2021 Refresh Tail Lamp and Charge Port Retrofit Project

[leonwu]

Thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I really appreciate the idea of retaining the charging port. Kudos to @silversurfer1 for this brilliant idea. Changing the taillight housing was a bit time-consuming, but the ability to revert back to the original setup at any time makes it worth it. This is a very enjoyable DIY project.

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You can’t really revert back due to the appliqué change though right?

And since the trunk light is plug and play, it’s only the external panel corner lights that you had to Frankenstein right?

 

[Daytonaviolet]

Thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I really appreciate the idea of retaining the charging port. Kudos to @silversurfer1 for this brilliant idea. Changing the taillight housing was a bit time-consuming, but the ability to revert back to the original setup at any time makes it worth it. This is a very enjoyable DIY project.

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Great job . Can you go into detail of the hardest part of this conversion.

 

[jacie6056]

You can’t really revert back due to the appliqué change though right?

And since the trunk light is plug and play, it’s only the external panel corner lights that you had to Frankenstein right?

Correct,I went ahead trim the old appliqué since I don’t want to buy the new appliqué.

correct, I only transfer the new outer taillight led unit into the original outer taillight housing

 

[jacie6056]

Great job . Can you go into detail of the hardest part of this conversion.

I think resealing the left outer taillight len cap back perfectly to prevent the condensation in the future took my most of the time.

ps: the lens has to be removed before swapping the housing

 

[Daytonaviolet]

I think resealing the left outer taillight len cap back perfectly to prevent the condensation in the future took my most of the time.

ps: the lens has to be removed before swapping the housing

Was there any baking or soldering

 

[Hotboy408]

On a scale 1-10 of difficulty, how hard was this project?

lol, that depend on your skill level.. i would say this retrofit is 1 - easy level.. most will disagree
try to doing full front end 2022 conversion. now thats HARD lol

 

[newkidonblock]

Are the 2013 tails identical in size/fitment as 2022 pre-refresh lights ? Can you share pics of the cutting and gluing areas.

Correct,I went ahead trim the old appliqué since I don’t want to buy the new appliqué.

correct, I only transfer the new outer taillight led unit into the original outer taillight housing

Did you also have to cut and glue to transfer the new outer tail light unit into the original outer tail light housing, and if so can you describe as best you can the what/where of the cutting and gluing? I am not a mechanic and have never done any sort of automotive project before so the more detail you can provide the better.

 

[Hotboy408]

i can imagine people cut and mess up both new/old tail light with this lol

 

[Nintendo80]

i can imagine people cut and mess up both new/old tail light with this lol

U can’t imagine it but yet people are doing it bud and it looks good to them and to me!!!

 

[leonwu]

Anyone want to get into the business of selling frankensteined rear light kits? I’ll be a customer and send my taillights back as a core return

 

[Daytonaviolet]

I’ve order the lights and donor .. I’ll post results when done

 

[jaga]

lol, that depend on your skill level.. i would say this retrofit is 1 - easy level.. most will disagree
try to doing full front end 2022 conversion. now thats HARD lol

Lol true that, as for myself I'm a driveway DIYer, done many car suspension swaps, brakes , stereos etc. No body, work or paint.

 

[newkidonblock]

I’ve order the lights and donor .. I’ll post results when done

Would you also post photos showing where you cut and glued? Since neither @jacie6056 nor @silversurfer1 appear to be interested in breaking that part down despite requests from multiple users.

 

[Daytonaviolet]

Would you also post photos showing where you cut and glued? Since neither @jacie6056 nor @silversurfer1 appear to be interested in breaking that part down despite requests from multiple users.

sure.. i'll post once project is complete

 

[Bixby MS]

lol, that depend on your skill level.. i would say this retrofit is 1 - easy level.. most will disagree
try to doing full front end 2022 conversion. now thats HARD lol

1 haha

 

[Celledral]

Yup. Looks like I’m doing it as well. Where’s the best place to get the inner trunk lights?

 

[Daytonaviolet]

Yup. Looks like I’m doing it as well. Where’s the best place to get the inner trunk lights?

eBay or tesla

 

[Daytonaviolet]

I was looking for donor (none refresh) outer tails. Look at this crazy quote it's just the outer tails and not the charge port. why so expensive compared to refresh outer lights ?

 

[ninefiveone]

Need to remember that legacy MS taillights were designed and sourced ~15 years ago. Tesla didn't know how to design for manufacturing efficiency/cost, and were really just trying to get a product together no matter what the cost. This was before the 3 and everything they learned in building and manufacturing that car.

The new taillights are probably not that much cheaper than the old units in terms of raw material cost, but the manufacturing cost (and negotiating leverage with suppliers) is dramatically different now.

 

[Daytonaviolet]

Need to remember that legacy MS taillights were designed and sourced ~15 years ago. Tesla didn't know how to design for manufacturing efficiency/cost, and were really just trying to get a product together no matter what the cost. This was before the 3 and everything they learned in building and manufacturing that car.

The new taillights are probably not that much cheaper than the old units in terms of raw material cost, but the manufacturing cost (and negotiating leverage with suppliers) is dramatically different now.

i ended up getting new non-refresh outer tails (2022) from eBay. my plan is to swap internals from used refresh outer tails. once complete i can sell my existing non-refresh ones from my car. i just didn't want any down time while doing the conversion.