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New tail light gasket for less than $1?


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I was originally turned on to this idea from a friend who needed to make some gaskets for his tail lights that were unobtainable new, and having recently acquired some tail lights from Japan and having the same problem, I thought I'd give it a go...

 

Tools needed:

 

6mm thick yoga mat, preferably dark gray or black (got this one for $5)

Razor knife

Good scissors

Pointy tip magic marker

Hole punch

 

large.20180314_190403.jpg.d41791de0a624d

 

 

 

I then used the scissors to make an oversized rough cut. At this size I can get roughly ten gaskets from this one mat (more if I made smaller rough cuts), so that's $1 a pair, if you don't screw up. Of course with this much material, you can screw up a lot...   :rofl:

 

large.20180314_190824.jpg.63ef79265ac1df

 

 

 

 

I then used my Sharpie to outline the gasket onto the mat, cut that to size, then marked the holes and used the hole punch to cut the screw holes...

 

large.20180314_192532.jpg.f0b53acdcb8ad7

 

 

 

I then used the Sharpie to trace the inner perimeter and cut it out too...

 

large.20180314_193231.jpg.1015c20a2b56c7

 

 

 

My lights only came with one gasket, but Nissan often used the same gasket for both sides, just flipped over. Notice one side says L...

 

large.20180314_192731.jpg.de2cd4ba58336e

 

 

And one side says R...

 

large.20180314_192742.jpg.3f74753a6262ad

 

 

 

Just make sure you use one side to make one gasket and then flip it over for the other side...   :thumbup:

 

 

Thickness comparison...

 

large.20180314_193415.jpg.fdbbc41006a7dd

 

 

 

Notice it's a little thicker, but obviously the stock gasket has been compressed for 40+ years, so,,,    ^_^

 

All in this took about 10 minutes to do, and cost $1 to make, so I think it's a pretty cost effective solution to hard to find gaskets. Obviously if you don't have a donor gasket for a template, it could take a lot longer.  

 

The density of the foam rubber is very close to the stock gasket and should seal well. I will give it a good water spray once I install them to confirm, but the friend who recommended this said he's done it three times now with zero leakage. 

 

As you will see when you shop for a yoga mat, there are a lot of different thicknesses available. I saw them from 6mm up to 12mm thick. The real issue was finding a dark color.

 

Or go full Ratsun and get one in hot pink...    :rofl:

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  • 5 weeks later...

I really like that yoga mat solution!

 

Another tail light seal hack (for a PL510)- 1991 4.3L Chevy S10 P/U molded rubber valve cover gaskets 

FEL-PRO VS50277R  

 

 

Some minor trimming, and hole punching required.

 

Tail light assemblies that came with Zeke had these blue rubber gaskets that were obviously adapted from some other application. I had no idea where they came from until yesterday when I found the receipt in Randy's files and put 2 and 2 together...

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