Exciting day - rebuild of 78 coupe

Letank

CCCUK Member
Nice job. Fitting switchback LEDs for reverse and side indicator lights is also on my list of jobs this year. I miss not having reverse lights and this appears to be the best solution to get them whilst keeping the amber indicators and not messing with the the beautiful rear end of a chrome c3. I believe you can also change the flasher relay under the dash if you don’t want to put resistors across each light. Not sure which route I will take yet, but I am also considering doing the LED halo modification at the same time.
 

kentvette

CCCUK Member
Tim, I was in a rush and forgot to take photos, but these are the bits I used.
Bulbs
TABEN Extremely Bright 5730 Chipsets White/Amber Dual Color Switchback 1157 BAY15D 1157A 7528 LED Bulbs with Projector Lens for Car Turn Signal Lights and Daytime Running Lights (Pack of 2): Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike
Resistors
Bulb holders
More Information for STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS S55

Cost about £30 in all. The resistors need to be wired in parallel with the indicator bulbs and mounted on something metal to act as a heat sink. There's a big beam across the back of my 78 so I just pop riveted them to that. You also need to file a little bit out of the lamp housing to make the bulb holders fit, or you could file a small protrusion off of the bulb holder instead.

Being a "bear of little brain" when it comes to electrics (yes, I did put together the conversion guide that's on this site!), that's the first time I've seen an "easy to understand" set up with LED rear lights!

Am I right in assuming that the same set up could be used for the front side/indicator lamps?
 

johng

CCCUK Member
Yes, if I hadn't already ready rewired my fronts to use the side light in the dip beam, then I would have used LEDs there as well.
 

johng

CCCUK Member
Haven't been doing much to the car for the past couple of weeks, as I promised my wife I'd strip out the bathroom and replace it once Christmas had gone. However, I did find time to fit one of the door cards that I recovered, I'm pretty pleased with the look. Also, I've finished all the weatherstrips (and can now actually shut the doors!) and got all the front lights back in place. I've replaced the main beam units with H1 halogens, I've ended up with loads of spare electrical connectors for these, so if anyone needs some let me know. Finally whilst I had the car out of the garage to give it a wash I tried out the parking sensors I fitted a while ago. They are in the small black strip below the number plate in this photo. Unfortunately they are either picking up the bumperettes next to them or the ground in front of them, as they go off permanently. Looks like I need to reposition them somehow.

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9188
 

Nick B

CCCUK Member
Haven't been doing much to the car for the past couple of weeks, as I promised my wife I'd strip out the bathroom and replace it once Christmas had gone. However, I did find time to fit one of the door cards that I recovered, I'm pretty pleased with the look. Also, I've finished all the weatherstrips (and can now actually shut the doors!) and got all the front lights back in place. I've replaced the main beam units with H1 halogens, I've ended up with loads of spare electrical connectors for these, so if anyone needs some let me know. Finally whilst I had the car out of the garage to give it a wash I tried out the parking sensors I fitted a while ago. They are in the small black strip below the number plate in this photo. Unfortunately they are either picking up the bumperettes next to them or the ground in front of them, as they go off permanently. Looks like I need to reposition them somehow.

View attachment 9187

View attachment 9188
Looking great!
 

kentvette

CCCUK Member
Looking fabulous! When you say that you recovered the door liners, did you make the new covers, or fit some you'd bought. Seriously impressive if you made them!
 

johng

CCCUK Member
Finally escaped from re-fitting the bathroom :) Actually managed to spend a couple of hours on the car this afternoon! Doesn't seem like I've achieved much though. I realised a little while ago that I was missing the T-Top rear latch rod bushings and the cheapest I could get a pair was to buy a complete refurb kit for £50. Being a cheapskate I wasn't keen on this, so I bought a pack of 10 nylon spacers with a 12mm OD and 6mm ID for the princely sum of £3.40. I put an 8mm drill through them and they were a very nice press fit into the T-Tops.

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9980

That was the easy bit, I spent the next couple of hours trying to get the T-Tops to fit nicely, which meant adjusting the position of the front pin, also the positions and shims under the 2 tongues. No matter what I do I can't quite get the tops to seal completely all along the front edge, there are a couple of tiny gaps left. The problem seems to be that the top itself is bowed, so whilst I have got both corners tightly sealed, there is still a very small gap in the centre:( Typically the back edge also looks a bit bowed, but it still seals all the way along, but this probably isn't as important as the front edge.
 

johng

CCCUK Member
Well nothing is completely rigid and they've spent 40 odd years being pulled down in the 4 corners probably with the sun shining down on them, so I guess it's no surprise if they've suffered from a bit of creep. Just have to try and avoid going out in the rain!
 

johng

CCCUK Member
Suppose it could be, but it also looks bowed at the back compared to the bodyshell. I'll take some photos tomorrow.
 
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