Ungluing lenses from buckets

I'm thinking about doing a simple light modification that may not be so simple.  I have side marker buckets beside the headlights.  They actually have two reflective cavities in them, but only one has the hole for a 194-type bulb and it only shines sideways.  The other cavity is evidently just a reflector, but it faces forward and side.

My hope is to pull the lenses off the buckets, cut out the wall between the two cavities, and enlarge the socket hole to use a 3157 bulb and effectively move my turn signal up to that bucket.

Any way to remove the lenses from the backs?

I thought about just cutting another bulb hole in the other cavity, but two problems with that:  1) there is no space in the fender cutout behind it for the socket, and 2) that cavity isn't deep enough to hold a bulb.  Hence why I want to hopefully just cut out the wall that separates the two cavities.

Ideas?

Here is a cross-section as if you  were looking down from above the passenger side light assembly.

And yes, I know it may not work well enough, but new side marker assemblies are $20 in case I mess this up.

Usually removing a lense from s one piece assembly required plenty of patience, some gentle hands, and an oven.

More or less a case of put the assembly in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 200-215'f and then gently pry the lense away from the housing.

Here's a good tutorial on an LED conversion on a skyline 

Thanks for the link.  Maybe I should buy a spare set first just in case 

... Or just go all in and make up a panel like he did in that thread and make myself an LED panel.

(classic case of putting way too much effort into a simple idea... it's my trademark)

All good mate, I've used the oven a couple of times after destroying a set trying to use a heat gun.... I cracked one lense because I didn't get all the glue hot enough. The other lense I ended up discolouring and bubbling because I used too much heat..... 

I also found little plastic tile leveling wedges helpful. They're about 5mm wide, 3mm high and 15ish mm long (sorry for the metric-ese, my freedom unit converter is a bit out of order this morning). I could pry the lense up a bit, slip in a wedge and then keep repeating that the whole way along. Using the wedges meant I could gently press them in and use them to help separate the lense off the body.

I actually found that tutorial when I was looking to make some custom LEDs myself, so I totally get scope creep and over thinking things hahaha

Metric rocks.

I spend a few months a year in Canada and I would take metric over freedom-units any day.

Thanks for the tips.

Not the bucket I was thinking.  Move along, move along.

I might consider removing the wall from the back and gluing a piece of plastic over the hole

200-215F(reedom) seems awfully close to boiling water. I wonder if boiling one in a crab pot for a few minutes might do the trick? That is, without risk of melting or bubbling anything you wish to not have melted or bubbled.

Patrick said:

I might consider removing the wall from the back and gluing a piece of plastic over the hole

I thought about that.  The way the lens wraps around the bucket, it might be difficult.  The back of the bucket is actually shy of the lens.  My first thought was to just shave the back off flat with a bandsaw, but not enough of the bucket is accessible without cutting into the lens.  Hard to see from this photo, but this is what the back looks like:

Maybe consider grabbing a couple of lights from a junkyard to experiment on first? So your not risking damaging your good ones. A friendly grm'er may even have some lights they'd donate for "scientific research"

The only problem I see with the water method is that you have to reheat the glue to readhear the lense and the last thing you want is water trapped anywhere in a light assembly..... Unless blinker fluid is called for.

daeman said:

The only problem I see with the water method is that you have to reheat the glue to readhear the lense and the last thing you want is water trapped anywhere in a light assembly..... Unless blinker fluid is called for.

I don't mind letting them sit for a few days to dry out.  Maybe set them on the heater vent in the house for a day.

Your blinker fluid reminded me of a rat rod I built years ago.  The lady that commissioned the car didn't have a driver's license but was getting one just so she could drive it.  She mentioned how she knew nothing about cars and we got a good laugh out of the "blinker fluid" joke.  As a final touch, I put Briggs and Stratton dipsticks in the front turn signal housings.  It was a nod to the creative process of designing the car.  She laughed so hard she cried.

theretrofitsource.com sells a tool for separating housings. I have no experience with it, I just noticed it when perusing their site the other day. 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/permaseal-sonic-scraper.html

I am also interested in this thread, but all I have to offer is the thought of a "sonic scraper" is amusing...

Back to the lamp thread please. 

But I do have a thought.  Is the reflector part translucent to let light shine through it?

noddaz said:

But I do have a thought.  Is the reflector part translucent to let light shine through it?

Negative, ghost rider.  It appears to be opaque gray ABS with chrome plate on the inside.

Oooh... just had another way-overkill thought.

Pull the lens off, make an LED panel on a curved breadboard, cover the LEDs with some kind of translucent stuff, and fill the lens with epoxy to anchor the whole board and LEDs.  Ditch the bucket entirely.

Or, instead of trying to convert the thing by making two cavities into one... make up an LED panel to fit in the skinny cavity where a bulb won't fit.