911R Tail lights (a tech writeup + BONUS)
 

This has been quite a learning curve for me. I first ended up buying bases for an SWB car and the lights were the Amber/Clear and the single reds, not what I wanted. Now I have (in the original 911R style) the correct bases for my car (thanks TRE) and Amber/Red's and Red/Red's. As many of you know, the red/red lenses are not available that way so what to do???

After some research, I found you can paint the inside of the lenses using some transparent type paint. First I tried the Testors candy apple 1605 red. It did not work well at all and had to be removed. :mad:

While removing the Testors red I discovered that the Hella lenses are painted red on half the lens. I found this out when I was removing the red I had sprayed using Acetone. Acetone works very well by the way and does not harm the plastic although I wold not soak them in it.

After reading some other threads, I decided to give the Krylon Stained glass (available at Micheals in the stained glass section) red a try. WOW :eek: what a difference. The only trouble was it did not quite match the red that Hella used so I had to remove the red on the Amber/Red signal lenses and re-paint the red to match. When shining a light through the back of the lens the color is VERY close but in appearance, just not quite right.

Here is the procedure:

1. Remove the Hella red using Acetone on some paper towels. Q-tips work well to get in the crevices.
2. Buy some Krylon Stained glass RED spray paint. One can is plenty!
3. After taping off where needed, spray a couple VERY LIGHT coats ( I ended up with four coats total) of paint at the back of the lenses. Drying time should be at least 30 min. between coats! Trust me on this. I found that since the inside of the lenses have ridges, the paint tends to flow into the valleys between the ridges. To help prevent this, immediately after spraying each coat, turn the lens over (rite side up) for a bit. This will help the paint to flow to the tips of the ridges better.
4. You're done, enjoy!
5. Bonus at the end of this post!


Hella lens as it comes outa the box.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297271974.jpg


Hella lens after painting as above.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297272005.jpg


Hella lens having the original red paint being removed.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297272136.jpg


Hella lens after paint removal. Notice the lenses are Amber through and through!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297272227.jpg


Side by side comparison.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297272289.jpg


Paint I used.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297272334.jpg


BONUS:
After researching the Hella USA site, I found these lights are available here in the US. I did not know this when I purchased mine which, as you know are not cheap!
BTW, I measured mine and compared them to the ones on the Hella site... They are EXACTLY the same size!

Hella USA link: EDIT: The link takes you to a catalog... they are the 1259 series
Error

Available here:
Amazon.com: Hella 001259261 1259 Series Amber and Red Turn/Tail Lamp with Chrome Base: Automotive

And here if you need the Amber/Clear:
Hella - 001259061 - 1259 Turn/Side Marker Lamp - Truck Styling

There are others, just use the Hella PN in the search bar.
Also these all have the chrome trim ring which would have been nice. Perhaps I'll try that chrome spray paint stuff on mine.
My apologies to anyone trying to sell these for WAY too much! :D

Great write-up ! .... a collective thanks to you....

Guys,

I have a boxful of Red only lenses if you want any.

I also have a a boxful of clear lenses that would paint up.

Both of these lens types will fit the Amber/Red Base with the festoon type bulbs.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...OilTank050.jpg

We have also made some stainless steel plates that take a conventional bulb holder as the festoon bulbs can be a real pain in the a**. We have two bulb holders, one with a single filament for indicator and one dual filament for stop and tail.

The polished stainless works as a reflector and give a good rear light output. It also pop rivetst to a lamp base after painting and has holes for the lens to screw down.

We made lamp housings with the base filled in so these plates pop rivet in after painting and bulbs can be changed without removing the housing from the bodyshell.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...OilTank042.jpg


We also use the Orange/Amber light on later cars that have to have Rear Fog Lights to comply with DOT requirements.

We use the amber for indicator. A Red/Red for tail, and stop and the red section of the Amber/Red fitted with an LED Festoon for rear fog light.

There also seems to be a problem with the 'Chrome' base. I ordered lamps with Chrome bases from the European Catalogue last September and they all turned up without the chrome ring - which I why I have a boxful of spare lamps.

We bought clear lenses and have masked the inner portion painted the ring inside with Chrome spray paint and then coloured them red and amber so we have them with chrome rings.

Chris is correct on the lack of chrome for the lenses. The description says chrome and the black/white drawings suggest that, in the catalogs , too. BUT Hella tells us that the "Chrome" refers to the bases (hah!)

Amazing price from the amazon seller ! looks like i will be selling bases only till their stock runs out :-(

Can you post up a photo of those? That sounds interesting.


Sorry about that Dave, I am just trying to pass along some good info. Not trying to step on toes. :rolleyes:
Your bases ARE the best!

