My Willys 3A and 3B Community

TECH FAQ SECTIONS => Electrical Systems => Topic started by: Marla.the.V35 on November 21, 2021, 05:27:00 PM

Title: Making a functional taillight out of the Reflex reflector?
Post by: Marla.the.V35 on November 21, 2021, 05:27:00 PM

Anyone ever tried this? (I did some searching, couldn't find anything. Of course, might have been using wrong filters/parameters?)

Considering (only considering right now) holing out the back and putting an LED there so that it looks stock from the outside, but functions like a turn/brake light.

I plan to make the V-35 street legal, but I don't want to go adding a bunch of stuff to the outside.

TIA!

Title: Re: Making a functional taillight out of the Reflex reflector?
Post by: Rus Curtis on November 22, 2021, 10:52:45 AM

JON,
I remembered reading about this.  I fell victim to the "filters/parameters" problem you ran into yesterday when I searched.  I could only find this:

Note the spacer to allow for internals
https://forums.g503.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=299201&p=1752821&hilit=reflector#p1752821

Then, on another try this morning I found this post:

https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/reflector-light-combo_topic49121_post499228.html?KW=using+reflector+for+taillight#499228

Title: Re: Making a functional taillight out of the Reflex reflector?
Post by: Marla.the.V35 on November 22, 2021, 03:26:59 PM

These are great threads to start on. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting!

Looks like perhaps some LED's that fit a Harley might be the way to go. Can't believe a 3inch flat LED panel is hard to find.

I really don't want to have to modify the reflector away from stock, but it's either that, or add some other light there. People are terrible enough drivers with slow vehicles...Better to be seen. RIP Malachi Springer.

If things go well, I'll have a write up on my project thread :)

Title: Re: Making a functional taillight out of the Reflex reflector?
Post by: Rus Curtis on November 22, 2021, 05:14:05 PM

What about saving your reflector and buying an aftermarket replacement to cut up?

Title: Re: Making a functional taillight out of the Reflex reflector?
Post by: Marla.the.V35 on November 22, 2021, 06:13:58 PM

I think you're right. I was thinking I should look for a second one. I'll get to work on it ;)

UPDATE:
I'm not sure what reflector (if any?) would've come standard on the V-35. Would it have something closer to the 3A, or use the M38 'oval' reflector? I'm not so sure the one I have is OEM. It says "STRATOLITE" on it and appears to resemble an oval M38 reflectors (based on what the usual vendors are offering and the crummy measurement I took here).

Likely, I'll just pick up something that matches this one, true to stock or not, just so I don't have to do any more drilling than necessary.

Title: Re: Making a functional taillight out of the Reflex reflector?
Post by: Bob W on November 24, 2021, 05:59:40 PM

A CJ-V35 did not have any reflectors.

I am all for adding modern lighting to any vehicle that you plan to drive regularly on the road. People do not understand the lighting that old vehicles had.