Tunnel your stock taillights!

So I just tunneled my stock taillights on my '53 belair and thought Id share. Im guessing this is not a big deal to most customizers here, but here it is anyway for someone looking for ideas! I think frenching or tunneling the stock equipment is a cool mild custom touch and adds a bit more persoanlity to your mild custom.
On with the photos!!

Here is the stock taillight arrangement, short of blue dots


And a side shot


Remove the assembly to reveal the 4 mounting flanges


Measure and lay tape for a cutting guide line to remove the end area. I measured from the flush mounting surface back 3/4".
Youll also notice in this pic that the 4 mounting flanges are missing. OH! There they are in my trunk under the hammer! haha! I cut this out first, but realized I needed to cut away much more for my design.


AAhh, thats better! Now the taillight housing will slide in and out of these holes no problem.


And one more


Here is my hand formed piece of flat steel. I went with a 2" tunnel because my bullet center lens will show from the side, but nothing else. Youll see later.
Heres the piece I cut off the car. This is the outside painted surface.


Youll want to flip that piece upside down. Luckily the 53-54 mounting pattern is symetrical. If it wasnt, you could just fab up some simple mounts.


So here again, for 53-54, heres the outside original mount face


And here it is flipped around, mounting to the back side. This is so the tunnel will flow into the rounded sides.


So, using the first one I cut, (after welding the center back into it... skip that step! haha) I matched it to up to the 2" tunnel


And then just welded it all the way around.


Next I fit it into the hole and checked it to make sure the angle was correct. You dont want your lights pointing up/down or to one side. Make sure the tunnel is level.


Once I double checked everything, I spot welded it in place and put my taillight in to check that it was what I wanted.


I hand formed a piece of rod and thought it would look pretty cool to add a peak to the ridge. Very subtle, but complimenting the lines of the car, keeping the mild custom theme.


Next I used some cardboard to cut and fit a template to use to cut out my metal peak pieces


Once I cut and hand formed them, I tested them for fit.


After I was pleased with the fit, I welded them into place. I ground down the welds to allow for body filler.


After sanding back the paint and preping for body filler, the ridge line can be seen and it really looks nice. The body line has continued out to the peak smoothly!


Mix up some filler and get ready to sand it!

 

By the way, for those of you that would like to simply tunnel it in, but not peak it, this is what it would look like with a 2" tunnel.


With and without the peak


Almost done with the passenger side!


And finally, the sweet results!








Hope this helps someone out there with their tunnel job, even if it just fuels imagination! Thanks!

 

Nice werk, looks slick!

 

Thanks!

 

nice tech.

 

Gotta say it makes the body flow better!

 

Looks fricken' awesome. Great work!

 

Nice work, without the peeks I wouldn't have liked it , maybe a little less tunnel for me ,but all round neat

 

Pretty freaking cool dude !

 

Nice job. I'm planning on doing the same treatment on my '51 Chevy but, I plan on using '50 Ford tail lights.

Doc

 

Cool touch man!
I dig it.

 

looks very good!

 

Nice job,like it a lot.

 

good job, good how-to as well.

 

Looks great man! You made that look pretty easy.

 

That looks very good,nice work and just like television it was all done in a flash...How many actual hours did it take? Worth the effort IMO! I am doing a small fix on a truck I am charging him for 8 hours but I know I am going to spend 12,,,some things are just so tedious.

 

That looks Cool! Thanks for posting that tech.

 

nice job. really slick. i dig those peaks. cool, thanks for posting.

 

Very nice...

 

Very nice! Love ur car, I might steal that idea from ya!

 

Your tail lights look fantastic. Gary

 

Bit like this.

 

I didn't think I was going to like 'em when I saw your first few pics, but they turned out really nice. Good job, good step-by-step too.

 

Man those look great. I like how something small can really change the car. Stock Sucks !!!

 

Monster ?, Can You Do THE MONSTER MASH ????
(yea, back in tha' '60 s AGAIN ?)........

Good Phots and modification, be "Happy" U can Weld "...............
_____________________________________________________________________

(We ) TioxinKustoms < W. bg Virginia > extended rear quarter 2 inches, Very subtle !!,
and frenched stock bezels in, with Lee's Lenses..........I like Loooong 1/4 panels !

Give US more , on future projects, I lik'a tha' way You Think.

Sat /Not smoked-up YET !, gimmie a'while, thanks, SMILES
Smokey II

4 away frum 600, still no fence !

 

Great job and very good thread (presentation)

Now show us how you blended the paint!

 

very nice and after looking at it, I like the peak on it better then just being sunk in

 

Thanks everyone! I think it really looks cool and Im pleased with the results.

As far as blending the paint. I shopped around for automotive spray paint that matched my car. The one Im using is from PlastiKote #1038 GM Emerald Green Metallic. Its so close to the original, its nuts. I know Ill be doing lots of body work, so in the mean time, I blend it in. Basically just spray it on the area and then pull away down the rest of the panel to feather it in.

This took me about 12, maybe 16 hours. Bascially 3 nights after work at 4 hours each, just taking my time having fun.

As far as the frenching v.s. tunneling. Im not an expert, but according to all the old timers Ive talked to, the following is the defintion to each.

Frenching: The customizing process of creating smooth curve shaping around the headlights, taillights, license plate frames, etc. so that the chrome bezel or other surround looks as though it is part of the body panel.

Tunneling: The customizing process of moving a component deeply into its surrounding sheet metal to give the appearance of being recessed, e.g., headlights, taillights, and antennas

Id consider these taillights to be tunneled. Id consider my headlights to be frenched since I welded the headlight bezel to the front fender and smoothed it in.

 

Looks great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the tech...


4TTRUK

 

Nice job, i'm diggin it.