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M3 style fk rear lights group buy

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Cheers Kev :)

I'm going to need clear side repeaters too if I get these FK's.

 

Yep, Halfords do some nice clear ones which are very good quality. They fit better than the VW orange ones actually, and you get a choice of sealing strip colours too :lol:

 

K

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Hmmm....they're just inpros with a bit of tint spray....

 

Why aren't the Corrado tail lamps on FK's website? Me thinks they're made by Inpro and sold under the FK brand name......

 

K

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Spoke to fk, the lights are not on the fk english site as they are mainly aimed at the american market not the english for some reason. They are not made by inpro like some of the fk lights they are made by a german company that only supply fk hence they are pretty damn rare!

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Spoke to fk, the lights are not on the fk english site as they are mainly aimed at the american market not the english for some reason. They are not made by inpro like some of the fk lights they are made by a german company that only supply fk hence they are pretty damn rare!

 

Mystery solved!

 

I need a closer look at them really to make my mind up. Once bitten, twice shy and all that! They do look better than the Inpros I must admit. At least the surround is black plastic and not hideous chrome like on the inpros.

 

K

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i think you will find the fk surrond is that horrid chrome-plastic too im having mine colour coded with the car whilst being painted though..

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Arrgghh, NOOOOO! That chrome looks horrid, luckily I discovered solvent removes it without damaging the plastic (black) underneath.

 

I'm going to see if there is a way of removing the orange sections of the OE lights and getting them replicated in clear or textured acrylic. I think I'll hit a dead end but I'm pretty sure it's possible. I've got a spare set, so won't leave me light-less in the meantime.

 

K

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Arrgghh, NOOOOO! That chrome looks horrid, luckily I discovered solvent removes it without damaging the plastic (black) underneath.

 

I'm going to see if there is a way of removing the orange sections of the OE lights and getting them replicated in clear or textured acrylic. I think I'll hit a dead end but I'm pretty sure it's possible. I've got a spare set, so won't leave me light-less in the meantime.

 

K

 

Ah yes, I did the removing the orange reflector section 'mod' about 2 years ago on an old set of lights. I used a flourescent lighting filter from Wickes, and bent the plastic around using a heat gun. I bonded the plastic to the lights using epoxy resin. It didn't look too bad at the time as there were no in-pros available. I had some problems with leaking eventually and so bought the FK lights when they came out. I'll see if I can dig out a picture of how they turned out.

 

Cheers

Mark

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Another option I'd been thinking about is bleaching the plastic somehow, then putting a pale red tint on and using bright orange bulbs underneath. Not sure how you'd treat the plastic to get the bleach through the full thickness though - inject it?

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Ah yes, I did the removing the orange reflector section 'mod' about 2 years ago on an old set of lights. I used a flourescent lighting filter from Wickes, and bent the plastic around using a heat gun. I bonded the plastic to the lights using epoxy resin. It didn't look too bad at the time as there were no in-pros available. I had some problems with leaking eventually and so bought the FK lights when they came out. I'll see if I can dig out a picture of how they turned out.

 

Cheers

Mark

 

Good man, someone else thought of that too :lol:

 

How did you remove the orange sections without damaging the underlying black plastic?

 

Alongside this ambitious plan, I intend to junk the bulbs and use hyperbright LED arrays instead. I just hope the current they draw is enough to maintain the functionality of the flasher relay, if not, a variable 555 astable timer will have to be used instead because if the flasher relay doesn't see enough current draw, you'll get a constant output, so you need the LEDs to draw half an amp for the flasher to work.......

 

K

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Good man, someone else thought of that too :lol:

 

How did you remove the orange sections without damaging the underlying black plastic?

 

Alongside this ambitious plan, I intend to junk the bulbs and use hyperbright LED arrays instead. I just hope the current they draw is enough to maintain the functionality of the flasher relay, if not, a variable 555 astable timer will have to be used instead because if the flasher relay doesn't see enough current draw, you'll get a constant output, so you need the LEDs to draw half an amp for the flasher to work.......

 

K

 

Removing the old orange reflector was quite difficult as it was molded into the black casing. Bits of it chipped off fairly easy, but there were bits left over that just would not want to part company cleanly with the surround. I ended up using a dremel to grind the rest of it off!

 

I actually tried to use orange LED bulbs with the lights (from volksbits), but for some reason they flashed at an alarming rate (I think they draw naff all current so that might be the reason). They were also very dim when viewed from an angle. I ended up exchanging the bulbs for some silvertec ones which work great, and I now use these in my FK lights.

 

Here's a pic of the said 'homemade' lights :p

 

Cheers

Mark

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I just hope the current they draw is enough to maintain the functionality of the flasher relay, if not, a variable 555 astable timer will have to be used instead because if the flasher relay doesn't see enough current draw, you'll get a constant output, so you need the LEDs to draw half an amp for the flasher to work.......

 

K

 

Just wire a large resistor in parallel with the LED clusters... It won't affect the LED brighness, but will make the normal relay work... That's how the clusters that you can buy in the Laxpower style shops work... 8)

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Mark....fantastic. That's exactly what I had in mind. They look way better than the FKs imo, bloody good effort. I like your wheels too :lol:

Ultraleds.co.uk sell LED arrays inside standard bulb fittings, so you don't recommend that method then? I was thinking of using an array of Government approved road sign LEDs (8000mcd or higher with 60 degree viewing angle) but you've done it already, so may think of alternative!

 

Henny, yeah I've got a bunch of 10W resistors (used in my brake light, they get real hot!) so could be a way round the flasher relay issue. If not, an astable timer is a dead easy to knock up and you can adjust flash rate to what ever you want.

 

K

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