Another 12v blackout hood light conversion

I just finished converting my hood blackout light to 12 volts and here's what I did:

I bead blasted the assembly first, then cut the old wires from the original bulb.

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3605/bolight1tx4.jpg

After that, I crushed the old bulb and removed it from the housing.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8136/bolight3po1.jpg

Next, I enlarged the hole slightly, so that it would accept a 12 volt motorcycle headlamp bulb. They were just laying around......

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3900/bolight4pe1.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1772/bolight6xv4.jpg

I just dropped the bulb into the hole and soldered the base to the lens housing.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/5082/bolight7cr7.jpg

For extra brightness, I soldered the original harness wiring to both of the bottom contacts so that the hi and lo filaments burn at the same time.

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9374/bolight8ng4.jpg

With the rubber cover on the back it looks stock.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/8103/bolight9tv0.jpg

Now for some fresh O.D. and it will look as good as new!

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/527/bolight10ek8.jpg

that turned out good an looked easy to do , to be correct that part of the lamp should be flat black, only the housing and the hood are od on a new assy

That depends on the lamp. They were made about 4 different ways over the years. I thought only the newer plastic housing lamps had the black front.

the nos ones like that one i saw were black on the face

This one appeared to be OD all over as I stripped it in the blast cabinet. judging from everything else on this truck it was original......

The front blackout lights (the ones in the front sheetmetal) were also OD all over, but one was made by Independent and the other by Advance Wire. All the others are Independent. I assume it was replaced at some point.

The light on the hood was actually for driving, correct? What were the ones on the front and rear for? The lone one on the rear?

Fronts are marker & the rear is marker/brake. Suprising how effective - especially on a dark night - kind of embarassing to lose your truck. lol

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Originally Posted by BBM715

kind of embarassing to lose your truck. lol

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Know that from experience.......?

the purpose of the shaped cutouts in the f an r b/o lights are for distance judgement when driving in a convoy under b/o a driver could tell approx how close he was to the veh in front by how he saw the 4 slits of light in the r b/o lamp of veh in front of his if he saw the 4 slits clearly he was within a specified distance of less than 10' (i dont remember the actual distances as per the tm) if he saw only 2 slits of light he was say 10- 20' away from the prior truck if he saw only one slit of light from the lamp he was over 20' away. the smaller single light in back is the b/o brake light it is clear to make it brightest so it isnt missed. the f b/o have less slits than r as they arent used for positioning as the rears are. the hood mounted b/o is the driving light its unique shape allows a horzontal wedge of light to be projected out front to see any persons who might be marching in the column or just objects that may come up the person or object will only be illuminated to the height of the hood on the lamp assy an only down a foot or so just enough to tell they are there as well the distance of this illumination is fairly short. One night go out to your truck turn on these lights an move around as you move further from your truck u will see the change in pattern of the lights an how they can be used for distance judgement.

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Originally Posted by randyscycle

Know that from experience.......?

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Yes I'm sorry to say. On a very dark night in Grayling I was out running an errand for the CO and had to park and walk into his site. When I came back to "the tree" (among the 40 million out there) someone had moved my CUCV! Well, moved it about 20 yards away next to some other tree - they were tricky about it too - that tree looked just like "the tree" I had origionally parked next to. After that I always left the BO marker lights on so that trickster couldn't get me again! lol

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Originally Posted by george walker

the purpose of the shaped cutouts in the f an r b/o lights are for distance judgement when driving in a convoy under b/o a driver could tell approx how close he was to the veh in front by how he saw the 4 slits of light in the r b/o lamp of veh in front of his if he saw the 4 slits clearly he was within a specified distance of less than 10' (i dont remember the actual distances as per the tm) if he saw only 2 slits of light he was say 10- 20' away from the prior truck if he saw only one slit of light from the lamp he was over 20' away. the smaller single light in back is the b/o brake light it is clear to make it brightest so it isnt missed. the f b/o have less slits than r as they arent used for positioning as the rears are. the hood mounted b/o is the driving light its unique shape allows a horzontal wedge of light to be projected out front to see any persons who might be marching in the column or just objects that may come up the person or object will only be illuminated to the height of the hood on the lamp assy an only down a foot or so just enough to tell they are there as well the distance of this illumination is fairly short. One night go out to your truck turn on these lights an move around as you move further from your truck u will see the change in pattern of the lights an how they can be used for distance judgement.

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Thanks! That clarifies the operation of those lights quite a lot.

One thing though I don't understand is the function of the individual right hand light on the rear. Is it a stop light? The left and right bo lights have the normal red lens, then the bo lenses below. The other only has a clear (I think) lens.

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Originally Posted by BBM715

Yes I'm sorry to say. On a very dark night in Grayling I was out running an errand for the CO and had to park and walk into his site. When I came back to "the tree" (among the 40 million out there) someone had moved my CUCV! Well, moved it about 20 yards away next to some other tree - they were tricky about it too - that tree looked just like "the tree" I had origionally parked next to. After that I always left the BO marker lights on so that trickster couldn't get me again! lol

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Ooops! But hey, it happens to the best of us.

I had a customer several years ago who had a Suzuki ATV we just did some major repairs on for him, including new plastic, seat cover, tires and other stuff. It was a larger utility ATV if I remember correctly.

Anyway, he rode quite a lot, and also drank a lot too, and got out on the trail and stopped in the woods and walked a distance away to answer nature's call. Whether he was too drunk to remember he was riding, or he lost his way, isn't clear, but he couldn't find his ATV and hiked back out and home.

The next morning he woke up and couldn't find his ATV or remember any of the details. The bike was lost for good.

I bet some kid had the find of a lifetime out there in the woods in the following days......

