SS180 tail light on my Stella FINALLY!

[slotrod65]

I have had this SS180 style tail light since the spring, and have finally gotten around to the install:

http://scootrs.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=1283

The tail light housing went on with almost no modifications whatsoever. Almost every other aftermarket accessory I have mounted on the Stella has required medium to heavy modification, despite being labelled as "Fits PX/Stella/LML Star" The mounting screw holes lined right up, which was stunning. I did have to make a tiny wire harness as there is only one ground spade and there are two wires on the Stella's harness. This took minutes.

I also lined the inside of the brake light reflector with bare metal foil as aluminum darkens quickly and I do not want to waste my time polishing the inside of the taillight!

On the other hand, I purchased 3 separate SS180 gaskets and none fit. I ended up using a piece of vinyl trim edge molding, which is not perfect, but will do. The toughest part was getting to the mounting nuts which are high up inside the rear fender.

The bulb in the brake light is the same as the the LED I used in the stock Stella taillight, so it is nice and bright. The 9 LED festoon light that serves the running light is not impressing me much. I will continue to swap bulbs, and maybe add another in there do double the light.

I am also pondering adding something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181056090785?ss ... 1423.l2649

To increase the light in the rear, and fill a bit of that gap left by the US sized license plate.

[jimmbomb]

Looks tits!

[slotrod65]

As I mentioned above, the 9 LED festoon bulb tail light is not my idea of bright.





So... did some searching on http://www.autolumination.com/ and found a 120 LED 1157 type bulb. This is not only a running light, but also a brake light. But how to attach it? I ordered a socket with a screw mount from the same website.

When they arrived, I was impressed with both the bulb and socket. The mounting bracket would not quite work stock, so a quick twist with the needle nosed pliers gave me the 90 degree angle needed to mount the bulb properly.



Then, it was time to mount the socket in the tail light housing. I quickly determined that I needed to modify the housing in order to get the neew socket and bulb to fir. So I took a deep breath, and went at it with the cutting disc: First I removed a bit of aluminum where socket will attach to the left mounting bolt:



Then I saw that I needed to cut off the original festoon bulb mounts. There was no turning back now:



Here is a lockup with the new LED and mount temporarily installed:



As you can see, this is a nice large bulb, and as it also acts as a break light, visibility will be high.

All I have to do is wire it up...

More later.

[viney266]

Most excellent!. Thats the taillight i want to put on my Inder trailer...I like the leds

[viney266]

Most excellent!. Thats the taillight i want to put on my Inder trailer...I like the leds

[slotrod65]

I got some more work done on the tail light conversion. After removing the strock wiring, I wired the tail light to the original tail light lug. The new brake light wire was crimped to a spade, and the spade screwed to the rivet hole holding the stock brake light spade.



This worked OK, but I was concerned that I was losing visibility as the bottom end of the light bezel had no reflector.

[slotrod65]

So I made a reflector. I made a cardboard template to be sure I had it right, then once I was satisfied I traced it onto sheet plastic:



I then covered the sheet plastic with some self stick mylar they sell at model airplane shops:



Now it was time to mount it all up to the scoot.

Tail light:



Brake light:

[slotrod65]

And with the lens on:

[slotrod65]

and a quick video showing the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyk5g5wk ... e=youtu.be

[listless]

Inspiring! Looks like a great a winter project...

[olhogrider]

I love the shape of the light! Add to that the function of the LEDs and you have a great taillight.