<VV> FC LED Taillight Retro

[Western Canada CORSA]

I just finished a little project I've been wanted to do for several years
now (4&1/2 to be precise) and it's at a point where I'm pretty sure the
major bridges have been crossed, and I want to share.
 
This all started with the idea of doing four '66 backup lights using LEDs
for brake&tail, signal and backup under one lens.  I found a nice gent named
George at the local computer club who was generous enough to help out
answering questions and making suggestions that got me pointed in the right
direction.  But a new job came up and things got busy for the next few
years.  During this time "da boyz" (Shawn & Mike) here in Victoria had
figured out how to cast the FC taillights in clear; which got me thinking
LEDs would be a perfect way to get backups in an FC without bolting on what
usually comes out as a pretty ugly but functional answer to backup lights in
an FC. (IMO)
 
Now I should preface this by saying that I know next to nothing about things
electrical.  But I was lucky enough to grow up with a Dad that worked for
Bell, and a Grandfather that was jack of all trades and master of most of
them to boot.  But keep in mind as you read this that I have no background
in this stuff, so maybe it'll inspire you to try something like this on your
'vair as well.
 
Here's the project in abreiviated form.
 
Oh yeah, I should also add that it's 4:30am on the Pacific coast as I type
this.  I'm just too reved up to get to sleep, but perhaps not cognent enough
to write concisely, so you'll have to forgive me if things come out kinda
garbled.
 
The first thing I did when I decided to get back on this project was do some
more poking around the net, and found a forum not unlike Virtual Vairs or
the Corvair Centre, but dedicated to LED "retros".  "Yes", there is a whole
community of folks that are fanatical about retrofitting any and all
lighting in the cars with LEDs.  Some of the work they do is amazing.
www.hidplanet.com/forums
 
After doing my reading on the forum I figured I'd do a little "proof of
concept" and used a perf board to mount 6 white 100mA LEDs up in place of my
stock inandecent dome light.
Keep in mind when you look at some of these pics that the camera ramps down
the light levels to make a balanced exposure.  Anyway, here's the dome light
in action
http://tinyurl.com/5kpnje
 
Lots more reading on the HID Planet forum, and I decided I'd go the route of
using a Pulse Width Modulator (sounds like something out of Star Trek,
doesn't it?)  What a PWM does is keep the voltage to the LED's at a constant
level, but will flicker them on and off so fast that they appear dimmer to
the human eye.  This is ideal if you're doing something like a 'vair
taillight that has to be one level of brightness for your running/marker
lights, and another altogether for braking/signalling.
 
So far so good.  I have proven to myself that I can correctly wire up LEDs
to make them work, and I've soldered together my PWM, and it works too.
 
The next step was to design a Printed Circuit Board(PCB) to hold all the
LEDs.  I could have done a larger version of the dome light using perf
board, but there isn't a whole lot of room to work with under the FC
taillight lens, and I figured I'd get a little more space using a PCB.
 
So I designed my PCB using a freeware program off the net and came up with
something that looked like this. The yellow denotes the silkscreen "top"
layer, the red is the bottom copper layer"
http://tinyurl.com/5aksya
 
Now I had to transfer that desgn over to the copper boards.  Which was done
by printing the positive image onto glossy colour paper using an inkjet.  It
is then ironed onto the board, which transfers the toner to the copper,
creating a mask.  It looks like this
http://tinyurl.com/6avgzp
 
The next step is to give the board a bath in an etching acid which eats away
all the unmasked copper, leaving you with this
http://tinyurl.com/55cjv2
 
Then begins the drilling and the soldering.  When you're done, it looks like
this
http://tinyurl.com/6ysgvo
 
If you're lucky and you've put all the pieces in properly, it works like
this
http://tinyurl.com/5cwbmo
 
Remember, the camera is REALLY cranking down the light levels on that pic.
This one gives you a slightly better idea for just how much brighter they
are than stock
http://tinyurl.com/5csnas
<http://photos-873.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v208/196/68/528580873/n528
580873_1523567_5478.jpg> 
 
There are still more hurdles to cross.  The boards have to get mounted in
the stock taillight buckets and get wired up, including how to do a backup
switch to bring on the new b/u LEDs (remember it's an FC, no provision in my
'61 tranny for a B/U switch).  AND, if I feel really ambitious, I just might
extend those LEDs across to where Deluxe reflectors go.  How cool would that
be?!<grin>
 
Anyway, it's closing in on 5:00am and now I think I'm tired enough that I
can get to sleep.
 
Regards,
Joel