Hella 700FF driving light install onto a fabricated mild steel tube light bar....

[scotman]

I will be trying to end up with something that will match the shape of the lower grille opening. But, will have a protected provision for these large-ish Hella driving lights that i couldn't resist the online price of.
I might be able to do a 100 watt bulbs and relay upgrade to these too, still looking at the possibilities for that.
This will be a late spring project. I still have to figure out what tube diameter and gauge would be best. I also might have to order the tooling from Hossfeld Mfg, if l don't have the dies.
I would welcome input regarding how "robust" you guys think that a Fiesta light bar should be? I think that it could be almost " bull bar or push bar robust if the mounting brackets were thicker and the tube material spec was DOM 1.5 inch diameter. I'm still riffing on the material specs at this point.

 

[Handy Andy]

Oh! I'm looking forward to seeing this!

Great project, I have my eyes on several myself.

 

[LionsTooth]

If this was my project it would 1-inch T3 ally bar stock that I could tap into or drill through for mounting the lights. I would fab up some T3 ally plate for the ends that would somehow bolt on the car....maybe onto the crash bar...and bolt on each end of the bar. Since the bar stock would be less than 24 inches wide that should be strong enough. Space the lights as far out the ends of the bar as possible.

 

[scotman]

T3 is alloyed with a lot of copper and Manganese. So it should have fairly good working properties. I will look into it. I will be making " mock" components out of mild steel conduit and hot rolled sheet. Then i can at least get the desired shape established without the expense of using actual T3 or DOM steel tube.
I would like to end up with something that will not just cave in if it is tapped in a parking lot or i hit an animal that weighs up to 70 pounds.
I haven't yet drawn up what the two inside bracketing might look like. I will probably start out with 1 inch square tube in the same position that i used when I installed Hella 500 lights on my 2011 Fiesta hatchback. This one must have four attachment points to the chassis. I knocked out a quick sketch to illustrate my current thinking. But, that will evolve.

 

[Handy Andy]

Yep, head to the Bumper to Frame mounting location

 

[scotman]

Yup! I want to avoid having to remove the bumper cover if at all possible. I have to figure out a way to bolt the brackets to the bumper beam, that might involve the temporary use of large zip ties!

 

[Handy Andy]

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When you take the headlamps off, and remove that lamp aim "holder" there are holes that seem to go thru to the bottom of the FRAME side of the bumper - you might be able to use a long threaded rod on a coupling nut/waster to adjust the length of the rod thru those holes even giving you a means to fabricate a small backing brace to allow the bull bar to hang there while you fish the bolts thru into that frame to bumper "plate"

 

[scotman]

I haven't put the headlamp capsules back into the jolly project yet. The first "dimensional model" parts will be made of cardboard. Once the shape of the outer brackets is determined i can use those as patterns for the mild steel "mock" pieces that will be sturdy enough to then figure out how to attach the grille hoop solidly to the brackets and inner brace tubes.
I like the idea Lions Tooth had about using 2024 T3 aluminum for at least some of this project.
T3 is high ductility stuff! Very machinable, not at all brittle. Right now, i think the outer brackets will be in T3 plate.
The one downside of T3 is it is very difficult to weld and can only be butt welded. The ears of the outer brackets will be a 90 degree angle that might be difficult to find a shop to TIG that material together.
The other cool T3 find was an extrusion that would allow the lamps to be repositioned on the tubular carrier by loosening a captured stainless steel T nut and moving the nuts left or right on the extruded tube. This square extrusion has T slots on two sides. That would allow the lamps to be mounted on it "straight up"or inverted. Other than the "Hella" logo covers being upside down when inverted, the setup allows a huge range of adjustment or locating the lamps.I really like that.

 

[LionsTooth]

If you have a tig welder T3 is really no harder than any other ally.

 

[scotman]

Im TIGless. Two years ago I had to decide if i would be best served by upgrading the hydraulic power unit on the Hossfeld #2 bender for $1,800 dollars plus some added tooling to expand its capability or buy a TIG setup and a larger sheet metal brake.
I chose to get the bender upgraded and wait for a few years to jump into the TIG and sheet metal forming areas. It was a very difficult decision. This is the #H52, L- type swinging frame that is needed to do a 180 degree radius. So, the image of the bender is not in a "set to go" configuration for the item we are discussing.
.

 

[Handy Andy]

Man I gotta' stop by and see your shop...

 

[scotman]

I think that buying the aluminum plate material ASAP for the frame brackets is a good idea. Price increases are coming soon.
My inquiry into the availability of the 2024 T3 material told me nothing and everything.
This place has a wide selection of metals and alloys of each. But the guys had nothing anywhere in the system that was 2024 T3.
They offered to call the main office for price and availability. But, that was a clear message to me of how expensive and special that stuff was!
I didnt bother to get a quote.
I am certain that it is more expensive than my whole budget for this item, including the added $$ for Hossfeld tooling.
I am coming back for this 1/4 inch thick 6061 H14 in the next couple of weeks. They always have a good supply of that. I will get a four square foot piece of the 6061 H14.

 

[LionsTooth]

3003 is too soft. 6061 T3 or T6 is good for what you want.

 

[scotman]

3003 is too soft. 6061 T3 or T6 is good for what you want.

Ok. I will see which of those i can get. There are three places that i can walk into and find aluminum plate. I always try to find a suitable type and size remnant first!
Thank you, i will begin to search.

 

[LionsTooth]

You can tap a threaded hole is 6061 T3 or T6...in case you need to do that. No go in 3003.

 

[Handy Andy]

How are they on expanded metals?

 

[scotman]

They have a good selection in both aluminum and mild steel.

 

[scotman]

I am going to make a light bar that gives the larger lamps some better protection and at least two possible mounting heights.
This setup for my 2011 Fiesta was good for what was needed at the time. I could pull two pins and a couple of connectors and simply remove the lamps.

 

[scotman]

I now have a couple of pairs of Hella H3 100 watt bulbs. I will see how/ if they are "plug and play" as they said on the Toyota Tacoma forums or if, as i suspected, there are a few other things that must be upgraded as well.

 

[scotman]

Tube spec was chosen a couple of months ago. This is an 8ft stick of one inch O.D. Drawn over mandrel 0.07 wall thickness. This should be fairly easy to form.
I haven’t given up on this one, but time to work on it has been difficult to find.
i will post up new images of the frame brackets for this next week. I lost almost all my image files in my previous phone that committed suicide in a fit of smoke and sparks.