Custom Tail Lights

[whitesoc]

Looks great can't wait to see it set up!

 

[matrixx]

These are just awesome! great work, future buyer here!

 

[Mister 4x4]

As promised I have an update for you guys.











I have to find the rest of my LEDs and figure out the red/white LEDs



I have a few problems with it at the moment but they are pretty small. The LEDs I have are touching the lens but I think that a small weatherstrip spacer will cure that. Also they are not soldered in right now as I can't find my fine solder so I'll pick some up in the next couple of days.

Here's my plan for right now, get these (the brake light) LEDs soldered in and working then figure out the outside rings (running lights). I have a sneaking suspicion that these might bleed through the black but we will see.

I know I've said it before but thanks for being patient with me guys.

Excellent Work, Fellas - seriously! ::thumb::

But, now I hafta ask the burning question: after a working set is finally together, how to go about getting several dozen (at least) sets made for all of those interested in purchasing? The hard work of actually bringing this concept to reality is almost done, but now how to mass-duplicate the effort without the two of you being 'stuck' cranking out set after set after set taking up all your free time - that's what I'm wondering.

Especially, since I'm one of the guys wanting a set for my own car.

 

[73StangCoupe]

I guess that is the $64K question. I would also like a set.

 

[Obsidian11]

I've often thought the same thing myself...somehow we'll make it happen! I'm still sitting on 9 or 10 'pre-orders' from donations. I didn't forget about you guys! I still have the list and how much was given

 

[TheJ]

Well on the LEDs side after I'm done prototyping it and could either send it off to have custom boards made or design my own and have it made. I could handle soldering in the LEDs and other components, it's all of the small connections is what takes the most amount of time. Having custom printed boards would especially help with the sequential circuit.

 

[Mustang Dynasty]

re custom tailights. Kept degn but installed led sequential functions and a very bright but just small enough clear bar light in between bottom of rear bumper and above license plate for additional connected to brake light assembly.


re last reply @ sequential and brake lgt

 

[[email protected]]

So forgive my ignorance. Are the led boards you are making specific to the tail lights that may or may not come forth, or are they for our stock 71-73 tail lights?

 

[TheJ]

I suppose they could be used for stock lenses but they are specifically designed for the custom ones. It does use the stock buckets (housing) though.

 

[Mustang Dynasty]

re, custom rear lense and sequential led s; the set up out of mustangs plus, only sequential led s but they have with the original type bulbs too. Your s also a demand and looks good too and probably less expensive too. Led sequentials only, car parts catalogue @ $300 and the bulbs purpose of ability to change each bulb as they blow much more on sticker is much more as well w/drawback of not as bright.

 

[whitesoc]

Here's a thought....since you've done the hard part of figuring out what goes where maybe an option is to send out the schematic of the board and we could put it together ourselves once we get the lenses.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I suppose they could be used for stock lenses but they are specifically designed for the custom ones. It does use the stock buckets (housing) though.

When you get it all lit up, I'd be interested in seeing how a stock lens in front of it would look. If it's going together how I think it is, the white LEDs should be perfectly positioned to light up the clear 'reverse' part of the lens, and the reds should show up through the reflectors top and bottom.

How are you planning on lighting up the 'rings' without it bleeding through? One thought I had was maybe having a separate board that fills up the 'rings' sitting right behind the lens, and a smaller 'central' board to cover the central parts of the recessed light openings. The 'rings' portion could be just wired as one and light up when the Parking lights are turned on, and the central board would be the complicated one, but smaller.

I still say it's completely awesome, and I'm very impressed at how it's all coming together. You guys got mad skillz! And I can't wait til they're ready for prime time.

 

[DrDew]

Here's a thought....since you've done the hard part of figuring out what goes where maybe an option is to send out the schematic of the board and we could put it together ourselves once we get the lenses.

That's not a bad idea. We could take a step further... perhaps you could put the parts and instructions/schematic in a DIY Kit format. That could save on your additional labor, reduce the overall cost t us, and expedite a final, albeit disassembled, product. It's something to consider.... Regardless, this is one s-w-e-e-t project and I'm looking forward to getting two sets of them.

 

[TheJ]

I suppose they could be used for stock lenses but they are specifically designed for the custom ones. It does use the stock buckets (housing) though.

When you get it all lit up, I'd be interested in seeing how a stock lens in front of it would look. If it's going together how I think it is, the white LEDs should be perfectly positioned to light up the clear 'reverse' part of the lens, and the reds should show up through the reflectors top and bottom.

How are you planning on lighting up the 'rings' without it bleeding through? One thought I had was maybe having a separate board that fills up the 'rings' sitting right behind the lens, and a smaller 'central' board to cover the central parts of the recessed light openings. The 'rings' portion could be just wired as one and light up when the Parking lights are turned on, and the central board would be the complicated one, but smaller.

I still say it's completely awesome, and I'm very impressed at how it's all coming together. You guys got mad skillz! And I can't wait til they're ready for prime time.

