So due to funds (and paying for another semester of school) I have had to curb my ambitions to fit my current budget (both money-wise and time-wise). One of the ambitions I've had on the back burner was building some off-road headlights. I've always wanted to put the big KC Daylighter's on the roof and I figured this was a smaller project I could tackle this February. Well, upon my initial investigation, it became apparent that KC Daylighter's are dang expensive, especially with any mounting hardware. So I hit the junkyard and found a perfect alternative
This is a 1963 Chrystler NewYorker. And, as luck would have it, all 4 headlight buckets were in it! Even better, they are each a stand alone assembly that just screws right into sheet metal from the inner fender. I got them off, and was only set back $10 by the junkyard! Next, I needed some material to anchor this stuff, and decided to go with #4 rebar (which was a $12 setback). From there I started messing around with some different lengths and decided to start tacking stuff together.
I used magnets and some foam to kinda 'levitate' my rebar pieces into place. I cut a slot in the piece of foam so that it wouldn't go anywhere. After I kinda got things set where I liked them, I marked the rebar with where it came in contact with the magnets and then just traced the magnets on the roof so I could take things off and put them back on while maintaining some 3 dimensional position.
I popped it off, welded the ends up, realized I was a bit rusty at welding, and grinded off the excess. After which I mocked-up what I was going for:
So today after work I was able to snag a rebar bender from Uncle Bill (who has all sorts of cool equipment!) and got to work bending a top piece to fit onto my little rebar square... It is on the hood of the Junker in this next picture:
After cutting it up to where I felt good my sister was able to come out and give me a hand holding it in place while I tacked it in. Surprisingly we got it pretty dang straight and I was able to finish welding the upper 'hoop' onto the square. Here is how it looks tonight:
And again, the lights and little connecting bars are just held in with magnets to kinda demon-straight what I am going for.
Now to get some sleep, go to school tomorrow, and hopefully get back to this before the week is out!