Anyone fancy an update?
Good, then we'll begin.
Firstly, I'll start this update with a very sad and distressing picture of a beautifully original '58 discovered in Australia recently, which has undergone a bit of a rebuild to get back on the road to be enjoyed.
This is what happened first time out...
"Sorry, I didn't see your brakes....." was the other drivers response!
Oh, ok then, that's alright - forget about it, really, it's no problem at all, it was an old car anyway.......
The owner of that particular car is bravely rebuilding it as we speak and actually was man enough to reference the LED or not debate after the crash. My sympathies are with him and I know he'll get his pride and joy back on the road real soon.
It's a modification that can be reversed in 20 minutes so after seeing that, I am utterly convinced it's the way to go.
So - here is my 'how to' fit ChipC's LED rear light kit post.
First up, the rear light clusters need to be taken apart.
With the bulb and holder removed, the reflector assembly can be separated from the housing by removing the retaining spring clip wire.
Which will reveal the original seal which is likely to be in pretty poor shape - mine were and will be replaced in due course, but for the mean time, they will be used as if they'd never been apart.
With the lens assembly now 'free', the four metal tabs that hold the lens to the reflector need to be very gently and carefully bent upwards to release the lens.
Which will then allow a secondary red filter lens to be removed along with its seal which needs to be re-used.
Here are all the components laid out in assembly order.
After a good clean of the hardware and large rubber seal still attached to the rear wing, it is now time to start the rebuild process. Firstly, take the new LED unit and fit it in the reflector housing along with the seal on top - this is where the secondary red filter plate went which is now discarded.
Then place the main lens back on top and secure by carefully bending the four metal tabs back in place.
Then using the spring wire retaining clip, fit the new light back into the housing again.
My Oval had a yellow and a white wire coming through the wing - the white wire is the tail light and the yellow wire is for the brake light - remember this is a European model with semaphores so doesn't;have flashing indicators in the rear lights.
There are three wires coming out of the new LED unit, white, black and grey. They join up as follows - yellow/black, white/grey, then the white wire needs to be earthed. Chip suggests running a long wire to a fender mounting bolt, but I chose to use the mounting bracket screw that secures the rear lamp housing which is perfectly well earthed to the wing and hence the car.
And that's all there is to it - here are the results....
To show a comparison, I did the left unit first then took these pictures before doing the right hand unit.
Normal tail lights in bright conditions...
And dark conditions...
And with the brakes lights, both light and dark...
Close up of the brake light in bright conditions...
And in the dark...
Compared to the normal side in the dark...
The pictures don't do them justice, as the difference is awesome and I feel these are a fantastic safety modification to help guard against other motorists who might not be looking for dim 6V bulbs...
The other job I did tonight was to set the front end alignment. I didn't want to take the car to just a random tire shop, as I simply don't trust them. I couldn’t do them in work as all out equipment requires a program to be run which contains all the data for the car and special mounting lugs to fit location holes on our wheels etc..
I asked one of the old school technicians for some advice and he said "follow me.... you need some of these......" and produced a lovely vintage pair of alignment gauges which he very kindly lent to me for the evening!
Who's a lucky boy then?
After checking with the Bentley manual that the settings should be up to 3mm toe in, I set up and zeroed the gauges then made some initial measurements to see what I had.
Not too bad to be fair - this pic shows just under 2 degrees of toe-in which whilst is too much, isn't a million miles away.
After several adjustments, I got it to about 1 degree and 20 minutes which once you dial in the diameter of the wheel, tells you that it is 2.2mm toe-in which is pretty much bang on in the middle of the ideal range.
I actually managed to get a picture of it all lined up through the little spy glass!
That's all for now - other than a few final checks, we should be ready for the MOT inspection next Tuesday, weather permitting of course!
I can supply...
25/36hp Crank-Flywheel shims - 3 sizes
NOS king pin thrust & fibre washers - all sizes
Cloth braided nitrile fuel hose safe for modern fuels
PM me for details...