Zenki Taillight idea [Pic]

[Dopefish]

Many have swapped to the Kouki's, many want to but cannot afford to, and many feel the general shape of the Zenki is just better and that Koukis are too 'edgy'.

I personally love the sleek/contemporary style of the Koukis, but I also enjoy the smooth blends of the Zenki. The Zenki's fall back though is they are typically more brown/burgendy than they are black (Due to aging) and the general style of the lamps themselves are nice but boring. I want to improve the Zenkis for my car to have the best of both worlds, in a sense.

Here is a photoshop I did of some Zenki's and my proposed idea.

(Thank you to whomever's car this is, probably one of my most favorite S14's)

I would completely remove the reflectors from the center section, leaving ONLY the reverse lamps. If possible I'd love to enlarge the reverse lamps to both look better and provide more lighting whilst backing up, but I dont think that will be easy. I also want to add small seperations between the stop lamps and turn signal lamps as well as round the edges of the lamps and remove the corner reflectors. The entire assembly will be finished in black to represent a new housing, I'm hoping to paint it from the back side for longevity as well as general appeal.

Let me know what you guys think, I know the center sections have been blacked out before and it looked pretty good but I want to improve upon the corners as well.

~Kris

[Dousan_PG]

wow what a waste of time and money
reverse lamps? mine dont even work
and you should be parking in reverse anyways is proven that you will enounter less accidents.

id spend the time and money making my lamps LED before i do it to make them look different.
its nice but money better spent on tires and track fees.

[Dopefish]

Well, utilizing my Zenki's wouldnt cost anything but time, and maybe $3.99 for some black paint. Many complain about the Zenki's and how they wish they had Koukis are a differant option at least... I personally think $400 is a waste for taillamps but $4.00 isnt a big deal if I can make mine look better.

~Kris

[irritatedmax]

the way you drew it out on that car is awesome. i like it, i have seen people that have tinted theirs that look pretty good as well. now if you can actually get it to turn out like that is the real question. if you do try it let us know how it turns out.

[rrobello]

y not use vynll and cut out what you want to show you can create a mask that would reshape the look of the lenses, that might be easier, I was looking around on the site and I found these for sell.....

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=103957

they are completely smoked but I think it looks sharp.

[FaLKoN240]

I think it looks nice. Way better than those weird jagged lines of Kouki tails. I say go for it, and do a write up. If you can make it less than $50, it's NOT a waste of time IMO.

[Yoshi]

Originally Posted by rrobello

y not use vynll and cut out what you want to show you can create a mask that would reshape the look of the lenses, that might be easier, I was looking around on the site and I found these for sell.....

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=103957

they are completely smoked but I think it looks sharp.

cuz vinyl is for ricers.
This would put the poster in the same category as the guys who want the looks of projectors, but can't afford them, so they put cheap ass vinyl over their headlights w/holes to emulated projectors.

Posers.

Tinting is one thing, cutting out little holes and silly patterns is fully crossing over into ricer territory.

[Dopefish]

To Dousan, I personally like having all of the street functionality of my car. Even parking reversed requires reversing into the spot and thus reverse lamps; why reduce safety if you dont have to?

Originally Posted by Yoshi

cuz vinyl is for ricers.
...gory as the guys who want the looks of projectors, but can't afford them, so they put cheap ass vinyl over their headlights w/holes to emulated projectors.

The same problem is generated painting, the lines are usually prevelant and they become weakpoints that can chip more readily than the rest, even when clear-coated. I plan to paint the insides of the housings to better achieve my goal and not leave that tacky/layered look.

I will say those smoked lamps look rather nice, I dont really prefer it but it looks nice. My major issue with it is that the smoking is usually overdone and the lamps are darkened too much. I dont want to comprimise lighting in any way if possible. If anything I'd like to improve it.

~Kris

[Edd240]

thats how my tails are...they are all black with the reverse lights cut out still showing..but i also have another set of the center peice that are stock zenki so if i ever wanna swap and have it stock

[SaskS14]

It's been done before already:


JSpec's S14.

Mind you the non-black portion has been candied red.

