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Headlights and hidden wiring

Gerry

Well-Known Member
Need to start with a simple idea. Everything on the T is tapered, so the HL stands had to be as well. I also wanted the wiring inside and run through the chassis to the lighting units. The HLs are 1915 T replicas that I have modified to take modern bulbs.

Height and width for the HL's was an important factor, so a number of mock ups were done with tape and bits of wood to finalise the position. Now to start on the stands themselves; 2 pieces of 1 1/2" diameter mild steel bar and a lathe. First step was to drill a hole right through the centre of each piece, a none too easy job as they were 11" long. I borrowed a LONG series drill from a friendly engineering shop and set about drilling the holes. As the drill was worth $75.00 I decided to drill from both ends rather than go all the way through in one go.

With the hole completed the bar was chucked up and supported with a live centre in the tailstock. Just a matter of turning a shallow taper on the bar (2-3*, if I remember) over its whole length. All done so the next step was to cut a brid mouth on the thick end to sit on the corner of the chassis rail.

Got the car in the workshop and as a first step levelled it so we could set the headlight up to the same heigh both sides.

xmas 08 (33) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG
With both stands cut to the same length and a bit of fettling they were tacked into place, over the holes I had drilled in the chassis rail.

xmas 08 (34) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG
xmas 08 (35) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG

A quick 'hold them and look and all seemed well.

xmas 08 (39) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG

.......followed by a 'birds eye vies to make sure they were angled the same each side. Although they were set in position using a template I still prefer to use my eyes to confirm thing look right. As sometimes the other parts of the car can be out of line, it can be necessary to tweak things to make them look perfect even if they are not the same as each other

xmas 08 (45) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG

More later
 
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I just noticed our motor mounts are nearly the same.
 
I just noticed our motor mounts are nearly the same.

Had to remake them as the engine was so low the sump was around 1/2" from the floor and thats pushing it, even for me.

mount.JPG
 
Looks great. I like the clean look. I'm a believer in "less is more" I did something similar except I used stainless tube and used a mounting bracket to the frame.That way I could polish the assembly.
 
With the stands in place I then had to make and fit the upright at the ends, to mount the HL bowls on. A short trip to the lathe and 2 were made. I rounded both ends, one end to mate with the bracket on the HL and give some adjustment for beam height and direction.

A blind hole was drilled in the end and a cross hole to line up with the end of the stands. I then threaded the holes to take a short threaded sleeve that would hold the HL in position. Just a matter if lining up the holes, making sure they were both at the same height; by placing a bar across them and using the level (hence the levelling of the car as a first step). Once all was well, a couple of tacs followed by some filling in and building up of the mating surfaces. Using my trust power file these were then dressed to a smooth transition and finished off with a medium sanding. The stand to chassis joint was also filled and dressed to make the transition smooth.

xmas 08 (53) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG

xmas 08 (54) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG

After a cup of coffee and some look and appraisal time...... we put the HLs on and congratulated ourselves on a job done and finished. Yehhh

xmas 08 (55) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG

xmas 08 (56) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC) (Copy).JPG

This maybe a time to step back to the HLs themselves.
 
That whole front end is so cool.
 
The whole build is nice, symmetrical. It soothes my inner OCD, lol. I love the cantilever spring/shock setup. I also like the balance of shiney and brass between the radiator and headlights. Perhaps some brass screens on the air tubes? (My OCD speaking)... nice job!
 
The tapered tubing was turned out of solid bar.

To the HLs. I bought 2 old style 15 repro HLs but had to modify them to what I needed. First thing was to get rid of the hole in the back of the outer bowl originally intended for the bulb. Easy fix. turned up 2 brass disks and soldered them in, them smoothed out the joint. Next I bought 2 adapter kits from Speedway to convert them to modern bulbs. The plate I will go into later as its a sort of, out of the box idea...

Headlight wiring (16) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG


This was not an easy swap as the holes in the reflectors were too small for the new fitting. I will just open them up, I thought, but the reflectors were made of sterner stuff. It was almost glass hard and there was no way I could do it with a drill of the needed diameter. In fact I experimented with a few cutters on the edge of the existing hole and finally went with a diamond burr on the end of a flexible shaft from my mini drill thing.

It took a while to get both the reflectors done but I managed it with a reasonable edge to the new hole. Just a simple task to put the fitting in and secure it with a star clip.



Headlight wiring (18) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Headlight wiring (32) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Headlight wiring (33) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Headlight wiring (29) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG



At the same time I 'drilled' another hole for the turn signal unit. These were 12v LED motorcycle units bought from fleebay for a few $. I wanted to use these, as they were complete units and this meant that there would be very little 'bleed' of the orange light into the HL when they were on, seemed to have worked as well.
 
Mercy, we do so much for our rides. Nice work. Have you decided on the bulbs? I have halogens now, but am thinking of trying LEDs.
 
Halogens, but every other light on the car is LED. Not sure about LED headlights as I have no experience of them. I used super flux LEDs for the rear lights and most other ones, except the instrument lights.
 
Wires for all the front end electrics run through the chassis, and are protected in tape and spiral wrap. This does not, however, include the run up through the HL stands as the hole was too small. The job of getting the wires through the chassis and up through the HL stands was one that I will look back on with a fair bit of... lets not say anger, but very close to it. It was not a nice job and ended up with me having to do a little mod which I am none too happy about. Won't say any more on that one.

Headlight wiring (10) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG
Headlight wiring (11) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG
Headlight wiring (34) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Wires then pass through the threaded sleeve that the HL are mounted with and secured by a nut, which I turned down to the thinnest thickness I could get away with.



head light bracket (2) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG
head light bracket (3) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

head light bracket (4) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

The is a space between the bowl and the reflector where all the wires run, which is lucky. I used some duct tape to secure these to the back of the reflector/ bowl to stop them from moving around. Next thing was that plate.
 
