ok before i get myself in timeless trouble... had to ask

I feel the taillights on my bird can be brighter! now are the taillights 2 piece to where i can unmount them from the body and open them up and clean out the insides of the lenses. and either try to shine up the reflection part or some of the other.

has anyone done this already? are the taillights 2 pieces or just a 1 piece? trying to save a buck and make it look good

Yes, you can take them apart and do that. I cleaned mine out but I havent decided whats the best paint to use on the reflective part. If someone knows, please enlighten us. Thanks, Charlie

I did the same thing, for the same reason. Thought they were too dim. Bottom line, if you are using the correct bulbs and the proper amperage is getting to them, then thats the way they were meant to be. I suppose you could try some brighter rated bulbs, but the next step up might make them too bright, and take away from how they are supposed to look (and cause other problems).

I lined my front marker light housings with aluminum foil. One was rusty, but I lined them both so they would match. Bright.

I never considered my tails dim, but I never follow myself One was cracked, and caused it to not reflect, so I replaced it.

Steve, while I've never taken the housing apart, I'm sure it could be done, maybe you could even get the reflector chromed?

Other than that, read up on some of the electrical upgrades (you have the internally regulated Alt. now right?) I thought you had changed that? If not, that alone may help some... that and a higher output Alt. And to make sure all the connections are good and clean etc...

I think Mad Electrical has some relay kits for at least the headlights so it's more of a direct source, and much brighter... maybe this would benifit the Tail lights by freeing up some of the draw off the regular system in the end? Worth looking into?

Brett - 67 Drop Top 455!

aluminum foil????????thats a new one.i usually bead blast them and paint them a bright silver and if they are reproduced,i just buy new ones.

I dunno about gettin it CHROMED, I was thinkin at most using some chrome paint on mine...but mine also had been sitting for awhile without bulb assembly screwed in. Hell, one of em had a dirt dawbers nest in it (spell check on the "dirt dawber", Bjorn) Just my 1½ cents worth.

no bead blaster, no money, lots of foil. i thought about painting them both silver, but one was still white/reflective, and I didn't want to mess with it in case I bought a replacement for the other side only. The foil was a temporary test, and so far it has passed.

I wouldn't paint the tail housings or permanently change them unless you have a spare set just in case.

They come apart pretty easily.

mud dauber

"one was still white/reflective"

The safest easiest way to go would be a good cleanup and high temp white paint. Anything other than high temp paint will burn off as those little lamps do get very hot. White is going to be the brightest reflective you can get as opposed to any other colour.

Gerry

yeah i upgraded the alternator to internally regulated. i took 1 out and cleaned up the lense it looked a little bit better but what i really wish is that some genius would invent a proper way to put LED lights for the tails. I know its not "original" but its one of those things you just set and forget. they do sell super bright led bulbs (1157) but they can't be used for this application because the bulbs are to point vertically and not horizontally. someone go invent an LED application!

I have been thinking of converting over to superbright LEDs like the hotrodders are doing. I hear they have a setup that is a direct replacement for the OEM bulbs. I don't know how bright they are though. since my front end is completely torn down for resto, i dont have an electrical system to try this on.

I was wondering about the heat factor also, Gerry. Thanks for the heads-up on that. Charlie

donk cut me some info on that

Be careful with the LEDs. They get very hot. Both of my kid's cars have lights where the bulbs have come lose from their sockets and fell against the housing and melted the housing to the point where I had to replace them. One headlight and one fog light. You know how often our bulb sockets fall out from vibration. Don't need a trunk fire.

Robert

OOps actually I was thinking about halogen bulbs. My bad. Never mind.

Robert

Yep, get a complete set of the halogen bulbs.

From what I hear, the LED lights are actually not any brighter, they just have a more direct coverage area so to speak.

Annd they do have LED replacement bulbs and LED panels that you can install... I don't have the info handy, but I do remember this being brough up before, and was all excited about the posibilities until I found out that they weren't any brighter...

I think if you seach foor LED light replacement or similar you should be able to come up with a few sites with this info... something like LED.com or? I can't remember?
Try: http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm

I think this may have been the site? Read their disclamers etc...

Still would like to try them anyway! If anyone does... please let us know how it works out!

Brett - 67 Drop Top 455!

From what I hear, the LED lights are actually not any brighter, they just have a more direct coverage area so to speak.

Annd they do have LED replacement bulbs and LED panels that you can install... I don't have the info handy, but I do remember this being brough up before, and was all excited about the posibilities until I found out that they weren't any brighter...

I think if you seach foor LED light replacement or similar you should be able to come up with a few sites with this info... something like LED.com or? I can't remember?
Try: http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm

I think this may have been the site? Read their disclamers etc...

Still would like to try them anyway! If anyone does... please let us know how it works out!

Brett - 67 Drop Top 455!

Actually, the LEDs WOULD be significantly brighter if they pointed toward the rear lens instead of pointing straight yo toward the top of the tail light housing.

I've seen some LED tails installed in a Camaro and they are WAY brighter! They are a replacement tail lamp assembly with multiple LEDs pointing at the lens. Unfortunately, no one makes them for a bird, yet. Someone needs to get off their duff and DO IT! LOL

hey thanks for the link.. that's what i was talking about, they have "right angle LED bulbs" so they face out the rear tail lights. problem is i can't go pick that up anywhere i have to order them, but that was a good start to what i was looking for.

I also thought my lights were too dim. I removed the housings from the trunk and cleaned off any paint where the housings connected to the car. I also cleaned the contact areas where the bulg sockets attached to the housings. It seems that the cause of my problem was not having the circuit grounded properly. Theyn are perfect now. had smae problem with my dash lights and horn cicuit. Ground it!

You are right Greg! Most times its the 36-38 year old hardware we are using that causes most of the problems! Pull them out, clean them, scrub them a bit and all is well. Simple job to replace sockets and wiring with newer stuff, and pretty cheap if you go to the right places.

I just ordered this kit from Eastwood
http://eastwood.com/shopping/produc...=631&iSubCat=631&iProductID=1020
havent tried it yet as the rain here in So Ca has just stoped a few days ago. I will be doing my tail lights in a few days to see how it works. Also my painter told me if my lenzes were dull that you can spray them with clear coat and make them look new again.

Wade