Rear Lights Fittings - Can I Use Filler?

[Landie71]

Hi all, new to the group & putting a zero together (very slowly). Been in the garage this afternoon to try & make a start on fitting the rear lights - I'm putting LED lights on & I've got a couple of pods from SVC to put them in. The problem is the curve of the wheel arch isn't the same as the pods so there's a gap of about an inch at the top. I'm thinking of using either fibreglass or metal mesh with body filler over the top to make up the gap. Does anyone know if I'll have any problems with an IVA inspector if I ever get that far?

Thanks in advance

Marcus

[knights_templar]

led lights are OK for IVA,

 

However before you go mad, fog light must be E marked, AND have a letter B and/or a letter F on the lens, without the letter it fails, E or not

 

fog light lens MUST be 90 degrees to road surface, the rest should just be visible from rear. I believe GBS have a picture of measurements on their downloads

 

fog light and brake light have a minimum separation. think its 100 mm but please check with above

 

which loom do you have?

 

the early Zero loom is wired to be SVA compliant, IVA is different and you will have to mod things, simple fix.

 

as you are so close to GBS why not go and see them, I know they have a lot of information on what you shouldn't mod before the test.

 

Regards

[Landie71]

Thanks KT - very interesting - I'm planning on putting the fog light on the back of the body, opposite side to the fuel filler to 'balance the look out' so it'll be at least 100mm from the brake light (checked that in the IVA manual). Getting that at 90 to the road souldn't be too difficult, but if I'm reading what you've put right, the other rear lights don't need to be at 90 degrees to the road, just visible (which they will be) so maybe I don't need to fill in such a bit gap after all.

 

I've got one of the very earliest zero's with one of their original looms, but I'm ok with 'lectrics (probably just jinxed it now). I'm putting a mk3 Fiesta indicaotor column switch on (the sierras one in the donor pack I got didn't work & I had a spare one in the garage with a column couling) so there's a few little changes to make anyway, but hopefully it'll look ok when it's done.

 

Might take another run over to GBS, think they're used to me doing a bit, getting a load of questions, popping in for inspiration, then leaving it for months on end while other stuff seems to take priority & eventually the urge to garage tinker wells up inside again & I dust off the kit again

 

Thanks again

 

M

[knights_templar]

old loom puts the fog light ON with side lights, you need them ON with headlights only, off with side lights.

 

have the necessary connections for the sierra, but can't help with your switch, sorry. but it shouldn't take to much working out

[Landie71]

I'm going to re-use the rear wiper part of the switch on the column as naturally there's no rear wiper. I'm trying to avoid having any switches on the dash so I'll cover over the wiper picture (maybe spray it over) & put a fog light symbol on it. As for the wiring, I'll need an extra relay, which'll have the coil powered from the 'rear wiper come fog light switch' & the switch contacts fed from the headlights so it'll need the headlights switched on & the 'rear wiper come fog light' switch on for the fog light to come on. I've checked it out with a meter & the switch looks like it'll do the business, but only time (& probably a few blown fuses) will tell!

[knights_templar]

sounds interesting, let us know how you get on

[Al Milton]

Marcus,

 

Don't know how you have progressed with the light pods, but you could always trim the light pod to suit the wheel arch profile rather than using filler. Depends on the depth of the light pod really.

Any minor imperfections in the trimming can be 'disguised' with some small rubber edge trim.

Check out the Car Builder Solutions website for pointers.

 

Just a suggestion

Al

[Landie71]

Thanks Al - I'm actually using the MK2 housings from CBS, they just don't quite fit the profile of the GBS arches, hence I was looking at having to fill a possible gap at the top. There's a few mm I can take off the bottom, but it's not going to be enough to make the lights at right-angles to the road, but as KT's helpfully pointed out they don't need to so I'm going to re-visit trimming the bottom of the pods rather than filling the top so the sit nearer to right angles to the road.

Cheer

Marcus