Frenching and/or adding tailights

[WS6]

ive always wondered who you would go about frenching and/or adding tailights. im picturing say an S10 or full size chevy in my head. i have seen trucks and cars with a long led third brake light in the roof. how did they make that happen and without water leaks? also what about when people added those slender cadillac deville tailights from the 90s to trucks? you know the ones that are installed vertically on a lot of the full size chevy trucks from the 90s as well. i figured it is probrably a similar procedure. im also guessing its a lot easier than it looks. ive never seen a write up or anything and have always wondered. i think it looks great and would love to know how its done. thanks.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Follow this link and look at what Michael did to french the Viper Fuel filler. There are a series of pics down 2/3rd the page.

French Fuel door (http://prodigycustoms.com/mikes-prodigy.asp)

[astroracer]

I subscribe to WAY too many magazines but there is so much knowledge to be had it is crazy not to.
Street Rodder, Sport Truck, Truck Builder, Street Rod Builder are a few that are geared toward building cars. Street Rodder with Ron Covell's article and insight is probably the best if you want to pick up sheet metal fabrication tips and Truck Builder has some good ideas as does many of the fabrication books that are available.
The third brake light and tail light swap have both been covered in the mags. Your best course of action would be to pick up a few of the fabrication books and start building things. Of course the internet is a viable source of info but you always learn better by doing... at least I do.

[WS6]

very cool. thanks. im guessing maybe barnes and noble might have some books? any ones in particular that are better than others?

[Camaro Zach]

The caddy lights and LED's are EXTREMELY easy to install. For the caddy's you build a "bucket" which basically fits around the outside of the light
Here is a pic. of my buddy's: https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Then you use the "bucket" that you made and cut a hole in yoru body wherever you want it. cut off the extra and weld it or weld it and then cut off the extra.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Then you just grind it smooth fill, primer, and paint.

As for the LED's some of them screw down from the inside and others just get siliconed into place. Most likely they used silicone to seal off the 3rd brake light from the elements.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[WS6]

see i knew it couldnt be too hard. without knowing how to do it i would think building a bucket was the way to go. i do have some questions still though. what about the bottom of the bucket or the back? you need a place to actually attach the taillights. so do you just weld a backside on while its on the bench? if so do you bother to sand the weld down or do you just leave it since it won't be seen? also how do you sand down an interior corner thats been welded? or do you just not weld interior corners? with my limited knowledge im thinking that if you build a bucket and weld the back plate on from the outside then look into the bucket you will still see that its more than one peice. you will have an edge/line/small space where the two peices come together. what do you do with that egde so that it looks like the bucket is one peice? i hope that makes sense. i don't know what else to call it other than an interior or internal corner.

i ran to barnes and noble last night at 10. man im glad they stay open late. picked up tonys pro-touring book and a couple others about welding and sheet metal fabing. i hate reading stuff like this. i would much rather have someone show me in person. since theres not really someone around me that i can learn from, i guess I have to read about it. oh well pratice makes perfect and I have access to a lincoln 110 mig. i think that will get me by just fine.

thanks guys

[Camaro Zach]

Well the buckets usually dont have a "back" to them their just like an open tube or whatever shape [],0 ect.. And im guessing your wondering about the welds when you make the entire loop of the "bucket" you just weld them up and grind down the weld however you can. You should be able to get the disc from a 4 1/2" grinder in there to smooth it out.

and mounting the caddy lights have a screw at the top and the bottom of the light that go through the chrome trim and screw in angled into the "Bucket"

and if you want to weld a back bracket on to attatch the taillight to you can do it on the bench or weld it on after its already installed. Its really up to you.

Hope that helps.
Zach.

[WS6]

it does thank you.