So, i just recently bought a mint set of AP2 tails to my EDM MY00 S2K and also ordered a one AP2 OEM tail light with broken lense, so i can test some things how the retrofit would be completed without cutting the car. I know there is aftermarked LED OEM style tail light upgrades available for AP1, but they seem to have some problems. In my opinion the OEM is the way to go, but as this car is pretty rare in Finland i dont want to make any cuts to it. I can drill couple of holes to it if its necessary, but cutting is a no go. I can cut $500 lights, but im not willing to cut $18 000 car. (Yea, these are much more expensive here than US).



Everyone says it cannot be done without cutting the car, so i thought to give it a shot to prove that it can be done. Or at least minimize the cutting. Because the cuts i´ve seen look horrible. I´m not suprised when i hear the people are having terrible water leaks on tail light area after the cuts.

I just started this yesterday so be patient. But so far achieved things:

- First big cut eliminated. No need to cut a hole to reverse light section. (Which has 2 layers of metal). Tail light needs to be modded (the black wing around the bulb holder needs to be removed), also the gray bulb holder needs to be slimmed down as much as possible. Ideally, i would like to design a new kind of super slim version bulb holder for it and the 3D print it with PETG filament (i own Prusa i3 MK3S). Or maybe just design a custom PCB with soldered bulb sockets.
- Second, even bigger cut eliminated. (This area also has 2 layers of metal). Indicator section of tail light is modded, so it now fits to AP1 car without cutting. (The black wing around the bulb holder needs to be removed and also the bulb socket base needs to be removed). The bulb holder is not yet developed, but i have some options in my mind that will work (final solution will be 3D printed adapter plates + custom super slim PCB with soldered bulb holder.) This prototype you will be seeing is "not so nice looking", but thats why its called prototype/proof of concept.

As you can see, with the two still work in progress mods described above, you will avoid lots of cutting in the section of car which has two layers of steel (reference pic below from normal AP2 tails to AP1 retrofit).



The brake light area will be tight fit. The resistor PCB cover will have to go, and the connector will probably need some kind of relocation job.

This mod would be easier if i just lowered the whole reflector area a little but that would be visible through the lense. These mods wont be visible in any way, as the reflector area is not modded.

And yes, You wont be changing your reverse light and indicator bulbs without taking the whole light out, so i recommend using the best quality led bulbs you can get (retrofitsource.com etc).

Some work in progress pics:

Reverse:



Plenty of space::



If you would use this modified bulb holder, you would need to solder an extension wires to these pads and then isolate it carefully.



Indicator area:





Sorry for pic quality. I had a hard time getting the camera to focus. Next thing to do is to make a see through jig from plexiglass or whatever that simulates the AP1 rear section. Then i can also study if its possible to make an adapter plate for the mounting studs, so they could be relocated (so no drilling would be needed). The goal is to keep the lights fitment perfect (so no cheating with spacers), so they they still fit flush with car. (Because thats why we love OEM dont we?)

To be continued...

 

Just and quick update. This thing is still under development, i have not abandoned the project. I will be releasing DIY-set of parts for this once the mod is ready. I have already successfully modded the AP2 light, so it fits to AP1 rear section without doing anything to the car.

 

I´ve now done the swap. Unfortunately i had zero time to develop this project to a final step by step guide. But its doable without cutting the car.

For the scene, I designed a alternative way of retrofitting AP2 tails to AP1. Requires cutting the car (but not as much as in regular swap), also requires cutting the bulb winglets off from the tail lights and modified reverse light socket. I believe those winglets are there just to ease up installation of the lights at the factory.

With those modifications, you will need to do minimal cuts to car when compared to the regular style.

I also designed a retrofit reinforcement/dress up plate for the swap. That eliminates the water leak problems as it stiffens the whole tail light steel structure and also covers the modifications underneath the cover plate. With this part, the tail light area is stiffer than original un-cut steel.

This is the first (partial) printed prototype and first test cuts made to the car (not cleaned and not finished):



Here you can see the modified reverse bulb socket. Modified socket eliminates one cut (use led bulbs so you dont need to remove lights for swapping the bulbs when they burn). In my opinion, the reverse light area cut is the most critical cut to eliminate, as you will cut out a lot of steel from several different layers from there if you do the retrofit with regular style:



Here you can see the cuts made to the lights Reverse light area cuts eliminate one big cut and the blinker cuts minimizes the cutting needed:



View from the backside, much neater than the regular retrofit style (notice that this style also retains one extra AP1 light bolt hole):


Rough model for the full size dress-up/stiffener plate:


View from the lights side. Notice that after the cuts, i bent the lip of the brake light to retain better seal between the body and the gasket:



And this is a small sneak peek about the final product: Two piece stifferer / dress-up plate for the tail light retrofit. Do it right or dont do it at all. Printed from heat resistant PETG and comes with the accurate template to easen up modifications on the car side.

 

Looks great. Any STL files up to share of the stiffener? Trying to fit my ap2 infinity tails to my ap1.

 

Thanks for the reply. I've had so many bad experiences with .stl:s that i have shared for free, but with licence that forbids money making with my designs, that i dont trust people anymore. Theres been people in ebay that even used my very own thingiverse description in their ebay sales, where they were selling 3D printed parts from my designs, that I did free of charge to help the community.

So no, im sorry. I dont share my designs anymore.

What i can do, is 3D print the parts to you, if you cover the material costs and shipping. The material costs depends if you want the full 4 piece adapter set, or the 2 piece set. I use the 2 piece stiffener plate set in my own car.