Well my plan to stop the bleed though was to make shrouds around the center sections but I'll have to fiddle with it more when I get the center lit and rings lit.

Here's a thought....since you've done the hard part of figuring out what goes where maybe an option is to send out the schematic of the board and we could put it together ourselves once we get the lenses.

That's not a bad idea. We could take a step further... perhaps you could put the parts and instructions/schematic in a DIY Kit format. That could save on your additional labor, reduce the overall cost t us, and expedite a final, albeit disassembled, product. It's something to consider.... Regardless, this is one s-w-e-e-t project and I'm looking forward to getting two sets of them.

I would be willing to do that depending on the cost of getting printed circuit boards made. I'll see if I can draw up a schematic and get some quotes as soon as I'm done with the prototype.

Thanks for the interest, ideas and patience guys.

 

[Obsidian11]

There have been some questions raised about supply and demand on these, and with that I'm curious to see what I'm really up against here. I know for sure that the first 9 sets are already accounted for based on donations received to aid in the initial cost of materials to make these. What I'd like to do is have anyone interested email me directly at [email protected] so I can start to get a feel for how many sets I'm going to be making. The price I finally came up with for a set will be $250.00 for the pair of lenses without the LED's. J will have to chime in on a final cost there when he's had chance to finish up a set and see what is involved. I'm guessing at this point that they'll be two separate purchases, one from me for the lenses and one from him for the LED's.

As shown here: http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-obsidian71-2013-tail-light-install you can see that using them without LED's is certainly possible.

Thanks for all the support and patience in these guys, hopefully this is the end of the road and I can start getting these made and on some cars!

 

[Mustang Dynasty]

Ok, maybe with my recent post about making a 1-off interior out of a lot of fiberglass and wood this might be going a step too far...but hey, I'm always up for a challenge

I've never been a huge fan of the '71-'73 tail lights. Not that they're ugly, they do fit the car very well, but if I were to pick my least favorite thing about our cars it would be the tail lights.

My original plan was to somehow flush-mount the stock lights in a way that only each of the 3 sections would come through the rear body panel and be flush with it. Now, I've seen the 2013 tail lights and I'm in love with the design!:heart: here's a shot if you haven't seen them yet...which I'm sure we all have by now.

So I though what if I could take that design and somehow apply it to the stock shape of the '71-'73 lights??? and give it that modern feel, but still retro without huge body mods, or perhaps no body mods at all.

After a quick google visit I found a ton of good info on molding your own tail lights by using similar methods to making fiberglass molds, and then pouring an acrylic resin dyed red into the molds, and bada bing, bada boom, a custom handmade tail light lens. What have I got to lose right, I've got 4 sets of tail lights in my basement that I can somewhat modify to get the plug for the mold, and if it looks like crap I'll still have 3 decent pair...

Whatcha guys think???

I think would look great but on a straight unmodified body of the 71-73 mustangs, I can not envision but as I have on my photo album, somewhere between pages 5-7 is a 70 or 71-3 modified with a sharp @ Porsche front end but the portals are just cosmetic however the engine, a big block moved to the rear with the pantera detomaso set up would be awesome and why not include a BMW touch with

multi-color ring in the head lamps re: Mustangs Unlimited (auto parts for 64-73 mustangs) out of Conneticut and believe also in Georgia like Mustangs One in that state.

Hey guys, I have yet to get the circuit board I need and it is getting me quite angry because I ordered it just about a month ago. I have all of the LEDs and everything else I need. Sorry to keep you guys waiting, I'll try mocking something up with a few scrap boards I have.

Have you ever looked into Mustangs Plus,(in Stockton, CA), ie set of circuit boards for both stock rear headlamp lenses, both LED and regular light bulbs(cost more but able to replace bulbs when they burn out) I have the LED boards and when installed found that sequential control unit tends to get hot, so best to leave the control somewhere in the trunk where there is nothing around it to prevent it to stay cool. With Mustangs Unlimited @ 860 647 1965 in Conneticut and Georgia has a neat multi-color headlamps ie remote control for this ring (like the BMW lights) changes colors(inside of headlamps)

 

[Obsidian11]

Those of you who donated to the development of these should be receiving an invoice via paypal for the difference of the $250.00 and what you donated. I will be starting to make these as quickly as I can this week. Those of you who have emailed me directly will be next up as soon as the ones who donated/pre-ordered are all set. I will also be adding a page with a link to purchase these on my website soon.

Thanks everyone for your support and patience on this!

I will do my best to make them as quickly as I can!

 

[Mister 4x4]

Thanks, Brother! I could see this taking off and becoming something big, if it wasn't for such a limited market for '71-'73s. You're a good man for sticking with it, despite the change of direction with your project, and I continue to applaud your efforts. ::thumb::

 

[DrDew]

View attachment 19672

 

[Qcode351mach]

This is great news! Are the LED board issues resolved? Do they sequence? Brakes vs. turn signals vs. backup? Do you have a video of them installed and in use? Looking forward to modding my Mach.

See my thread here for a test install how I did it..No leds yet

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-obsidian71-2013-tail-light-install