Hi all:
Mark, the sheet metal man who's supervising, instructing me on work,
and designing on the fly as pertains to my '56 Bubble rebuild - came up
with a clever use of the new LED tail lights that I bought at a truck
shop. We were going to put them in in toto which would have meant that
we'd have to make the hole in the skin a little bigger and also that
the big klutzy black rubber gaskets on the new lights would show; the
lights being designed for use on a big truck. I wanted the new lights
cuz they each have 44 very bright LEDs. Anyway, he found that by
judicious use of the sheet metal shears, he could cut away the already
rusted part of the original bezel til it just fit on a small rim in the
new housing and screw the whole thing back together and install. No big
black rubber gasket/seal and the fit is perfect. I'll have to put in
some time cleaning up the old rims/bezels but those will be some HOT
tail lights!
He also figured out a way to cut the back off some nautical style
dome lights - with power slurping Xenon bulbs - and replace them with a
LED light that has about 15 white bulbs. Lots of light and little draw
on the battery. I'm putting a waterproof nautical type light in the new
bathroom and using a 25w, 12v incandescent bulb. Shouldn't draw too
much and if it does, I'll use it mostly when on shore power.
I found another version of this light made up in stainless steel and
will use it as a porch light.
I took pics of both refits and soon as I can figure out how to post
the pics, I'll put them up.
Jo Ann