The black out lights in the regular turn signal and tail light housings just do the blackout turn signals and running lights...they dont do the stop lights. The only black out stop light is in the seperate housing to the passenger side.

That is the brake lamp. It should only come on when you have the BO lamp system activated and apply the brakes.

Oops, I must have been at the bottom of the page and not realized that we had already gone on the another page. Grrr...

Just wanted to say "Thanks" Randyscycle for posting the pics. You've given me some ideas for the two that I got from salvage. Thumbs up x2, Jay

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Originally Posted by Jay Dog

Just wanted to say "Thanks" Randyscycle for posting the pics. You've given me some ideas for the two that I got from salvage. Thumbs up x2, Jay

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Hopefully they may be of help, and glad to do so!

Thanks, Jon, and Elwenil for clearing up the brakelight thing. Its all starting to make sense now.....

Wanted to include a couple of "finished product" shots..... After O.D.

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/9559/bood2hd5.jpg

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5767/booddv8.jpg

what kind of OD paint did you use?

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Originally Posted by warwick

what kind of OD paint did you use?

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Actually, as much as I hate to admit it....Krylon rattle can.....

They look nice man, real minty! I love using my beadblaster, well I should say I love the finish my blaster leaves. And hey, I like that od Krylon...looks pretty good on a few things I've shot. Very even.

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Originally Posted by fng

They look nice man, real minty! I love using my beadblaster, well I should say I love the finish my blaster leaves. And hey, I like that od Krylon...looks pretty good on a few things I've shot. Very even.

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I do love my bead blaster too. No other way to paint in my opinion. Just wish the whole truck would fit in it.....

The Krylon does spray well, and looks right. Rust-Oleum makes the same color, but the spray consistency isn't as good. It works in a pinch. I just normally spray everything with a gun, but time and funds have dictated rattle can in this instance. All the $$$ are going to the mechanical end for now and later, I will spring for the OD by the gallon.

Bump for a cool fix.

I was looking up how to do this for my parts truck, which is 12 volts...

I ended up with a spare blackout light, that runs on 24 volts, in the "parts box" that came with the truck.

Pretty cool fix Man.

Now I need to find the hood bracket...
these things are rare rare...

Conundrum... gonna probably have to make one..

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...gj3UEKfVyeYf4G

Yep cool fix .

Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Blitz

Bump for a cool fix...

Now I need to find the hood bracket...
these things are rare rare...

...

Thanks.

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I see reproduction hood brackets on eBay all of the time.

I have no affiliation with the seller but here is one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/M715-HOOD-MA...522b61&vxp=mtr

Thank You Don !

Spensive, no ?

Although
I really like the looks of the blackout light on the hood.

everyone does think its a siren...

but the truck looks a heck of a lot better with one on there.

I'm still looking for it but somewhere on this site I found a .pdf of a cad drawing of that bracket with dimensions if you want to build your own.

Here is the post I remember:

http://m715zone.com/vb/showthread.php?p=78310

This is the drawing I made:


The plate is 4 inches wide from end to end and is 1/16th inch thick.

I made a side view drawing of the plate by tracing the spare plate I have:
http://www.m715zone.com/jonmisc/boplate3.jpg

Dimensions:
A= 3/4 inch
B= 5/8ths inch
C= 4 inches
D= 1 13/16ths inch
E= 7/8ths inch

Top view, simple, just trying to show the bolt spacing and hole sizes...

http://www.m715zone.com/jonmisc/boplate4.jpg
The holes on the edges, on the flanges in the first drawing, are 9/32nds inch diameter.

The hole centers on the short edge of the first image, section A, are 3/8ths inch in from the long side edge. Each of the 2 holes in that end are 1/2 inch on center in from the short side edge, there are 3 inches center to center of the 2 holes.

The hole centers on the long edge of the first image, section E, are 7/16ths inch from the long side edge. As with the other end, each of the 2 holes in that end are 1/2 inch on center in from the short side edge, there are 3 inches center to center of the 2 holes.

The large flat top area has 3 holes as seen in the 2nd image, section C. The holes are all 1/2 inch on center from the side edges of the plate. The 2 holes on the upper part of the 2nd drawing...the one on the left, toward the short flange side, is 9/16ths inch on center from the edge...the one on the right is 11/16ths inch on center from the opposite edge. The 2 are 2 3/4 inches on center from each other. The single hole on the other side is 2 inches on center from each edge...dead center of that 4 inch section.

Thanks for all the help Guys.

I found another old thread with the actual measurements ( thanks Brute ! ) for drilling the mounting holes on an FSJ hood... Which Is what I'm working with.

I should be good to go now... and I appreciate it.

I just dont really want to drop 30 bucks on a mount... but i dont have the ability to bend metal easily.
( Vise and a hammer... lol ... I do have manual "scissor" type shears... But I want it to look good as well.)

http://m715zone.com/vb/showthread.php?p=75659#post75659

http://www.m715zone.com/jonmisc/bomount_holes.jpg

I took that pic in my shop in front of a large American flag...fitting!

Hi, what 12v optic did you fit in place of the 24v blackout?

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Originally Posted by jibaine

Hi, what 12v optic did you fit in place of the 24v blackout?

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Here are a couple of how to's from the Online Maintenance section at the top.
http://www.m715zone.com/vb/view.php?...dlight_convert

Anyone know where to get the grommet that goes on the hood where the wire passes?

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I bought one of those assortment grommet kits at Harbor Freight, some are "skinned" over with no hole, that way you can punch the size hole you need.

I was wrong on the kit brand, I have several but the brand I used with the solid center is"White Dog" part #TAIH0102.

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Originally Posted by m38inmaine

I was wrong on the kit brand, I have several but the brand I used with the solid center is"White Dog" part #TAIH0102.

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Awesome! THANKYOU! Found them on Ebay for $12

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