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I think I count 4 wires: big white, big red, small white and small orange. Is that right? What is function of each?
 
The big ones are main and dip beam, the small white is an earth, but it also earth's through the chassis. Orange one is in fact orange and black for the turn signal. I am not running side lights (running lights?) as they are not required and I see not point in them. Rather have the HLs on at dusk.
 
Onto those little plates to finish off the thread.

As you now I wanted a dash with just one instrument (speedo) and nothing else, no switches; not even idiot lights.
To get around this I decided to put the ones most needed at night in the back of the HLs. I sat and checked to see if the planed position was visible and yippee, it was.

I started by thinking about the turn signals, one in each HL and then it dawned on me the hi beam indicator could go there as well. As you have probably already guessed there was only a little bit of extra wiring and no need to run anything to the dash. Initially I was going to put these in the back of the HL bowl but as I had already planned to blank in the back of the mount it seemed rude not to put the lights there.

I cut and massaged a piece of M Steel plate to the shape and contour of the bracket, drilled and Csunk 2 holes to mount them with 3mm SSteel CS screws.
For one plate, a single 5mm hole and a single orange superflux LED which would be mounted on the passenger side.

Headlight wiring (13) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Quick check to see it worked.

.Headlight wiring (14) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Headlight wiring (12) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Headlight wiring (16) [640x480] (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

Luckily there was enough metal on the bracket to accommodate the mounting points so no need to weld or fabricate anything.

The drivers side got an extra hole for the beam indicator.

All wired an done time to get them installed and see how it looked



Main beam warning light (2) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

And in the garage with the lights out and the Main beam on to see if I could see them. They are really very bright which is good as it means I probably won't leave my turn signals going. Being in the line of sight and not having to look at the dash is a bonus. I really like this idea (not to sound big headed) and have never seen it done before, but as always I expect someone has.

Main beam warning light3 (2) (2015_11_13 11_07_31 UTC).JPG

And that's it.

May do a thread on the LED rear lights I made if there is any interest
G
 
I would be interested in reading about your LED Rear Lights!
 
Once upon a time I had a scoop on my blower and put the turn and hi beam indicators on the back side of the scoop.
feHBKzLEhykXV6bCU_M4rKTkKCzMZkP0SFkMWjZED67qftwgyzbmLDg-MG2HSmKFDxdjCBVPZUI5L0vIaHhcLZwASwLiAYGCFfgZhChoZU9vn6SAAWAwlKY3BJf7_8x9ahv3xScx2sU_Vj8OkECedityzOzi0b4s2P_CSRWpBEvhqjd1MZjb1lzCaJwD0jR4bEYbuaWOfdUvKo8JsotRL7g_GIEc5_fhHWKVP4MWQKh3DlUWFGo6OvzDjMCm8knO9sBW9hY-9Vv_tosBB0eporLGXB-OJ8VM5ZrEtXPtDGf9KB9lQ1GrYzLK5kgk-WOPM7BYl9wpWyPnbynrtaG-tzHKqSjJJuRlbVxCBpgOnJsKQBkv2u82pKtjNLbHubdWcznDtMzJuwpZ_sRssz1uzgxyQbLiAXpMAQnOmsDAlW6RMqL-U-SY2wtyt0_hI5F4CnEUWxweWvQ_wGj-eebCtpXDt-4U_UDQOQfKL6_jnJJ2cRpR6tVuf-qXBIgll9mJoMbVjqeTDEBdKqE8G80YDe6G7jEeMl73QSeZ3N45H1TXyonIsRVd9SCBv9v2JIqVA0VVtXjisM_KsDIrE7iDpcAK0my6gV5p9D6eqyaY_tyDXuB1pT3wBk1mu1OVARR4d9gxoVSRf9UIp7UYWgVx9GRajehugJAzv0v8d2KP_A=w1059-h794-no
 
I would be interested in reading about your LED Rear Lights!
Onto those little plates to finish off the thread.

As you now I wanted a dash with just one instrument (speedo) and nothing else, no switches; not even idiot lights.
To get around this I decided to put the ones most needed at night in the back of the HLs. I sat and checked to see if the planed position was visible and yippee, it was.

I started by thinking about the turn signals, one in each HL and then it dawned on me the hi beam indicator could go there as well. As you have probably already guessed there was only a little bit of extra wiring and no need to run anything to the dash. Initially I was going to put these in the back of the HL bowl but as I had already planned to blank in the back of the mount it seemed rude not to put the lights there.

I cut and massaged a piece of M Steel plate to the shape and contour of the bracket, drilled and Csunk 2 holes to mount them with 3mm SSteel CS screws.
For one plate, a single 5mm hole and a single orange superflux LED which would be mounted on the passenger side.

View attachment 13072

Quick check to see it worked.

.View attachment 13073

View attachment 13074

View attachment 13075

Luckily there was enough metal on the bracket to accommodate the mounting points so no need to weld or fabricate anything.

The drivers side got an extra hole for the beam indicator.

All wired an done time to get them installed and see how it looked



View attachment 13077

And in the garage with the lights out and the Main beam on to see if I could see them. They are really very bright which is good as it means I probably won't leave my turn signals going. Being in the line of sight and not having to look at the dash is a bonus. I really like this idea (not to sound big headed) and have never seen it done before, but as always I expect someone has.

View attachment 13078

And that's it.

May do a thread on the LED rear lights I made if there is any interest
G
Very nice! I love the indicator idea. You and I share some thought as far as convenience and not having to look away when driving. I love to see innovative ideas on seemingly everyday items that we take for granted. That's one of the things I've always liked about building and fabricating. I'd like to see your thread on the leds, as would others, I'm sure.
 

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