[-E-]

Originally Posted by SaskS14

It's been done before already:


JSpec's S14.

Mind you the non-black portion has been candied red.

not bad looking

[irax]

they did a black overlay on the center peice and red cover over the amber... he wanted a black outline around the signals and black over the center.. I already did this :-p will post pics when i feel like it..

[projectRDM]

I did something similiar on a customer's car, and my old car had candied red corners and color matched center. It looks good when done right, and as far as leaving a tape edge, just lightly wetsand it, then clear the whole lens. You'll never know it's not OE.

[bigteddyted]

i was thinking of doing the same thing that the yellow car did. (black out the middle and redding out the corners) but i was scared that it wouldnt look good but now that i see it im defently doin it

[Dopefish]

Originally Posted by bigteddyted

i was thinking of doing the same thing that the yellow car did. (black out the middle and redding out the corners) but i was scared that it wouldnt look good but now that i see it im defently doin it

I agree, they look VERY nice, it is nice since removing the red from the center makes the lamps look 'stubby' if you know what I mean. With the amber section turned red it balances it out to look more factory. I'm a sucker for lights having dedicated amber corner lamps though, I feel all red lamps looked washed out.

~Kris

[sean350z]

niiiiice photoshop. i like the idea and would pay 100 for someone to revive my zenki taillights. i agree with you the kouki's are too edgy and don't match the car very well. i also agree the amber i would keep.

anyone want to paint mine up, i suck at body/paint work....

[nistech]

i think it ll look even better on a black car

[projectRDM]

Originally Posted by Dopefish

I agree, they look VERY nice, it is nice since removing the red from the center makes the lamps look 'stubby' if you know what I mean. With the amber section turned red it balances it out to look more factory. I'm a sucker for lights having dedicated amber corner lamps though, I feel all red lamps looked washed out.

~Kris

Ack. That's where we disagree. IMO, amber looks horrible on any car, no matter the color. I'd rather it be pink like the newer hondas if given the choice.

[Edd240]

yeah i hate amber too...so far i've removed all the amber lights on the front end of my car..

[anthony240]

no one can touch my combo for blacked tails and the biggest Nissan emblem ever! I was in a trippy mood when I traded my kouki tails (with a dime-sized hole in one of the corner tails) for zenki tails straight up.



i did it the simple way:
buy a can of black paint, mask area with tape, paint. (prep? what?)




i even masked the horizontal lines on the corner black. you're (dopefish) putting too much thought in a simple mod. meanwhile, the emblem's been OFF, and it's been over 2 years since I've put on my black mask, and no chipping/flaking has occured. but in between I went and bought new kouki corners only, and proceeded to smash the left corner on a track barrier, and now i'm back to zenki.

[JVD]

You don't actually keep that emblem on there, do you?

[95Blue240sx]

^he does, and im so embarassed for him.

[anthony240]

you two knuckleheads can't read, my last paragraph even has OFF in all caps.

and B, you know I wear that emblem around my neck!! you can't get more bling than that.

[infinitexsound]

lol, what barrier? ohh ahh i remember.... LOL for a can a spray paint u cant go wrong...

[JVD]

Originally Posted by anthony240

you two knuckleheads can't read, my last paragraph even has OFF in all caps.

and B, you know I wear that emblem around my neck!! you can't get more bling than that.

Oh, ok. That's a lot more respectable then.

[TougeSR20Kid]

Originally Posted by Yoshi

cuz vinyl is for ricers.
This would put the poster in the same category as the guys who want the looks of projectors, but can't afford them, so they put cheap ass vinyl over their headlights w/holes to emulated projectors.

Posers.

Tinting is one thing, cutting out little holes and silly patterns is fully crossing over into ricer territory.

ok smoke vinyl is not for ricers take a look at that link by rrobello and tell me that gold car is rice... furthermore i think it may be time to accept that some people might want there cars to look nice... personally my car has a primer paint job cus i dont care about looks, much rather put the money into the motor

if the guys got the time to screw around with his tail lights and make em look good then who cares... and poster i think that it would look better to vinyl the whole light assembly unless your car is black then it would be kinda weird