all pretty rough looking.....no beauty queens or Pebble Beach entrants there....so a fine specimen like mine apparently isn't their specialty....

I already touched up the other side, it came out good, thankfully.

[VX KAT]

Phew, I touched up the passenger side with my custom brew of ShowRoom New and it came out great......
(BTW, if I ever say I'm going to do a custom color/blend....just shoot me OK?)

[VX KAT]

If anybody's interested in getting a set of these same tail light guards made, the shop said it'd be $125 (bare metal).
They already made a few extra brackets and can use my VX for test fitting etc...
You'll probably have to tweak yours a little for final fit.

[Ldub]

Phew, I touched up the passenger side with my custom brew of ShowRoom New and it came out great......
(BTW, if I ever say I'm going to do a custom color/blend....just shoot me OK?)

That reminds me of a song I just wrote...

It ain't quite finished yet, but you can help with your own verses...

(to the tune of camp town races)

Custom brew of ShowRoom New...doo-dah, doo-dah
You can paint your cladding too...oh de doo-dah day

Sorrrrrt of blackish gray, sorrrrt of grayish black...
I'll bet it's sorta dark black gray.

Much more so than white.


...

[vt_maverick]

^ Lol...

They already made a few extra brackets and can use my VX for test fitting etc...

Better buy a gallon of Showroom New then...

[VX KAT]

^ Lol...



Better buy a gallon of Showroom New then...

oh no, no destructive testing/fitting!.....they can measure the angle the brackets go on and the guard itself....no "fitting" like that!