Wanted Front Light Cluster

[gushewitt]

Hi Everybody, hopefully somebody can help.

My front lenses decided to find a new home whilst I was on the motorway. A bit hacked off as I had noticed some cracking and decided to wait until the weather improved before repairing it.

Would anybody have a passenger side cluster available ? It's the clear lens over the indicator rather than the amber one ?

Thanks

Gus

[Martin Mc]

Hello Gus,

Glad to see you are still in the 480 clan - you bought a white 480S from me either last year or a couple of years ago, and I'm hoping you are still driving the same car??

I too have recently returned to the 480 fold, with my own M registered S (45k miles) - see other threads for pics

As my new acquisition is suffering from the dreaded perished, cracked and failed driving light syndrome, I've decided to experiment with replacing the lens on the existing cluster, rather than the whole cluster itself. To that end I've just bought a sheet of 3mm light diffusing acrylic sheet, which I plan to cut to size and bond in place of the old failed driving light lens. I haven't started cutting yet (car is off the road at the moment, with no MOT) but will post pictures of my adventures as I go. If it works (and I am quietly optimistic!!) then I'm sure others, including you, might be able to follow the example.

Sorry I'm not popping up (pardon the pun) with an offer of replacement clusters - I'm sure someone on here might be willing and able to help (Glasgow Jim seems to have a good stock of things most of the time...)

All the best getting back on the road.

Martin

[Martin Mc]

Here goes-- the unit in situ


Here it is off the car - I think we've all seen better, and many of us have seen worse! (sorry for poor quality - phone on the blink!)



This is the gear I'm planning to use to replace the lens - 3mm light diffusing acrylic sheet - £3.45 for a 10" X 10" sheet. Comes plastic-backed. Again, my aplogies for the rubbish photo.



I plan to strip down the cluster unit, and use a fine drill to ensure all traces of old adhesive is removed. Then I'll measure and re-measure the aperture, make a card template / stencil, then use a fine blade hacksaw to cut out the acrylic. I will use epoxy to bond the new 'lens' to the cluster unit.

Watch this space for updates.

Cheers!

Martin

[pat480]

Excellent Idea Martin. My DRL are cracked and perished as well.
Looking forward to seeing the final photos

[Martin Mc]

A quick update - I've got as far as fashioning a 'lens' but not fitted it yet..



The main decision is whether to try to bond the replacement lens directly to the cleaned up frame of the cluster, or whether to fit some kind of hard rubber beading in the groove around the edge, and then bond the lens to that.



Either way I still also have to decide whether to risk going to MOT with a flat white 'light diffusing' perspex approach or to coar this with more conventional lens type vinyl tape. We shall see

Oh, and can anyone help me find a replacement DRL bulb holder, as this unit doesn't appear to have one?

[glasgowjim]

can supply one for the cost of postage

[Martin Mc]

can supply one for the cost of postage

Brill! Please pm me your email / paypal info and I'll send the funds right away.

No joy on finding LED bulbs for the DRL yet though - Spree is no longer at the email address previously given..

[Rogelj123]

Has anybody else done something similar. My orange turn signals are great, but park light glass looks very similar to Martins. I was thinking of putting plexi glas cover instead. I am running LEDs, I think there are 63 smd's. Daytime no problem without headlights on.

[Rogelj123]

The only thing is, I bought "warm white" LEDs and they are yellow-ish. I have to buy a set of white ones, as I also bought bright white 100w H4 headlight bulbs, and the colours dont match.

[Martin Mc]

The only thing is, I bought "warm white" LEDs and they are yellow-ish. I have to buy a set of white ones, as I also bought bright white 100w H4 headlight bulbs, and the colours dont match.

Quick questions - do the LED replacements just slot into the existing buld holders and if so, where can I buy some LED bulbs - any recommendations?

Martin

[brinkie]

They do slot in if you buy the correct BAZ15d fitting, but please stay away from cheap Chinese rubbish. I've bought a set of LED lamps on eBay for $27 and after a year they are showing erratic behaviour, especially at low revs when the voltage is dropping a bit. Apparently the soldering of the LED chips isn't capable of handling the vibrations of a car and the LEDs are of poor quality.
Luckily, if you opt for cool white (i.e. blueish) then there's a load of choices, mine are warm white (i.e. yellowish) and that limited the choice substantially.

About the DRL lenses turning matt, you can polish them or have them polished (same applies to rear light clusters). Too bad I've given away the left hand side DRL from the scrapped 480 Turbo a couple of weeks ago (for the same reason, someone lost his), I only have a right hand side lens left.

[Martin Mc]

Update since last posting.. finally got round to sorting out the replacement lens for the cracked DRL



It is 3mm light diffusing perspex with a clear vinyl lens coating,cut and shaped to fit.





End result isn't too bad




I'm using LED stop and tail lamps for the DRL - once I sort out the weird gremlin that causes interference with headlight pop up, then its off to the MOT