Stupid British Laws!!! - Honda Prelude Forum

H22A_RULES · 05-16-2003, 06:40 PM

I need some help...In the UK it's mandatory to have a rear FOG light which has to be red in colour.

Beacause my cars a JDM import it didn't have one....so... I wired up the right hand reverse light to a switch and painted the bulb with high temp red enamel, ingenious eh?...No, because Honda's MOT tester said it wasn't up to 'British Standards' so I have had to fit a sad looking aftermarket lamp as yopu can see, just so I can drive legally.

What I need to do is tint one reverse light lens red, I know there is a lot of knowlegde on this forum as far as tinting lenses goes anyway, so how do I go about it??? eg how do u take the lens apart???

This is nasty I know, please help!

4bidden · 05-16-2003, 06:53 PM

Why not just get a bumper that has the light built in and wire that baby up?

brendon2k · 05-16-2003, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 4bidden
Why not just get a bumper that has the light built in and wire that baby up?

because that would be expensive and ugly

cantdrive55 · 05-16-2003, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by brendon2k

because that would be expensive and ugly

Not as ugly as that big red square hanging off the back of hte bumper.

U.K VTEC · 05-17-2003, 07:44 AM

Erm, get the MOT with the nasty fog light fitted, once you have the certificate in your hand take the thing off until next time.

Simple!!

Absolut · 05-17-2003, 09:30 AM

^^^ Good idea

Red LED bulb for the reverse light?

SLICK96 · 05-19-2003, 05:23 PM

When I was in Ireland a few years back, I was always wondering what in the hell those nasty lights were for. A lot of the Hondas had them incorporated into the bumper...

now I know,
J

H22A_RULES · 05-20-2003, 12:12 PM

UK - you're right - that's what I have done in the past but I was just wondering how easy it would be to do a proper job, ie open the lens and tint the clear reverse diffuser red. I'd like my car to be a bit legal in case I get a pull off the filth! Plus a fog light comes in useful..........in the fog (for one thing)
Like most of you say , the UK rear bumper with the light integrated looks a bit odd so I'll avoid.

Actually I'm kinda gettin used to the big square thing now, I think they might catch on and you'll all want one!!

G_Loc · 05-20-2003, 12:20 PM

do what this guy did (taken off www.preludecrazy.com ):

Quote:

Cars in Japan do not require a rear fog light, but in the United Kingdom it's illegal to drive on a public road without one fitted, and as my Prelude was imported from Japan I had to fit one. To address this, most people usually screw a seperate fog light beneath the rear bumper, which looks tacky. The way around this was to spray the right reversing light with red paint. Obviously, re-wiring and a switch was required too. As you can see in the photo above there's a bit of condensation behind the lens,...probably something to do with me washing my car just prior to taking the photo, doh!

SLICK96 · 05-20-2003, 04:03 PM

Man, that's pretty stealth...I like it!

H22A_RULES · 05-21-2003, 01:42 PM

That's exactly what I want to do!!! Thanks

But how do I get to the inside of the lens to spray it - I did see a guide on how to do this...anyone remember where?

Or has he masked off the outside and sprayed that

Bazza340 · 05-22-2003, 10:20 AM

I'm a UK JDM prelude owner and all I've done is rewire the drivers side reversing light to be a fog light and put in one of these:

http://www.speeding.co.uk/acatalog/w...Spots_108.html

Has been through 2 MOT's now woithout a problem

ds2000 · 05-22-2003, 02:05 PM

As above or just get the bumper.

My JDM lude had a little located in the center just under the number plate, she looked fine IMO

brendon2k · 05-22-2003, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ds2000
As above or just get the bumper.

My JDM lude had a little located in the center just under the number plate, she looked fine IMO

Have any pics of that?

_SBradley_ · 05-23-2003, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by G_Loc
do what this guy did (taken off www.preludecrazy.com ):

That's pretty much what I did with mine -- except I swapped out the orange for clear while I was in there.

(Actually, it's hard to tell if he's painted the inner plastic or just stuck something on the outside of the lens. That's what they did when I bought the car, to make it legal. I took the light apart, and did the job properly.)

And you can't use a red bulb/LED, as someone suggested. In order to be legal, the lens/bulb cover needs to be red, not just the bulb itself. (At least, I'm fairly sure that's still the case.)

It's pretty easy to do. You just have to heat up the epoxy, slowly separating the red lens from the light housing. Then just paint! If you want to switch to clear indicators at the same time, cut some fluorescent light covering into the shape of the clear/orange part, and replace that; then paint the fog light section red on that side. Heat back up and reassemble.

ds2000 · 05-23-2003, 08:55 AM

Sorry its taken ages to find this pic...

D

H22A_RULES · 05-23-2003, 01:40 PM

Thanks guys, you've been a great help. I really like those led lights, thanks Bazza. Gonna order one of those now

VTEC Shore Lude · 05-23-2003, 08:21 PM

i have a write up on how to clear the 4th gen rear turn signals...it tells you how to open the shell....while ur at it u should clear your turnsignals

(unless its already done) heres the link the write up http://www.lasalle.edu/~garofom1/wri...hgentails.html

Skylude · 05-30-2003, 12:38 AM

WHat exhaust is that H22A_RULES.

H22A_RULES · 06-01-2003, 03:31 PM

Thanks for the link ShizL, I've got rid of the nasty square fog light and got a nice led cluster bulb that does the trick nicely. Gonna have to wait a while before clearing out the indicators though, got a few bits of rust appearing that need doing 1st (godamn rainy country!)

SKYLUDE - The exhaust is a custom made stainless steel cat-back system by a UK place called POWERFLOW.

Here's a few others they've done