MOT lighting requirements 68 vehicle

[super-craig]

Hi im sorting my 68 out for its first uk MOT , what are the requirements for rear fogs and reverse lights ? ive seen loads of bays with the us rear lenses on without orange indicator , was told they dont need to be red just flash and stand out from the normal rear light , when ive done other american vehicles ive always fitted a rear fog and reverse light under the bumper , it dont look good on a classic though , did see a splitty with rear fog and reverse on top of bumper under the hoop part , you didnt really notice them till you looked again .

 

[Clarkson46]

There is no legal requirement for either a rear fog or reversing light. When we did our '68 we converted to euro spec rear light with the separate orange indicators. It's your call, but who today would know what a flashing red light on the rear of a vehicle means? Personally I would convert to euro spec rear lights, you will have to do something with the front end as orange side lights were never legal in the UK.

 

[dp]

Orange indicators (front and rear) are an MOT requirement for cars built after 1963 or thereabouts (can't quite remember the exact year but it's before 1968). For the rears, you'll need a separate bulb for the indicator and Euro lenses.

However, I use the all red lenses as they look much better IMO - just need to swap them over for the MOT. I really don't see this as a safety issue - a flashing light on one side is pretty obvious - semaphores on the other hand :shock:

 

[super-craig]

checked the mot website and it dont need the rear fog , but couldnt find anything about reverse lights :? was thinking of putting orange bulbs in the reverse lights , but may go for euro spec stuff . The front orange side lights is an issue now , just take a look at some new peugeots and land rovers , they got orange side lights hmmmm , but its ok for them cos they got type approval :lol: once took a lincoln towncar limo for mot and got into a situation with the tester over the orange side lights (flash disconnected) and vosa said it was ok for white or orange at front , so long as they did not obscure each other while indicating :?
found the reverse light has lost a feed , looked for the inline fuse that goes to coil and its gone :? and the brake lights arent working too , so its out with the electrical tools , wire , and the tester , should keep me busy for a bit :lol:

 

[speedwell68]

To change my '68 to UK spec, we had to move the front side lights from the indicators to the headlamps and change the US sealed beams to headlamps suitable for use on the LHS of the road. We then converted the single red rear lights to euro spec with amber indicators, you have to change the lamp clusters as well as the lenses. Don't use repros, search out some old s/h genuine lamp clusters and Hella lenses the repros are awful, I mean awful, truly awful.

 

[froggy]

Not totally sure but dont think there is a requirement for the reverse light to be working as its not really a safety issue.
Never known a MOT tester to fail something because a reverse light didn;t work!

 

[sparkywig]

If you use a green lamp with red lenses, the indicators will flash orange.

 

[ianscooby]

Sorry to jump in, but use the reverse lights as your indicators (yellow bulbs) and wire the existing USA lights as brake and side easy to do and you keep the rear as should be.

 

[super-craig]

sorted out the headlights with some wipac halogens with side light in them , front end complete 8) just got to sort out the rears , got the brake lights working now , just got to sort the rear lights , will take a look at stanford for some proper lens , got some repo ones , yep they are erhta kit :lol: dont fit , too big for the frames :shock: and they look cheap :lol: they look more tragic than classic :lol:

 

[speedwell68]

Sorry to jump in, but use the reverse lights as your indicators (yellow bulbs) and wire the existing USA lights as brake and side easy to do and you keep the rear as should be.

IMHO, one of the things that set an Early US spec Bay apart from any other bus is the chrome rimmed reversing lights, to make them into indicators is just wrong.

 

[dp]

If you use a green lamp with red lenses, the indicators will flash orange.

Cheers for the tip - I'll have to give that one a go.

Sorry to jump in, but use the reverse lights as your indicators (yellow bulbs) and wire the existing USA lights as brake and side easy to do and you keep the rear as should be.

IMHO, one of the things that set an Early US spec Bay apart from any other bus is the chrome rimmed reversing lights, to make them into indicators is just wrong.

It'll still look exactly the same unless your reversing or indicating - not sure I see the problem.

 

[ianscooby]

If you use a green lamp with red lenses, the indicators will flash orange.

Cheers for the tip - I'll have to give that one a go.

Sorry to jump in, but use the reverse lights as your indicators (yellow bulbs) and wire the existing USA lights as brake and side easy to do and you keep the rear as should be.

IMHO, one of the things that set an Early US spec Bay apart from any other bus is the chrome rimmed reversing lights, to make them into indicators is just wrong.

It'll still look exactly the same unless your reversing or indicating - not sure I see the problem.

As stated this does not spoil the rear of the van with euro lenses

 

[BJ1]

Late as usual!
I think what speedwell68 meant was don't use repro light clusters (housings). They are all complete rubbish and IMO should not be sold for any purpose. They are cheapo tin and the stop/rear bulb holders have bayonet fittings that don't take a twin filament bulb with offset pins.
Buy some intact s/h OG clusters (check all the tags and fittings are not broken) and restore the shiny inners with Plastikote chrome spray. Mine came up like new. Also fit earth leads to the clusters.

Beware of green bulbs in red lenses. I followed advice on here, bought some expensive green bulb paint, fitted the bulbs and got a pathetic faint orange indicator of about 1.5 glowworm strength. Made the MoT man smile as he ticked the fail box. Anyone want some green bulb paint?

 

[Clem]

Unless you change the housings remember that the brake light and the indicator are sharing a filament, this is illegal in the UK, and is a bit dangerous in modern traffic.
As stated by others, stick the indicators in the reverse lamps and run all red lenses for brake and rear lights - all safe, all legal and looks OG. Euro lenses on US buses look wrong to me.

 

[super-craig]

fitted with uk spec lights now , was going to go with orange bulbs in reverse (always an option to change later :lol: ) but wired all up uk spec and a full MOT ticket 8) just got to go to dvla to egister it now and then hit the road and do some shows 8)

 

[faux]

I'm with Ian,

On the back end it is simple to just add a pair of orange bulbs and a bit of gigery pokery with the wiring and Bobs your uncle. And nobody would know.....until you turn of course.