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Disco Treatment to Brakelight Housing


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Well it is a 70s car after all. So... on our weekend roadtrip I got the comments that my brakelights were a little dom.I checked all electrics before my Soul Train treatment. Any I painted the back sides of the lenses with red translucent paint,painted the plastic housing with chrome paint and treated the brake light area with silver glitter. No report yet. Tomorrow eve I will reinstall the whole assemblies and report back. Until thenbrakelight.thumb.jpeg.dc226c5277be2d4e56fe1ae850640880.jpeg I am getting the funk out...

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'67 Derby Grey VW Beetle

'76 Inka BMW 2002

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Fun. Looking forward to the verdict. I saw someone here recently mention using foil tape like you'd use on vent ducts. I was thinking of going that way since it's what I have on hand. Would look janky compared to your discotheque, but I am entering a "give zero f*cks" phase of this car project. 😆

Edited by popovm
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33 minutes ago, HobieDog said:

I popped in some LED bulbs that seemed to help a bit

I replaced all the rear light bulbs with LEDs. Wow!...what a difference!

Note: Use LED colors that match the lens. My white LED reverse lights look like halogen headlights.

Tom @visionaut is working on a conversion list. 

Stay tuned,

John

LEDBrakeLights.thumb.jpg.4122e274ad8c4712c443a62fe3a0374b.jpg

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Somebody used reflective tape and reported good results. I think it was the uline hex pattern stuff and it threw out a lot of light. 
 

I went the LED direction and it’s a huge improvement, I might even call it mandatory for the modern era. 
 

For square tails, here’s your list with Superbright LEDs part numbers:


Brake - 1156-R27-T

Running light - 1156-R18-T

Reverse - 1156-NW27-T

Turn - 1156-A27-T

 

You could certainly use a R27 for the running light as well, it’s has more diodes, so it’s a bit brighter.  And if you switch to LED turn signals, you’ll need a new repeater. I used a United Pacific 90650 and it works perfectly, even has an audible click, which many of them don’t. 

 

A lot of the LED convo is covered here:

 

 

Edited by Lucky 7
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1 hour ago, visionaut said:
4 hours ago, VWScott said:

painted the back sides of the lenses

This won’t help at all, and will hurt light throw significantly…

It will if your lenses are all bleached out...those on my 69 were, and with their red turn signal centers have been (until recently) unobtanium.  I used transparent red adhesive sheet, available at your local auto parts store to mend broken lenses.  Made the illuminated lenses a lot redder and didn't dim them at all.

 

Another way to brighten the backgrounds in the lamp housings is silver mylar glued in place.  Most potato chip bags have a nice silvery inside; wash 'em and cut to size; stick in place with a little all purpose glue.  

 

mike

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'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
Fiat Topolini (Benito & Luigi), Renault 4CVs (Anatole, Lucky Pierre, Brigette) & Kermit, the Bugeye Sprite

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2 hours ago, John76 said:

I replaced all the rear light bulbs with LEDs. Wow!...what a difference!

Note: Use LED colors that match the lens. My white LED reverse lights look like halogen headlights.

Tom @visionaut is working on a conversion list. 

Stay tuned,

John

LEDBrakeLights.thumb.jpg.4122e274ad8c4712c443a62fe3a0374b.jpg

@John76 where’d you get that 3rd brake light from?

1971 Fjord Blue BMW 2002

1984 Black Mercedes Benz 300TD

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13 minutes ago, 2002Scoob said:

Yah buddy! Since episode 1, best automotive content ever. The latest episode engineering and programing a machine from scratch to 3D print a circuit board they coulda' ordered for 20 bucks on PCBWay is the ridiculous kinda stuff i'm into. 🤩

Nick will be in wheelchair before this thing wraps up😃

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'67 Derby Grey VW Beetle

'76 Inka BMW 2002

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