Fiat Coupe Rear Lights

[drhunter]

This is mostly aimed at MattD:

How did you go about mounting your rear lights?

I would like to have sunk them into the bodywork but since my fibreglassing skills are non-existant I'm going to stick with surface mounting them as it looks good on your car.


Bought them on ebay for £14. Full set including the mounting pods and a chunk of the surrounding bodywork. The seller just cut around the area, leaving the hard part to me and some tin-snips

[norma]

This is mostly aimed at MattD:

How did you go about mounting your rear lights?

I would like to have sunk them into the bodywork but since my fibreglassing skills are non-existant I'm going to stick with surface mounting them as it looks good on your car.


Bought them on ebay for £14. Full set including the mounting pods and a chunk of the surrounding bodywork. The seller just cut around the area, leaving the hard part to me and some tin-snips

Did mine using coupe lights some 9 years ago when coupe's weren't in scrap yards - had to buy them from Fiat and they cost me exactly ten times !!! what you've just paid
still, I've had 7 years of driving fun since then which kind of makes me feel better!

[drhunter]

Smart looking car, do you have any more pics? I'm always looking for inspiration.

How did you go about fixing the lights to your car?
So far, my thinking is limited to cutting a hole slightly smaller than the light, pushing it through the hole from the outside but I haven't a clue how best to secure it from the inside!

[norma]

Smart looking car, do you have any more pics? I'm always looking for inspiration.

How did you go about fixing the lights to your car?
So far, my thinking is limited to cutting a hole slightly smaller than the light, pushing it through the hole from the outside but I haven't a clue how best to secure it from the inside!

Thanks - umm, I can't actually remember how I did them! (it was a long time ago).
I'll go and see if I can't take a piccie from the inside for you - gimme 10 minutes

[norma]

I'm afraid its not as pretty on the inside of the boot!
The first picture is looking from the drivers side across to the pass side rear lights. brake light is in the boot and you can see indicator lense is actually in the wheel arch area.
The wheelarch bit was then glassed in to protect from the elements.
The bulbs are accesible but you need to find someone with small hands to do it for you!
Although my memory is no good, I can see that I've actually body fillered the units in place - its been fine for the last 7 years and even withstood a rear ender from an over zealous fury owner at Laon a couple of years ago (was quite a shunt too).

Hope this helps!
p.s. I do know someone used a stainless steel pet's water bowl to french theirs in!

[drhunter]

Norma you're an absolute star.

I'll have to cut part of the fibreglass from the side of my boot - like yours


Thanks again

[MattD]

Hi Dave

Had to go & take some pics, amazed I didn't have any of the inside boot already.

I too wanted to recess them into the panel, I'd seen Andy Bailey's very professional efforts & wanted that.
Sadly my GRP skills were about zero then, so I kept it a simple as possible.

As you'll see in the pics,
I marked up the light spacing on the outside, then just bonded on two strips of wood, approx halfway up the light units, on the inside of the boot.
Then tank cut the holes from through the GRP & through the wood. This effectively left 3 wood blocks on each side.
Cut some ally flat, drilled two holes, on for the light mount, the other for a self tapper into the wood.

Norma >> I too paid the full Fiat price for 5 lights (2x ind/reverse). £150+, ouch

Things to watch out for...

I've broken the same light 3 times, drivers side outer, its either stones flicked up by wheelspin or the crash of the suspension + my weight.
Too start everyone off again.... Its much more compliant with the new dipped rear arms, even with harder springs, & I've not broken it since.

SVA... Must have 100mm between brake light & fog light lense centres.
It was too close on mine so had to fit an old Lucas hanging type (which fell off 5 mins after I got back from SVA pass !).
All shown in the pics, inc one of Norma's car.

Cheap, simple, but effective. Never moved in 8 years !

Cheers

Matt

[norma]

SVA... Must have 100mm between brake light & fog light lense centres.
It was too close on mine so had to fit an old Lucas hanging type (which fell off 5 mins after I got back from SVA pass !).
All shown in the pics, inc one of Norma's car.

he he how strange that yours fell off five minutes after SVA - because that's exactly what happened to mine too!
By the way, there's a cracking product called 'Celmar' which is polypropylene sheet with a fabric pressed into it - this is used by glassers everywhere as it bonds rather well!
I used this stuff a plenty including the wheel arches which would explain why my lenses are still the originals!
(the resin bonds to the fabric side leaving the polyprop side free for whatever you need it for - I used 12mm stuff in the doors to screw into, 3mm in the wheel arches, more 12mm to mount spot lamps too and all sorts of other stuff......