Monday, September 20, 2010

Turn Lights

Turn Lights
Ahh, one of the most identifiable features on the round-tail Spits are the rear turn lights. These are often found in serious states of disrepair due to their exposed nature. Simply walking around the car can lead to them getting bumped and cracked. Also, the sealing foam insert used to keep out the water very rarely does, but then again who drives their car in the rain.

Passenger Side removed
Suffering from seal shrinkage, general dirt, plus a butchering on the reflector, this one looks not to be too bad. The hardware is trashed, the foam seal is trashed, the rubber seal is cracking.

Lets face it, for being 40+ years old, a simple clean-up, polishing and re-cutting of the foam seal added to manhandling the reflector back in shape isn't too much to ask for such an identifiable piece to the car.
Passenger Side Clean

Driver Side removed

Though the foam seal is missing, this side is in seemingly much better condition. For one, the reflector wasn't mangled. The hardware was in better shape, but will be replaced regardless.

Using the original seal as a template, a replacement seal was made from simple craft foam and an exacto knife. Though I doubt that this will pass as original, or provide better protection, it has to be better than no seal at all.

Driver Side CleanBoth sets have been cleaned, polished and re-assembled, ready to install on the car when the time comes. To keep them safe, they have been inserted into a cloth protective sleeve. Perfectly formed for the task, you can find these relatively inexpensively at many fine stores. Simply look in the socks isle. Frugal people like me will keep replaced old socks and unmatched ones who's partner has disappeared into the Washing Machine Black Hole.

No comments:

Post a Comment