I’ve been working on a good LED bulb replacement for the rear lights. I’ve never been a fan of the replacement socket type LEDs because most of the light is thrown sideways instead of rearward. It's the same reason the factory bulbs aren't very bright. I've seen the Sirum GMC Tail light (pictured below) and I just don't like the "trailer" light being the wrong shape. It sticks up into the reflector area, and it just doesn't look nice. My idea is to take a rectangular shaped LED light for both the Stop/Turn/Tail, but also the reverse light and mount them to a new metal framework behind the lens.
Problems to address:
Ideally I'd like to set this up for either the old style lens or the new style. The complication with the original style lens is that the distance between the lens and the metal framework behind it is very limited. On the new style lens, the lens sits much further away from the metal, so I'll need to space the light further away to account for the lens sitting on the body instead of the aluminum trim ring.
The other problem that bothers me about the new lens is that the holes are not aligned with the original frame. Anyone who has done this upgrade know that the screws have to be driven in at an angle. It works, but not ideal. I'm going to try to address that.
I've got some lights to mock up that I think are going to work great. The Stop/Turn/Tail is easy, but the reverse light has been hard to find that not only fits the area, but is also bright enough to actually be useful.
This morning I was testing a few things in the garage. Below are two screen grabs from a video I was trying to shoot in the darkness this morning. Night and day different from original bulb. More to come.
Problems to address:
Ideally I'd like to set this up for either the old style lens or the new style. The complication with the original style lens is that the distance between the lens and the metal framework behind it is very limited. On the new style lens, the lens sits much further away from the metal, so I'll need to space the light further away to account for the lens sitting on the body instead of the aluminum trim ring.
The other problem that bothers me about the new lens is that the holes are not aligned with the original frame. Anyone who has done this upgrade know that the screws have to be driven in at an angle. It works, but not ideal. I'm going to try to address that.
I've got some lights to mock up that I think are going to work great. The Stop/Turn/Tail is easy, but the reverse light has been hard to find that not only fits the area, but is also bright enough to actually be useful.
This morning I was testing a few things in the garage. Below are two screen grabs from a video I was trying to shoot in the darkness this morning. Night and day different from original bulb. More to come.