Has anyone done anything to replace the missing back up light?

I just ordered a load of white LEDs for another project and I'm thinking of doing something to let people know I'm in reverse.


BTW, anyone know the color code for the back light wire? My book is packed away.

I was thinking of using something like the bolts on this page which can be used to hold your license plate on:
Super Bright LEDs - LED Accessories & Motion Sensor Lights

Prolly won't help you see but might get someones attention... you could always make them flash too.

Not sure about the wire color. I haven't got that far yet.

Gray Brown...found it.

buy these from me :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297297437.jpg

Why didn't ya have those 4 years ago?

It used to be real difficult before. Since then Hella has several distributors in the usa, and apparently these are being used in the manufacture of trailers and motorhomes here too. So for the time being there is a decent supply, but we sometimes have to wait for a container to come in . Hence my stocking up and whamo! some shop has them on amazon for less than i pay for them .

Mike- trade me something for a pair of lenses. They will fasten to the existing bases you bought from me years ago
thanks

All done and ready for install:

EDIT: OOPS, I just realized I had those in backwards. You get the idea...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297304366.jpg

Hmmm, I have mine full red inboard (running lights) and amber/red out board (blinker/stop).

Dunno why, it was what was suggested over four years ago.

I'm a little confused on the clear/amber. If I replace the full red.....then I have either a stop or running light that is amber.....not legal.

If I replace the amber/red with clear/amber.....then I need to convert the full red to a dual bulb base and move the brake over there with the running lights......



My head hurts....

Yes, I goofed... set them in there wrong. :D


Bingo!
Although, I would suggest buying the corresponding lens for the Red/Red. There is a divider in the base that separates the bulbs and the lens fits better and will look proper. Just compare yours to the pictures above and you will see what I mean.

What I NEED....is a double light base for the full red and a clear/amber lens.

Does the red come off easily and end up being clear with the Acetone?

Further research shows that yellow is acceptable for back up lighting.

On the full red brake/running light. I'm gonna use my new bundle of LEDs and the existing base. Something to do......:D

I used LED lights that were for semi-truck clearance lights... mounted them with the push in rubber grommet, similar to the ones on this site..

Not concourse but work very will and are quite bright..

Just another alternative

I have seen these lights in clear also.... cant find them now..

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297375152.jpg


you can see the rubber grommet in this progress photo...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1297375263.jpg

Not sure exactly what I'm looking at there but are there 4 LED's or just two? If there are 4, are they all the same color (white)? Hard to tell in the photo. Nice idea BTW.

4 LEDs per side. I had to take the pic on an angle. Straight on the LED light blinded the camera and all I got was a big bloom like a white chrysanthemum.

I search this model and what is the reference of this piece ??????

The link is in the very first post near the bottom!
Here it is again:

Subscribed!

great information! however does anyone know where you can get the housings??

TRE, Dave Bozaglu.

Where's the best place to get the 911R rear light mounting panels? How about the clear/amber front marker lights?

Dave at TRE has it all...

Great thread!

Here is another data point for this job…
 

Using the tips in this thread, I decided to change the dual bulb tail lights I have for my R project. I used the same paint, but my hardware was older. They are (in theory) NOS from the 70’s and I got them off eBay a few years back from a guy in the UK.

As you can see in the pictures below, they have a “chrome” base that I had to be careful of. My suspicions were verified when I went to work with the acetone… the chrome was painted on from the inside, so in this case the lenses needed to be CLEAR through and through!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1320500958.jpg

Here are a couple pics (with and w/o flash) to show the before and after. The red is quite dark but looks right when you shine light through it. I did 6 very light coats in the end on both to make sure they matched. I stopped at 4 coats on the first one, but was bummed to still see very little paint on the peaks of the fluting inside the lens, even with the “turn over” method. I did the final 2 coats on it VERY light and turned it over right away (as in shoot-shoot-shoot-flip) to make sure the paint wouldn’t run down into the valleys. That did the trick, so on the second one I used the same method on all 6 coats with good results:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1320500988.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1320501024.jpg

Hope that info adds to this a little bit. My thanks to 78SCRSMAN for the original post!

Great Info!!

Does anybody know where I can purchase four Hella clear side markers lights 001259631 1259. I talked to Truck Styler and they don't handle them any more, also checked on Amazon and e-bay but was unsuccessful

I buy all my lights from rallylights.com they are a big Hella distributor in PA. I make red/red by putting a base from a amber/red behind a red lense. I also use 18watt for brake, turn, and reverse. Use 15watt for tail, I have found that 18 will melt the lense after prolonged use.