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WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 4:15 pm
by Little Prince
i neeeeeed :)

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 4:20 pm
by dcwalker
Little Prince wrote:
Wed May 15, 2019 4:15 pm
i neeeeeed :)
Sadly - and no offence - you and everyone else!

These are now like hen's teeth and command a fortune on the rare occasions they come up for sale.

Have you looked at the threads on here about restoring them?

David

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 4:41 pm
by zapcity
You can try Daniël Lindenburg on the Volvo 480 facebook page. He seems to have a selection of used items in various states (about 130euro/pair). With restoration you should be able to get something presentable.

As David said, new (or as new) are very rare.

Daniël listed a pair in February for in excess of 800euros. Joep sold a newish pair recently for 600euro which went within minutes. Stupidly, I didn't buy them.

They are literally like money in the bank, so if you can afford them buy them when you see them. They won't devalue sitting on a shelf!!

Good luck!

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 8:20 am
by 100
Buy a pair with no cracks and get the sandpaper out!

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35748

I'd love to have a go on some really buggered lights, to see whether they can be brought back...

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 11:38 am
by Alan 480
100 wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 8:20 am
Buy a pair with no cracks and get the sandpaper out!

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35748

I'd love to have a go on some really buggered lights, to see whether they can be brought back...
provided that they are not 'cracked' due to 'prising' them out :wink: . . . . .

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 10:03 am
by Nashy48
Will they fail a mot if there cracked and faded

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 10:08 am
by dcwalker
Nashy48 wrote:
Thu Jun 27, 2019 10:03 am
Will they fail a mot if there cracked and faded
Depends how bad they are.

If they are so badly faded that they no longer give sufficient light output, or that light output is the wrong colour, then they will fail. In really bad cases they can be virtually white and opaque, which won't meet the standard required.

As for cracks, that's a bit different. If these do not affect the light output, I would expect them to actually fail only if they are causing white light to show where it should be red/orange.

David

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:17 am
by Martin Lacey
Has anyone considered getting a new supply of the rear light clusters manufactured? At one point I did start asking round to see if I could find a potential source. I can't think it would be terribly difficult though I don't know how many sets you would have to get to make it economically viable. Anyone know how many Volvo 480 owners are out there and how many would be interested if the price was reasonable?

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:55 am
by Alan 480
there is a thread on here for getting them 'remanufactured' , thread maybe started by 'Brinkie'?

suffice to say I think it has 'stalled' but happy to be corrected, but even whenm it 'looked promising' it wa snot going to be a cheap option as they are VERY complex to cast as multiple colours etc.

maybe a 3D printer in CLEAR with coloured bulbs would be feasible?

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 2:32 pm
by jifflemon
Alan 480 wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:55 am
there is a thread on here for getting them 'remanufactured' , thread maybe started by 'Brinkie'?

suffice to say I think it has 'stalled' but happy to be corrected, but even whenm it 'looked promising' it wa snot going to be a cheap option as they are VERY complex to cast as multiple colours etc.

maybe a 3D printer in CLEAR with coloured bulbs would be feasible?
It was Joep who was doing all the research, but even he concluded they were too expensive to reproduce

Image

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:48 pm
by WRDendy
Would be nice to get the CAD drawing for that rear mould, if it exists. No reason why they couldn't be produced using SLA or SLS 3D printing, although it wouldn't be cheap. Then again, expensive is better than non-existent. Translucent lenses could also be done via SLS. As far as the chrome coating goes, I sprayed the insides of my front clusters with a 'chrome effect' rattlecan and have yet to be pulled by the rozzers for non-standard reflective coatings.

I don't want to give anyone any kind of false hope, and I certainly don't pretend to have done the kind of work that Jeop has done on this, but I do routinely use 3D printing to produce prototype parts to check that everything is correct before tooling is produced for large-scale moulding, and they tech available today is more than capable of producing something like a 480 cluster.

the big caveat is that someone would need to produce a Solidworks (or similar) model of the entire cluster. There are people who would do it for a fee, but it wouldn't be cheap, and I'd expect each cluster to cost multiple hundreds of £ plus a degree of hand finishing.

I'm sure it wouldn't meet the required standards and regs for car light clusters if inspected on the bench, but equally I think you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference once it's on the car, much like the wide variety of bodges that people do to get cars through MOTs.

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:34 am
by Alan 480
Jaster wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:48 pm
I sprayed the insides of my front clusters with a 'chrome effect' rattlecan and have yet to be pulled by the rozzers for non-standard reflective coatings.
i used the ally dishes that mince pies come in for reflectors within rear lights of Regal and front lights of SS1. (other pies are available)

but the originals were only 25 -30mm pressed metal dishes with a 'modicum' of reflective surface (probably just bare steel when new) so a vast improvement :D

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:47 am
by dragonflyjewels
I did think about using tin foil when I refurbed my front clusters, but worried it would cause even more heat on the drl lenses.

Re: WANTED: rear lamps covers

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:00 pm
by dekkb
Don't know about everyone else, but mine are fine except the smoked cover. Surely there has to be a way of reproducing that single lens?