lights

[matrixrk]

Hope this is the right place What about headlights? What are best? How/ where do I place them to be legal? I have a set of caddy taillights. can i mount them in a strip under the tailgate?

 

[EX JUNK]

Check the regulations of your state as to mounting height. Myself, I prefer mounting mine low (18.5" to the center of the lens). I fabricated my own mounts using 1/2" thin wall conduit 90's, some 2" exhaust tubing and a piece of 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" angle. The wiring is all hidden inside the mount. As for the lights themselves, Speedway has a nice selection. Here are a couple of pictures that might explain things a little better.

As for the tail lights, I see no problem with mounting them under the tail gate. In fact, I think that is an excellent place. Just remember that there are no rules in building a T except what your state or province mandates. The only person that you have to please is yourself.

Jim

 

[donsrods]

You can either buy currently made headlight assemblies, of which there are lots of models, or you can shop at swap meets or Ebay for a cool set of old headlights and use those. Back in the 50's and 60's there were a bunch of companies like Guide, Dietz,KingBee, etc that were cranking out different kinds of headlight assemblies so that people could update their old cars to sealed beam headlights. These have a lot more charm in my opinion than some of the current stuff, and are sought after to a large degree, so some bring big money.

Anyway, most of the lights, either reproduction or old stuff, have a common stud mounting system that either allows you to mount them to a dished mount or a flat topped mount............adapters usually come with the new ones to fit both style bases. Sometimes you have to get a little creative and modify the bases a little for a tight fit so they don't move around on you, but generally it is plug and play.

Also, if you pickup an old set that were sealed beam and they were 6 volt, single headlight 12 volt bulbs are exactly the same size so they go right in. I think the law used to be that the headlights had to be so many inches high (something like 24") but I have never seen that law enforced, plus, many of the new cars being built are lower than 24 inches high, so I wouldn't sweat it.

Don

 

[VegasBruce]

Here's mine. just some cheap headlight brackets and some homemade brackets for the A taillights.

 

[oldtman]

When I built a bucket in California in the early 60's I followed the advice of a guy at work that drove a 22 dodge bucket and bought a copy of the DMV regulations and studied it and memorized the sections that would apply. I had to move my headlights up a couple of inches and farther apart to meet the then current regulations. When I was stopped I always had my DMV bible in my hand with the paperwork tucked inside After a while the cops said " I just want to look at your car." On one T I used original model T headlight cans and trimmed down the cans out sealed beam buick lights and brazed them inside the T lights and installed the bulbs , the fit was good, 70's ford pickups with the single round bulbs have small cans that might work. I haven't tried them. one project in the shop has a set of 1910 brass carbide burner lights that I will convert to electrics.