Highlevel Stop / Tail lights

[GreatOldOne]

Chaps,

I'm toying with the idea of adding a highlevel tail / stop light(s) to vikki, to try and avoid any Sorry mate, I didn't See you moments.

All of the ones I've seen on CBS and the like wouldn't really fit the sportster styling, so I've done a bit of googling and found these:



They're Motorcycle bullet lamps, 57mm diameter, with dual fillament bulbs for tail and brakes. Several outlets stock them - the cheapest I've seen them is about £9 on ebay.

I'm thinking of getting a pair and hanging them from the rollbar, behind the head rests on the car. I'll need to make some sort of mounting 'foot' that conforms to the diameter of the bar, leaving a flat surface for the lamp to mate to - but I should be able to knock something up in my engineering class.

What do you think?

[Patrick]

The style is the same as my indicators. They would need to be installed quite subtly so they flow with the design.

[GreatOldOne]

Here's what I had in mind. The red circles in the second pic show approx. locations.

[Patrick]

That'll look nice

[Mike]

Originally Posted by GreatOldOne

Chaps,

I'm toying with the idea of adding a highlevel tail / stop light(s) to vikki, to try and avoid any Sorry mate, I didn't See you moments.

All of the ones I've seen on CBS and the like wouldn't really fit the sportster styling, so I've done a bit of googling and found these:





What do you think?

GOO

I have a brand new pair of these, still in their plastic bags, that I have decided not to use - yours for £15 inc p&p if you would like them?

Regards
Mike

[peterux]

I have had the same thoughts about being seen, as the Sportster rear lights are so low.

I put an extra cable in the roll bar when I had the body off for painting, but that's as far as I got.

Like Patrick said, the trick will being able to get the mounts small enough.
I wonder if you could drill and tap some holes in the roll bar and screw them directly into the bar? Nutserts might be better? Just need to make some little 'saddle' mounts to make a flat surface.

In fact, I like this idea a lot.......

...peter

[GreatOldOne]

Originally Posted by Mike

GOO

I have a brand new pair of these, still in their plastic bags, that I have decided not to use - yours for £15 inc p&p if you would like them?

Regards
Mike

Bugger. I've just committed to buy some on eBay. Maybe Peter might want them?

[GreatOldOne]

Originally Posted by peterux

Like Patrick said, the trick will being able to get the mounts small enough.
I wonder if you could drill and tap some holes in the roll bar and screw them directly into the bar? Nutserts might be better? Just need to make some little 'saddle' mounts to make a flat surface.

Yes, that's the plan. If you look at the first pic, the blue bit is the 'saddle'

The saddles would be made out of ali bar, and nutserts or tapped holes would attach it to the roll over hoop. The lamp would be bolted to the saddle, and the cables would be chased through the hoop.

[denniswpearce]

Slightly different stop light is this one on ebay, its No. 391232491378. Its the long led type that is in a lot of cars.
The down side is that you have to compromise the strength integrity of your roll bar. But, the integrity of our roll bars is already in question because to be fully strong enough to survive the car rolling over and not collapsing they need some lateral support, just look at others around, so I would suggest the standard role bar is a token gesture only and maybe for its looks.
Therefore the led light I have shown could be fitted. But it does entail cutting a 300mm long slot and it would have to be 19mm wide to accommodate it for a semi flush fit. Not ideal I grant you but doable and asthetically pleasing.

Just an idea !!!!!!!

[GreatOldOne]

Thanks for that Dennis - but I'm going for the light pods. I don't think an LED bar would look 'right' in a period style car.

The way I'm planning on doing this only entails a few small diameter holes (10mm max) being drilled, so I can't see it compromising the strength of the roll-over hoop too much.

[denniswpearce]

Yes, that makes total sense, one, sorry two 10mm holes. But, two holes will not compromise its strength too much that is true.

But I am aware of quite a few aircraft accidents in which the support structures have had the odd hole drilled in them so that the owner can have his gadgets with him, ie gps etc and the support structures usually fail at their weakest point and that is where the holes have been drilled.

Just a thought provoking comment !!! Sorry.

Originally Posted by GreatOldOne

Thanks for that Dennis - but I'm going for the light pods. I don't think an LED bar would look 'right' in a period style car.

The way I'm planning on doing this only entails a few small diameter holes (10mm max) being drilled, so I can't see it compromising the strength of the roll-over hoop too much.

[Patrick]

If you wanted to reinforce the holes you could look at welding a threaded slug in there for them to sit in there.

[peterux]

I think another thing to consider is how much rear view is blocked with the lamps in the proposed position.

Especially consider if you are ever planning on fitting a hood.


My car by marlinpeter, on Flickr


I find with the hood on, when it's raining, my outside wing mirrors aren't very useful so you tend to rely more on the scuttle mounted rear view mirror.
It's at these times, in poor visibility, when you want the high level brake lights to be most effective. (Try driving on the M25 at night in the rain!!).
The view through the back of the hood is already very small, due to the central gusset, so again be careful about where you put those lights.

Just a thought before you go drilling your mounting holes....

...peter

[GreatOldOne]

Ah - but I'm not fitting a hood.

And they'll be sat behind the seat headrests, so they shouldn't block the rear view any more than it is already.

I've received the lamps now anyway, so I can have a play

[woodsmith]

I like the look of those bullet lights. I tarted looking at them for the same sort of fitting on my reverse trike but then I had a thought.

Where you have them, behind the head rests, would they be as effective? Most (all?) high level brake lights are centrally mounted so that they can be seen through the windows of a number of cars in a line. Yours will only be seen by the car behind.

Maybe moving them closer to the middle would improve that.

They may then obstruct your rear view though.

The option then could be to re work them so that the lighting unit is in a pod that is on the back of the roll bar.
Like this but projecting more and cylindrical.


It could look good if done with a section of roll bar tube welded on to form a couple of tee spigots and then repainted.
Something like this with the light in the Tee, pointing backwards, and the rest being the roll bar.

[GreatOldOne]

I think you'll be able to see them through the windscreens - they're going to be fairly close together as it is, as the Sportster isn't that wide a car, and the roll bar is even narrower.

I've temporarily hung the lamps from the bar, to see what they look like:





I can slide them further apart or closer together - once I'm happy, I'll mark the locations and make the saddles.

I think they look pretty neat.

[Patrick]

have you tried them in the bottom corners on the seat belt bar?

[GreatOldOne]

Not yet. I will give it a go, but I think that location defeats the object - it's not that much higher than the tail lights in the wings. I suppose they will be facing directly behind an not at an angle like the wing clusters.

[Patrick]

I see what you mean about the height, I'm guessing the spare would cover them up from certain angles.