I have converted my 71 to a tilt hood. I have done a lot of things the purist won't like but look past that. What new ideas do you guys have for replacing the heavy pot metal flip up headlights? I am weight sensitive do to the tilt hood. I almost bought a set of Saturn Sky Redline headlights off of E-bay yesterday but lost the bid. The lines are very similar to our cars. I laid pics over one another and the fender lines are near identical from the front. They are also black background so they don't visually overpower the front of the car. What are your ideas?
Thanks,
Charlie

 

How about Celica Lights??? LED???

 

i wanted to shave my lights and put them in the grills.....i think they would look better down there anyways

 

Might want to look at this thread in the tech section:

Custom Headlights

 

 

Similar to Bo's but projector lights.

 

WOW! That's HOT!

 

Thanks Iceman! Still have to cover them with tinted lexan. The idea is to get good light out, not have the raw fixtures fully exposed and not have a box to catch air in. The lexan sheet will sloped outward from center and in from top to bottom, fitting just behind the chrome trim. I should get back to them for the finish very soon.

Dave

 

I know a guy with a NOS set of these

 

you should market that as a kit when you're done. I'd buy one!

 

Thanks Iman... but with my prognosis I'll consider myself fortunate just to survive the completion of this car. Certainly worth looking into though by someone in the business.

 

i like that light setup.....then with the tinted lexan in front it will help 'black them out' a bit...

 

Coolness, a post right up my alley,
It's weird I see myself just as **** over customs which I love as some purists are over stock,

Lets start with the fact you have the cool tilt front end already, Ecklers sold theirs two ways one with the recessed Monza headlights but they were pushed forward over stock as seen here,

This is most common, we see this look almost as much as we see L-88 hood scoops,


In the early days before so many people were sue happy and illegal headlight height wasn't a big concern, Ecklers offer the headlights, two rectangle units per side in the grill area of the tilt front and even made a fiberglass part to do this to 68-72 cars, included with the kit were block offs for the holes the headlights left,


Sometimes builders opted for one larger lamp per side, in the early days these was an import headlight like found in a GT40 now we can just use the larger square lamp like in a C4
Here is that look in a Mako front clip,

And another Ecklers style one piece front end


While I have never been a fan of round headlights in the grill,


This modern take on it is very hot,


You mentioned that the Saturn Sky Redline, I looked at them on google and you would face the same issues that the builder of this car below faced, while I believe the Saturn Sky Redline would work better just because they "fit" doesn't mean they flow as seen here,



Sometimes the modern lights look too high tech on old school style customs,


Lastly just for fun and food for thought are a couple other one off headlight treatments,
One a bit more pleasing than the other,





You know, it's up to you, it's about pleasing yourself, to start with I plan to run the large square lights in the grill until I decide if I want to recess a couple small modern lights in the peak of the nose on mine, something like this fellow is doing,



Cheers,
P.

 

These are my favorite of custum lights

 

The headlights are cool and all, but I want to know where I can get that rear window!

 

I am curious as to the effectiveness of headlights so low to the ground, Rolling Thunder have you driven this car at night yet? or done a comparison of the light thrown out?

 

Good eye! Give me your address and I'll mail it to you. Two garbage bags and ten feet of masking tape. I'll even pay postage. No, had just received my back glass back from the shop that did my tinting and I didn't want rubbing compound thrown all over it.

 

Good questions. No I have not driven it at night (or daytime). There will indeed be less light cast over distance by having them closer to the road. Going to projector lights will help offset that to some degree but the final outcome is unknown at this point. I have no doubt that it will be better than the many that were done with original T3's or even the rectangular lights as pictured above. Having said that, let me also say that my intent was not to build a daily (or nightly) driver. In most states the location of these lights is not even legal. I believe the standard is 22" above the ground as the minimum.

Mine is a specialty car with an engine too big, exhaust too loud, suspension too stiff, riding on drag radials, etc. It has almost as much attitude as its builder. It's not for everybody.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave

 

You're welcome..... and I will post results when the night test drive happens, maybe even a video.