vauxhallviva.com

jpsmit wrote:Looks great - very "of the era" which is wonderful. So often mods don't suit the year of the car - but that could have been from the factory

Thanks for the comments , very encouraging .
Of all the mods ive done on this car , the rear lights have been a big task purely because i wanted to keep the original look but extend it to full width.

Jon

I'm not going to be popular here but I think the wall to wall lights look wrong, I like the idea of extending the lights but not all the way across. I do like the guttering mod though. Regarding filling in the arches, I saw that done back in the eighties (John Barr) but he radiused it rather than making it flat and was a good look. Keep up the good work.

martin-reyland wrote:I'm not going to be popular here but I think the wall to wall lights look wrong, I like the idea of extending the lights but not all the way across. I do like the guttering mod though. Regarding filling in the arches, I saw that done back in the eighties (John Barr) but he radiused it rather than making it flat and was a good look. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the comments Martin , I have been wondering whether ive done the right thing going all accross - will probably grow on me - trouble is with modding , you never really know what to expect until its done

Luckily the centre section of 3 lens is removable , i may end up making a blanking plate but keeping it painted black and replace the FIRENZA decal in white that i had before.
Its amazing how much of a difference just extending the units by 1 lens makes

The guttering is a different matter - i dont like it the end result (smooth finish is good) but because the gap to door frame and rear window frame is not small it shows ! Ive painted the underside black now so it disguises the poor gaps at least.

I toyed with the idea of curving the arches by welding a 5mm steel rod into the grooves - this would have given a perfect outer edge radius from front to back of arches . Fill as required etc , bought steel rod and also a 5 mm glass fibre rod to do same to front (snoot and wings)
One snag though - as i intend to keep the rear arch "spats" as well as add the cill runners , the profile of the arch spat would not accept any further outer radius curve , its pretty much flat .
Probably could have modded the spats I suppose , but decided for the easier option so the arches outer profile now matches the original spats.

Modding sometimes is a bit hit and miss - i knew the look i wanted but its difficult to envisage until its done , I now dont like the rear spoiler set up as the DTV spoiler tends to curve upwards at its centre point and has too much of a sharp rear facing edge .
I have a fibre glass RS2000 rear spoiler which has a very straight rear edge profile which i think would complement the full width lights - will be playing around with that soon to see if my theory is right

Jon

I like the full width tail lights,
but think it would look better red all the way across,
use green bulbs for the indicators and they will flash amber through the red lens.

I like the smoothed off gutters,
may even reduce wind noise too.

Unfortunately the below images are a bit grainy, but according to the Vauxpedia website one of the original road going Firenza prototypes, VXE396H, had full width tail lights. This same car also had front grille styling similar to the FE series.

Thanks for the info chaps - i didnt know about the green bulb / red lens thing - is that legal in uk ??
If so , then i think thats the way to go (can you get green green bulbs ?)

Ive seen that pic before - thats what gave the me idea - but its difficult to tell whether they are light units or maybe just a bezel type effect between the lights .

I like the front end though - i think it made it on South African HC range - or something very ascona looking did .

found this very informative site - has the grainy pics from above but also some real decent pics of that prototype .
Another prototype the 72 Firenza GT is - had the flush door handles and neat exhaust tail pipes .
Looks like they toyed with "framing" the rear panel by extending the top and bottom light bezels all the way across -rather than adding further lights. also note the chrome arch trims - very neat but although Vauxhall had the right idea regarding the trims (stainless steel cill runners / arch spats and anodised aluminium window trim) unfortunately the method of attachment (probable self tapping screws) didnt help the rust issues
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/ ... 71-to-1973
Jon

junkyarddog wrote:I like the full width tail lights,
but think it would look better red all the way across,
use green bulbs for the indicators and they will flash amber through the red lens.

I like the smoothed off gutters,
may even reduce wind noise too.

tried the green bulb / red lens - didnt work so will keep the amber indicator lenses

Jon-HPF wrote:

junkyarddog wrote:I like the full width tail lights,
but think it would look better red all the way across,
use green bulbs for the indicators and they will flash amber through the red lens.

I like the smoothed off gutters,
may even reduce wind noise too.

tried the green bulb / red lens - didnt work so will keep the amber indicator lenses

Oh,I wonder why not?
some modern cars have full red taillamps,and use green inserts,
so that they can flash amber.

Was worth a try though,but maybe given the small size of the viva's rear indicators,
leaving it amber might be for the best

Could be down to the thickness of the lens i suppose.

I have some very thin lens repair sheet so will try it with that .

jon

Not done much since billing - nice to get shed of the show and one for most sympathetic (should that be pathetic) modifications !
recently removed the opening rear windows and replaced with fixed - the n/s one i have bonded in place and modded the surround , welded up the joins etc so its smooth all around and can be removed without the need to remove the glass , may come in useful when it finally gets painted - used door edge trim on the body receiving edge and used the same rubber aftermarket door edge seals as on the headlight covers around the glass then bonded that in with tiger seal .
Drivers side is still standard fixed rubber and attached trim - will prob get around to bonding that one as well.

Glued in a rubber strip along the door tops which now hides the gap when closed and stops any wind noise / rain getting in - with the gutter removed this mod was needed .

Also remade the seat brackets so they now sit a bit further back and lower - much better than my first attempt

winter jobs will be to remove the front wings / snoot and bond them together from behind (to get rid of the join) , also intend to make a proper bonnet to snoot shut line like Silver Bullet .

some pics out in the sunshine

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

[Hosted_Picture][/Hosted_Picture]

nearly there - next stop back in garage hopefully for the final mods as mentioned earlier.