Author Topic: Taillight Housing Modification  (Read 2192 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

oldsalt

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 246
  • Karma: 0
on: May 16, 2008, 02:53:29 am
As I haven't figgered out how to post more than one photo, the single attached photo shows the results of my effort to make the tail light to be as horizontal as possible.  Wanted to post a before and after.  Removed the assembly and chopped a wedge of material off both sides so that the plastic light was closer to horizontal.   Also chopped about 1-1/2 inches off the heigth of the area where the license plate mounts. 

To get it perfectly horizontal [and the license plate vertical] would have required that the top portion of the assembly be lengthened because no more metal could reasonably be removed from the lower portion of the sides.  I chose not to do that and satisfied myself with just removing metal.  The part is black from the factory so color matching was not an issue.   

I think it looks better now.   

[old attachment deleted by admin]
-2006 Sixty-5
-1941 Knuckle
-Lotza Mini Bikes
-67 Triumph 500
-46 Hiawatha
-67 Triumph 650


deejay

  • Guest
Reply #1 on: May 16, 2008, 03:05:22 pm
Wow, that does look better, and always bothered me. Think I'll be doing this over the weekend. Thanks man.


oldsalt

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 246
  • Karma: 0
Reply #2 on: May 17, 2008, 05:57:34 am
Wow, that does look better, and always bothered me. Think I'll be doing this over the weekend. Thanks man.

deejay
I made it sound a little simpler that it really was.  Making a cardboard pattern and cutting and grinding and sanding the sheet metal sides was not so hard.  The complication comes in when the mounting bracket, which is inside the assembly, has to be removed and relocated in a new position.  Not that much more trouble, but it complicates the job.  To make the job a little harder I ground off all the spotwelds, with a die grinder,  that attach the sides to the flat plate that the license bolts to.  I removed it so that it could be easy to chop  about an inch and one half off it's heigth.  It was sectioned near the middle and tacked back together.  A little body putty hid that work.   For a U.S. license plate it doesn't need to be that tall.  The black re-paint came out fine useing a rattle can. 
-2006 Sixty-5
-1941 Knuckle
-Lotza Mini Bikes
-67 Triumph 500
-46 Hiawatha
-67 Triumph 650