How hard is it to take out the taillights and put a new set in in a s13 can one guy do it by himself in a day …
What do i need to put the new ones back in i cant really tell where to start by looking at the stock ones maybe a seal or something?what kinda stuff would i have to buy
any tips would be apericated.
Thanks!
its fairly easy, its loosening the right bolts is the toughest. whcih doesn’t sound like it. but if its your first time, you’ll make a couple mistakes. you end up taking off the bottom garnish bolts by accident. anyways. take the bolts out and use a hammer, and hit the studs to get the light out. or pry it from the edge on the outside of the light and the body. when u put new ones on, make sure you seal it properly, with some silcon sealer from CT or something, or it will leak water into your trunk and rust the shit outa the spare tire well. nothing really tough, just have to make sure nothing is half ass’d
I would reccommend not “prying” but applying gradual increasing force to the bulb ‘holders’ to push the goopey (eurethane sealer) away from the body panels, after the 8mm nuts are removed.
yeah, when i have done it in the past, i just took off the screws that hold the tails in place off, then i pushed on the bulb part(the big protruding part between the bolts) and pushed alternating side to side of the light… and on a s13 you need to take the center peice off first because the outside parts continue under the center even though it doesnt look like it
-Matt
So i dont have to take off the center peice with the tallights…its seems like i have to when i look at it …oh well thnaks for your help
Nono, i think they said you DO have to take the center garnish out first because it’s holding in the other lights.
okay i have the center off ( i dident take off the center garnish by accident :)) and now i am having a bit of trouble with the actail tallights the glue black stuff seems to be holding then in there…im going ot try a blow dryer to losen it up but man this stuff is making this part hard…any tips?
The tails are just stuck because of the tar-ish sealant. Make sure ALL the nuts are off and just pull/wiggle the the tails free!
Then use (or buy new) sealant and outline the tails when re-installing, it will seal out water as mentioned above.
Good luck.
Ye p i got them too ka bit of work lol now to clean and install the new ones 
Okay they are all installed but now a few other problems…first one is that i eventauly did take off the center garnish becasue i wanted to seal the lights from underneath and make sure they seal is good …but now…i cant seem to get it back on …it jsut doesent fit right anymore and it is the right garnish for usdm lights…other problem is …well actally i can fix the other problem easy no need to ask lol …anyways thanks for the help and hopefully i can get the peice back on i dont get it…
dont be a wussy and just put it back in…u might think it doesnt fit, but really u just need to work with it
Thanks rob that helpd me…
lmao…i guess ill try tomarow… it was getting cold and darker when i was messing the the garnish peice…so time to stop hopefully i can get it in easly…i am kinda pissed though…the guy i bought the lights from gave me 2 wrong ends of wires so one of my breaklights doents work and also one of the reverse lights… i guess ill jsut have to take them from the stock lights…i hope that will work
OKay i got it in there all done…but theres a bit of a problem… they dont quite line up hte greatest… i took some pictures to show anyone who cares… here they are…:
See on the drivers side there is a gap…but on the passengers side…
not so much…
and then theres this wierd fitment issue…i dunno why …i am useing the right lower peice you dont have to change it with these lights…maybe its jsut the fact that they are aftermarket lights and nothing aftermarket really fits properly…
anyways thanks for all the help hopefully there some way of tweaking this problem…you cant notice from far but if your right up there you do notice…
Where’d you score those lights? They’re pretty decent looking.
You can get them on e bay im pretty sure …i bought them off someone from here in the summer they were my second choice other than kouki lights so i chose the cheaper route for now…i still like them an everything except this problem i am having with fitting them…they come 3 different styles
http://www.uras.co.jp/2004_04image/180euro/180_smoke.jpg