What: This is a guide/experience of me splicing together my old Altia panel with a new 99' spec Rear Centre Panel Why: Now the reason I wanted to 'splice' up the 99' panel was my old original Altia panel looked a little dated sitting in-between my new 99' spec lights. The reason for its dated look is the new chrome accents. The 99' panel has chrome accents around the reverse lights, and around the tail-lights whereas the stock lights are a metallic grey. See how the Centre panel seems a bit dull? 99' Tail Light Pre-96' Rear Centre Panel Both So this is it, The idea was to pull apart the 99' panel and use the backing with the chrome accent's with the Altia face plate. The new backing would be a bigger advantage as the stock backing on my panel was aged, scratched and dented. I've already pulled several Panel's apart so I didn't take pictures on how to pull it apart. I used the same oven method as seen in the Tech Section; Illuminated Centre Panel Genuine 99' Panel This is what we want Key reminder before pulling the panel apart; REMOVE these screws or you will snap it. I used some needle-nose pliers. The 99' Panels are ALOT harder to pull apart then the older stock panels. Maybe its the age of the epoxy/tar/black goo or maybe they changed it to more hardy goo. Either way it's very difficult to remove. GO slow, remove the edges evenly and make sure the panel is hot. I had the panel on the oven door for 7~ minutes on 200degrees, pulled it apart slowly for one minute, then put it back on the door for 2 minutes. Slow procedure, in the end I got impatient and it snapped the corner. Be WARNED Back of 99' Panel for the Curious The next step is to put a hole in the panel as the 99' panel does not have a hole for the EL wiring. There is a stock location here where the hole is on the genuine panel I used a drill, you could use a soldering iron to poke a hole. It's all up-to you and how cheap you are. It's pretty straight forward from there on. Put the Altia face panel together with your 99' backing and use the heat to soften up and seal the tar-goo back together. The more heat the better, use alot of pressure and squash it all together as close as possible. Outcome: Review and Notes: It's hard for me to recommend doing this as you are essentially destroying a 99' panel and you're guaranteed to leave a few little scuff marks on the backing of it when you're trying to peel them apart. The sheer cost of a new 99' panel would put most people off, but if you do have an indiglo panel and you got the centre panel in the package when you upgraded your tail-lights, then this is definitely an option if you're hardcore about aesthetic perfection.
For anyone wondering, My old Altia panel was scuffed and had marks all over the backing, that's the other reason for the splice, I wanted to refresh the backing and make it look as-new.
Thank you. Very good step by step guide. I have a centre panel that I have to pull appart one day for cleaning. This will help with the job.
The stock panels are hard to break, goo is soft, main advice is just pull it apart evenly, as hard as that is. The bottom part of the panel has deeper plastic and is the part that snaps, so keep that in the back of ur mind. No hulking it.
If you have a chance to look at your old History books, you will find that Attila has already been destroyed/passed-on(so your well-meant concern is misplaced in this instance).:br:
