Chapter 18 - The Light at the End Of the Corvette
Yes! There's nothing like a good tail light to wash away feelings of failure and despair. Everything looks brighter under that cheery blood-red glow!
Many pages ago, I talked of replacing very expensive bulbs with LEDs. I believe the Light Emitting Diode is the light bulb of the future. Since starting this project I have purchased a lot of LEDs. When not working on the Vette, I am installing LEDs around my house.
The Corvette has 4 taillights, each 6" in diameter, but the replacements are only 4 inches in diameter. A problem. As you can see in the photo, each LED housing came with a nice big gasket. I toyed with the idea of running mounting screws though the gasket, but feared that gasket could not hold the tail light housing securely in real world driving.
I put on my thinking cap. But 3 weeks of brain work got me only to "plan B." So plan B it is.
With a hacksaw I cut a 5-sided hole in the back of the Corvette housing. Next, I inserted a 5" rubber "O" ring into the housing. The hole I had cut was just big enough to allow me to squeeze the LED into the old housing. Finally, I squeezed in a second "O" ring. The first ring kept the LED centered and the second pressed the LED tight against the red tail light lens.
Repeat 3 times, and move on to the next task.