SwedishMark
Well-Known LVC Member
That is one heck of soldering work right there! Did you go mad halfway through? 
Every sane person would have!
Every sane person would have!
Gen 2 LED Tail Light build for Sequential
- Thread starter 97MarkJA
- Start date
ford nut
Local nut case
I'm scared.......:shifty:
tbirddmnd
LVC Member
I'm curious to see the final product as well, my neon ballast fried out this past Saturday.
ford nut
Local nut case
Hat's off again to JA.
He has been a great help.
I thought with his help I would go after this myself.
First I hacked up a older light I had laying around.
The trick to splitting this light open is to cut around the "c" channel were the light is glued together.
Cutting the inside perimeter of the channel will free the reflector from tail light.
I used a dremel with a cutoff disk.
Also cut around were the lock is in the center, being very careful not to cut into the reflector.
The "c'" channel were its glued is white as you can see.
If you try this, be very careful not to cut too deep and hit the lens.
I cut straight up and down.
As long as your cutting in the white area, your safe.
In this pic you can see the neon tube.
In front of the neon tube is a frosted cover. "click the pic to see the vid"
Here you can see how the lens and the reflector separate. "click pic to see vid"
Sorry about the poor quality....I asked Santa for a better phone but only received a lump of coal
I went with a LED strip I put behind the frosted cover, no brake light yet.... I have a few ideas for that.
I am also not too happy with the beam pattern of the strip I bought, to straight up and down for my taste.
I think its like a 20 deg beam pattern.
"click on pic"
It looks good from a distance, up close you can see the leds.
So I will be cutting it apart again, trying a different approach, coming up with a brake light. maybe a brighter led with a wider pattern.
Thanks again JA for all the help.
He has been a great help.
I thought with his help I would go after this myself.
First I hacked up a older light I had laying around.
The trick to splitting this light open is to cut around the "c" channel were the light is glued together.
Cutting the inside perimeter of the channel will free the reflector from tail light.
I used a dremel with a cutoff disk.
Also cut around were the lock is in the center, being very careful not to cut into the reflector.
The "c'" channel were its glued is white as you can see.
If you try this, be very careful not to cut too deep and hit the lens.
I cut straight up and down.
As long as your cutting in the white area, your safe.
In this pic you can see the neon tube.
In front of the neon tube is a frosted cover. "click the pic to see the vid"
Here you can see how the lens and the reflector separate. "click pic to see vid"
Sorry about the poor quality....I asked Santa for a better phone but only received a lump of coal
I went with a LED strip I put behind the frosted cover, no brake light yet.... I have a few ideas for that.
I am also not too happy with the beam pattern of the strip I bought, to straight up and down for my taste.
I think its like a 20 deg beam pattern.
"click on pic"
It looks good from a distance, up close you can see the leds.
So I will be cutting it apart again, trying a different approach, coming up with a brake light. maybe a brighter led with a wider pattern.
Thanks again JA for all the help.
97MarkJA
Dedicated LVC Member
Nice job Kirk, you did a better job getting the light apart than I did. Should make for a cleaner install.
I'll have a little more free time now that the holidays are over so I should be a little more help.. or at least be able to screw things up worse.
I'll have a little more free time now that the holidays are over so I should be a little more help.. or at least be able to screw things up worse.
ford nut
Local nut case
Thanks!
I wouldn't have attempted this without seeing what you did.
I would like to know what led this guy is using.
Lincoln Mark VIII - YouTube