Ideas for lights on my Princess (formerly 7" brake lights)

[vulgalour]

Turns out the headlight trims for Mk1 Austin A40 Farinas are fairly easy to obtain.  If you rotate them 90 degrees they suddenly look very viable as a rear light trim that fit on the back of the Princess (I'm considering going bumperless too).  You can use the A40 sidelight/indicator unit (also plentiful) to serve as indicator and reversing light fairly easily but you're then stuck with trying to find a 7" brake light.

The best I can find are LED trailer lights from America, clearly something that would be very visible and would fit the hole but may not have enough depth to look right. They also end up quite pricey once you factor in the delivery from America and I'm yet to find a UK company offering the same thing.

If anyone knows of anything that even slightly fits the bill I'd appreciate it, most rear lights just aren't this big and I'm having difficulty finding measurements on some of the bigger lights fitted to American cars, much less actually finding those light units.

It may come to nothing, but a bit of lateral thinking and pooling of brain resources might just make it happen.  I've already had a root around at the garage and I don't have anything suitable to lay my hands on, all the light units are square which is no good to me.

[optima21]

how about 140mm round rear lights, and a colour coded (or contrasting colour) recess between the outer edge of the lights and the inner edge if the light surround

www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/hamburger-rear-lamps-stop-tail-and-indicator-pair

[shin2chin]

Could you not just tint the headlight lens red and rig up a different bulb holder?

[Imperial]

Iirc mk1 cortina rear lights are 7" diameter

[vulgalour]

optima21: I want to avoid the colour coded recess with a smaller light idea, I want this to look as much like a complete unit as possible and that means having the chrome bezel fit as snug as possible to the lens. In metric I'd need a 177-8mm light, your 140mm suggestion is the largest size I've been able to locate from a UK supplier.

shin2chin: I thought the headlight lens had the wrong beam pattern for brake lights, wouldn't I have to put a brake lens inside the headlight lens or something?

Imperial: It would be handy if someone could confirm that on the 'tina pie dishes, they're easy if not always cheap to get hold of and would look neat.

[luckyseven]

Almost every combination of LED and bulb light you could ever wish for here at the incomparable Car Builder Solutions www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/electrical-lighting . I'm currently furkling some of their excellent LED products into a set of RX-7 rears. Bit like fitting a quart into a pint pot...

EDIT: ooooops, missed optima21's post when I put this up. My bad. Anyway, Car Builder Solutions. They're great *cough*

[colnerov]

Hi, How about the red diffuser from a set of traffic lights? Maybe Grizz could measure his for you, to save you shinning up the pole at the nearest set of traffic lights.

Colin

[Imperial]

I can't confirm it 100% but I have seen them fitted to the front of a mini that was being used as a trailer, and I can confirm minis have 7" headlights

[Imperial]

I can't confirm it 100% but I have seen them fitted to the front of a mini that was being used as a trailer, and I can confirm minis have 7" headlights
m.flickr.com/#/photos/austin7nut/8938973170/

[vulgalour]

I didn't think they were that big! Solution possibly found then because those are easy to get hold of.

colnerov: nice off the wall thinking. I'm curious about how big those are now but have no idea where I might find some if they are 7" or thereabouts.

[vulgalour]

luckyseven: It's okay, if I do go ahead with this and debumper fully, I need to replace the front sidelight-indicator units with something less apparent and hiding LEDs is a lot easier, Car Builder do have some smart bright strip LEDs that would do the job very well.

[EmDee]

Oct 19, 2014 7:24:53 GMT Imperial said:

Iirc mk1 cortina rear lights are 7" diameter

Ah man, I was just about to post that. I think they're lovely looking things too.

[v8ian]

Fairlane rear lights might fit the bill,

www.google.co.uk/search?q=fairlane+tail+lights&biw=1301&bih=641&tbm=isch&imgil=dwLMZixEo6k1iM%253A%253BIHdfduOsCpCXPM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.misterw.com%25252FFord%25252F59Ford06.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=dwLMZixEo6k1iM%253A%252CIHdfduOsCpCXPM%252C_&usg=____YaPr1p_r7xNLUaKexD6gDocWE%3D&ved=0CDsQyjc&ei=9ZZDVLmTJcLj7Qa6jIEo#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=dwLMZixEo6k1iM%253A%3BIHdfduOsCpCXPM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.misterw.com%252FFord%252F59Ford06.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.misterw.com%252FFord%252F59Ford06.html%3B328%3B400

[vulgalour]

I do know someone with a Galaxie, I'll see if I can get him to measure the rear light units for me because I'm struggling to find any info on the size of them. I like the Galaxie/Fairlane/Thunderbird units a lot, more than the Cortina ones, but they do command much stronger money and the issue of importing them from the USA which I understand comes with a tax/customs bill on top so you're never entirely sure how much it'll cost until they're delivered.

[vulgalour]

Remembered I had a spare rear panel in the shed and went and measured it, looks like the plan is a bust as I've only got 6" of available space and I need at least 8" for the big light and the housing. Shame, it was a good idea until I actually measured things.

[shin2chin]

Oct 19, 2014 9:47:11 GMT vulgalour said:

optima21: I want to avoid the colour coded recess with a smaller light idea, I want this to look as much like a complete unit as possible and that means having the chrome bezel fit as snug as possible to the lens. In metric I'd need a 177-8mm light, your 140mm suggestion is the largest size I've been able to locate from a UK supplier.

shin2chin: I thought the headlight lens had the wrong beam pattern for brake lights, wouldn't I have to put a brake lens inside the headlight lens or something?

Imperial: It would be handy if someone could confirm that on the 'tina pie dishes, they're easy if not always cheap to get hold of and would look neat.

Honestly wouldn't have thought beam pattern would make any difference with brake lights? Its only lighting up the red lens not projecting a beam?

[vulgalour]

Headlights throw the light out sideways and off to the pavement, brake lights don't and that, as far as I'm aware, is down to the beam pattern on the lens. Now I'm having the new problem of being back to square one trying to think of a light unit better in design than the original Princess units that's no more than 6" tall including surrounds and backing piece, it's proving to be quite a challenge and one I keep coming back to.

[adam73bgt]

I suppose the point is rather moot now that you've found the 7" lights won't fit but you can get plain 7" headlight lenses as I have a pair on the front of my MGB. The pattern on those comes from the reflector bowl instead, so if you mated a plain bowl with a plain lens, you'd have no beam pattern

[colnerov]

Hi, you would have a spot or pencil beam.

Colin

[surprisingskoda]

Oct 19, 2014 16:28:47 GMT vulgalour said:

Headlights throw the light out sideways and off to the pavement, brake lights don't and that, as far as I'm aware, is down to the beam pattern on the lens. Now I'm having the new problem of being back to square one trying to think of a light unit better in design than the original Princess units that's no more than 6" tall including surrounds and backing piece, it's proving to be quite a challenge and one I keep coming back to.

pop a picture of the back end up and of the look you're going for and surely the people here will come up with something off the wall...

Car Builder is awesome! I've already spent several hundred quid in my head and I've only looked at brake lights so far...