Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RodKnock
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny....nose? I mean hind end?
Yes, the lights have a 70 degree span, and at about 12 feet away it's a lot on the eyes. But, I have to get it fully hooked up in the car. "Living Room" testing just ain't enough. Give me your honest opinion though on the three light look that I photoshopped.
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcdoug
I actually think it looks pretty decent, although probably not worth the hassle in my opinion.
It has been a slight hassle. But, for the next guy it won't be. I won't drill it again myself. Instead, I'll carefully mark the spots to drill and have it done at my local machine shop. That makes it loads easier. Another lesson learned is not to build the array first, but rather keep each light half a mm separated and insert them individually. That's because the light fixture itself is slightly concave/convex -- so in order to get a "perfect fit" you need to place each light in individually and then glue them. Those holes that I drilled were 1/8" holes with a hand drill. I'm still not sure whether three holes, four holes, or five holes will look the most natural "brightness-wise," but if it turns out to be three, and I have the machine shop do the drilling at exactly 3mm, then I'm 100% confident no one would ever even notice it -- even when looking right at it. It's really a cheap upgrade, "parts wise." The LEDs cost twenty five cents each -- and if you want to practice on a new light fixture they're only $35 each. And as to labor, I probably have about five grand of my time invested so far.
Excellent job. These superbright LEDs are really, really bright. I've accidentally shot them in to my eye a couple of times and it literally stings for a while.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RodKnock
I agree with the odd number, but I still don't think it has any eye appeal. I admire the initiative and the ingenuity, I couldn't do it, but....sorry.
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcdoug
Four is the least attractive. Three is the best, five is second if you need more light.
Funny you should post... I just took my other light fixture over to my favorite machine shop (literally 15 minutes ago) with directions to drill three holes. Three is what I will be going with.
Funny you should post... I just took my other light fixture over to my favorite machine shop (literally 15 minutes ago) with directions to drill three holes. Three is what I will be going with.
Patrick, maybe you can somehow hook up some sound to those lights too?
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RodKnock
Patrick, maybe you can somehow hook up some sound to those lights too?
It's actually going to look really, really nice. The hardest part is just running the wire to feed it. It would probably be easier on both a Kirkham and a Shelby since I think you all have true brake wires running to the back. ERA cars have a "shared" brake/turn feed, so I had to tap the wire up in front of the brake box and then run the new wire all the way back to the license plate assembly. Honestly, that's the hardest part of this whole venture. If I had a true brake feed right there at the back of the car, the entire job (not counting dropping your piece off at the machine shop) is about an hour's worth of time.
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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OK, the holes are drilled, the LEDs are mounted individually using clear silicone. The silicone actually gives it a "glassed in" appearance at the holes. They are not soldered up yet. Here's a macro shot showing what it looks like if you have your nose pressed up against it and it's in a sun beam. It's now at a point that if you didn't know that it wasn't normally there, you'd never notice it. Even ERAChas is going to say "dang Pat, you are absolutely amazing. ERA would be honored to have you come and fab for them." The fixture is not cleaned up, so the macro shot actually shows the dust and grime that you can't really see with the naked eye.
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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Here's a bigass closeup. As to brightness, I'm going to say it's a bit brighter than the regular brake lights with the fancy new LED bulbs in them. It really does look as it should for a 3rd brake light.
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RodKnock
The crack between the LED bar and the part looks unfinihsed. Maybe a nice bead of silicone?
That's a reflection/shadow -- there's a very, very thin bead of black rtv there that looks like the little black gaskets behind the rectangular lights. It doesn't photograph well. I would bet 99% of the guys on here, if they saw it in person, would not notice that the light was there. To give you a feel, if I had seen it three months ago, I would probably have paid $250 for it. I don't think I'd go any higher than that.
I think it turned out pretty darn good and blends well. No matter how bright the standard taillights are, the center light could make a big difference.
Rodknock - I know you're a purist, but you can rest easy that your car won't get rear ended in your garage.
__________________
Doug
No stop signs, speed limit - Nobody's gonna slow me down - Like a wheel, gonna spin it
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA #732, 428FE (447 CID), TKO600, Solid Flat Tappet Cam, Tons of Aluminum
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And those LEDs are actually "dual intensity" lights. The array has a separate feed that allows the lights to come on at a low level, just like your tail lights. So, if you were inclined to do so, you could have the light gently glowing by wiring it in to the tail light feed (on an ERA that's actually easier than the brake feed). The high intensity would still come on with the brakes. I might do that, just to see how it looks. I vaguely recall that most states have rules requiring tail lights to be in pairs, not that we pay much attention to that sort of stuff. Yeah, I think I will do that.
EDIT -- It occurred to me, in the shower, that I don't have to tap off the tail lights. The feed to the license plate light itself is the same feed and it's literally right there. I'd have felt pretty dumb if I had run a feed from the tail lights over to the LED and then thought of that....
The fixture is not cleaned up, so the macro shot actually shows the dust and grime that you can't really see with the naked eye.
Hybrid Mode
