Many years ago a guy asked about lighting up the center section of the 2G Talons. I also had that desire but up until today, no one has posted that it has been done. I went through a few Talon center sections trying to figure it out. Than my car was rear ended and it destroyed part of the center section. Looking at it an idea popped up. Than I went to work on this long awaited plan for Unique-ness.
Because I had broken center sections I was able to test my ideas. And now I can positively say that it has been done finally! The one thing that 2G Talon owners can finally say is unique.
For the job I used a knife, Blue masking tape, A flat head screw driver, a Dremel, A blow dryer, one 72 LED strip, A razor blade, White paint, Silver paint, and alot of patience.
I taped up the knifes' edge with Blue masking tape so I can hold it like a pencil.
With the center section, You will have to first Dremel off all the tabs that hold the Yellow/Red plastic to the black backing piece. I set it on low speed so that I can cut the plastic without melting it. If it melts, it would fuse with the black making it much more difficult to remove. I used a carbide bit.
Cut the little tabs all the way around. Make sure to get them all.
Than with the blow dryer I started to heat up the rear black part a little. Not too much heat or you will warp the thin Black plastic. (ask me how I know One of the center sections that was scrapped)I just heat it up till it was warm than slowly, and I mean SLOWLY start to pry the two parts off. The red/Yellow plastic is one piece but can break real easily where the two colors meet. I just took my time and used the flat head screw driver to help with the prying and used the razor to cut away the stretching rubbery glue. It took me about 45 minutes to take them apart without breaking or cracking the yellow/red section. (I did break one set though previously for trying to rush it)
After they are apart wash them good. Place a soft towel on your workbench and lay the TALON center piece on its face.Than slowly take your knife and scrape off just the raised edges of each letter. Each letter took me about an hour EACH!!! Try not apply force to the plastic while working because plastic is not flat. I used the edge of my work bench to try and get the piece as flat as possible. The hardest letters are the O and the N. If you slip with the knife just take silver paint and touch it up. Use a light behind the plastic so you can see the area where you need to cover the mistakes. Light will shine through allowing you to see the mistakes.
Nice and clean.
Each letter should look like this.
Now whats gonna happen is that when you scrape off the edges and shine light behind the letter, only the border around the BLACK will light up! Thats the secret. The letters are actually painted black on the front from the factory so scrapeing off from the back edges will permit light to flow into the yellow plastic therfore emitting a glow around the letters. You have to take your time because you only want to scrape off the raised edges and no where else! I made a scribe around the edges of each letter as well in the embosed area. The edges has to be completely free of silver paint for the full effect of the glow around the black letters. Whats cool and a side effect that was not planned is that the light will travel a short distance into the yellow plastic and make an Aura around each letter.
Fix the mistakes. This is what the mistakes would look like from the front with light shining behind it. Use silver paint
Next you will notice that there are two parts where the plastic does not extend down. The two areas where the license plate lights go. To ensure that these area emit the same amount of light as the longer sections I made extensions. I took 26 guage sheet metal and cut out 2 pieces at 1" x 6". These pieces was then screwed on to the black housing. I painted the back side of the metal strips black.
Because I had broken center sections I was able to test my ideas. And now I can positively say that it has been done finally! The one thing that 2G Talon owners can finally say is unique.
For the job I used a knife, Blue masking tape, A flat head screw driver, a Dremel, A blow dryer, one 72 LED strip, A razor blade, White paint, Silver paint, and alot of patience.
I taped up the knifes' edge with Blue masking tape so I can hold it like a pencil.
With the center section, You will have to first Dremel off all the tabs that hold the Yellow/Red plastic to the black backing piece. I set it on low speed so that I can cut the plastic without melting it. If it melts, it would fuse with the black making it much more difficult to remove. I used a carbide bit.
Cut the little tabs all the way around. Make sure to get them all.
Than with the blow dryer I started to heat up the rear black part a little. Not too much heat or you will warp the thin Black plastic. (ask me how I know One of the center sections that was scrapped)I just heat it up till it was warm than slowly, and I mean SLOWLY start to pry the two parts off. The red/Yellow plastic is one piece but can break real easily where the two colors meet. I just took my time and used the flat head screw driver to help with the prying and used the razor to cut away the stretching rubbery glue. It took me about 45 minutes to take them apart without breaking or cracking the yellow/red section. (I did break one set though previously for trying to rush it)
After they are apart wash them good. Place a soft towel on your workbench and lay the TALON center piece on its face.Than slowly take your knife and scrape off just the raised edges of each letter. Each letter took me about an hour EACH!!! Try not apply force to the plastic while working because plastic is not flat. I used the edge of my work bench to try and get the piece as flat as possible. The hardest letters are the O and the N. If you slip with the knife just take silver paint and touch it up. Use a light behind the plastic so you can see the area where you need to cover the mistakes. Light will shine through allowing you to see the mistakes.
Nice and clean.
Each letter should look like this.
Now whats gonna happen is that when you scrape off the edges and shine light behind the letter, only the border around the BLACK will light up! Thats the secret. The letters are actually painted black on the front from the factory so scrapeing off from the back edges will permit light to flow into the yellow plastic therfore emitting a glow around the letters. You have to take your time because you only want to scrape off the raised edges and no where else! I made a scribe around the edges of each letter as well in the embosed area. The edges has to be completely free of silver paint for the full effect of the glow around the black letters. Whats cool and a side effect that was not planned is that the light will travel a short distance into the yellow plastic and make an Aura around each letter.
Fix the mistakes. This is what the mistakes would look like from the front with light shining behind it. Use silver paint
Next you will notice that there are two parts where the plastic does not extend down. The two areas where the license plate lights go. To ensure that these area emit the same amount of light as the longer sections I made extensions. I took 26 guage sheet metal and cut out 2 pieces at 1" x 6". These pieces was then screwed on to the black housing. I painted the back side of the metal strips black.