I had mentioned in an earlier post that while doing some preparation work on getting the tail light section ready for the blackout kit that I discovered the back end inside of the taillights compartment had not been properly prepped before it had been repainted. In this first picture you can see clearly how the paint did not stick very well to the original paint surface, this was most likely due to a now very thorough job of cleaning the surface and preparing it for paint. My guess is that they probably figured that because this area is hidden under the tail lights assembly that it would never be seen or subjected to any real wear and tear, a little harmless corner cutting in most cases. ;)
I was going at it with a small wire brush and it was taking a very long time so I figured it was time to speed this tedious process up a little. So I went out and picked up a couple of rotary wire brushes to use with my high speed drill.
Pictured here is the set of wire brushes I picked up to make the job go a lot faster. I loaded up my high speed drill and began buzzing off all of the loose paint. You could sure tell where the paint did not adhere to the original paint very well because as soon as the wire brush hit it, it just flew off, some areas the paint had stuck pretty good, but I gave those areas a good buzzing over anyways. I will sand down and prime the whole area inside of the tail lights compartment and make sure it's done right this time. Even though that area is never going to be seen or subjected to any rear wear and tear it's more for my own piece of mind than anything.
Here is the way it looks now after I have buzzed off all of the loose paint. You can see some areas where the paint stuck really well but they too will still be given a good sanding and priming. Steps closer.... with a little luck I'll be all prepped and ready for when Billy from Knight Designs sends me the nylon spacers for the taillight blackouts that he accidentally forgot to include. ;)
In preparation for installing the Tail Light Blackouts I ordered from Knight Designs I haves removed the tail light assemblies and have removed the smoke covers.
Billy from Knight Designs forgot to include the nylon spacers, hey these things happen ;) So I'm waiting for him to send those out on Monday, but in the mean time I figured I might as well get most of the prep work done. Here I have the tail light housings and black powder coated steel frame laid out on my work bench.
I have my holes already drilled into the tail light housings as per Billy's instructional video so now all I need is the nylon spacers and then I can attach the frame to the tail light housings. I also have to clean up the inside of the tail light section of the car, when I pulled out the assembly there was a lot of dirt and debris inside there. Other that that it was in awesome condition. I may give that a paint job before installing the tail light black outs.... we'll see.
On an interesting note, while I was removing the tail light assembly I came across a "Hide-a-Key" hidden in a compartment near the tail lights on the drivers side containing an extra ignition key, but not the same key I had that came with the car. Perhaps the car was re-keyed at some point and this was an original key that had just gotten forgotten. Found a fire extinguisher in there too... working condition... questionable lol
