E30 Zone

Hi All,

Thought I'd share something I've been working on for a little while. I wanted to add a third brake light to my touring to help improve my visibility when braking. Daily drove the car all through the winter and commuting in the dark and felt very aware that modern cars had much better lights than the E30 so wanted to do something about it. Have some plans to improve the normal tail lights too but tackled the brake light first!.

I wanted to do something that looked like it could have been there from factory, so got my hands on an E36 touring light, hoping I could chop it up enough to fit and look like it was meant to be. Offered it up to the car and needed to cut the bottom corners to fit around the tabs on the tailgate. Got to chopping the original mounting tabs off and slowly cutting away at the cover to fit it in snugly. Got the light fitting nicely, removed the cover so I could work out how to mount it. Settled on some brackets which bolted to the existing tabs on the tailgate. The aluminium was bent and cut to shape, and then bolted to the tailgate with a small screw and U-nut I had spare from elsewhere on the car. I hot glued the light in the right place and then set the brackets to the light with some epoxy. Clipped the cover back on and thats done for mounting of the light. Very pleased with the result. The rubber strip on the front edge of the cover contacts the glass the whole way round and sits very neatly. Next I need to trim the tailgate trim to fit around this to tie it all together, and then wire it in so it actually works! But pleased with the way it looks.

Nice work, I'm interested to see the finished result. Next job, sort that manky roof spoiler out!

that is absolutely brilliant work

How good is that!
A very sensible safety upgrade.

Thanks guys.

Will be taking the headlining out for other jobs this weekend so will be easier to sort the wiring out when that is done. Going to get the internal trim pieces sorted as well over the weekend so hopefully get it finished soon!

The roof spoiler is definitely on the list No idea where to even start to get it looking better though!

miks15 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:54 am

Thanks guys.

Will be taking the headlining out for other jobs this weekend so will be easier to sort the wiring out when that is done. Going to get the internal trim pieces sorted as well over the weekend so hopefully get it finished soon!

The roof spoiler is definitely on the list No idea where to even start to get it looking better though!

Take it off, clean it, scuff it with red scotchbrite, clean it again, dry and paint with bumper paint.

That's looking good. Definitely an important safety upgrade. Here's my version. I got the brake light from a Vauxhall, trimmed it to fit and glued some taps on to clip over the trim.

onthames wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 12:13 pm

Take it off, clean it, scuff it with red scotchbrite, clean it again, dry and paint with bumper paint.

Thanks I'll give it go some time, its quite uneven at the moment and been a bit put off the rubber texture, but it does need sorting! It might need a small amount of bumper filler or similar to get it nice and smooth.

Extremepower3918 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 12:53 pm

That's looking good. Definitely an important safety upgrade. Here's my version. I got the brake light from a Vauxhall, trimmed it to fit and glued some taps on to clip over the trim.

I like your solution, does it hold well clipped on to the trim? I probably over engineered mine a bit, as I wanted to make sure it was screwed down to something solid.

Where did you tap in to the rear lights to get the wiring up? I haven't figured out exactly where im going to get it from yet.

miks15 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:08 pm

I like your solution, does it hold well clipped on to the trim? I probably over engineered mine a bit, as I wanted to make sure it was screwed down to something solid.

I don't think its going to fall of but there is a bit of movement in it. Your mounting method looks better.

miks15 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:08 pm

Where did you tap in to the rear lights to get the wiring up? I haven't figured out exactly where im going to get it from yet.

I wired it from the left brake light, brown wire for earth and I think it was green and red for switched 12V. I ran the wires along the path of the window washer fluid pipe as I'm not using the rear washer.

Thanks, I'll have a look at that when I come to wiring mine in.

onthames wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 12:56 am

that is absolutely brilliant work

Seconded mate, lovely idea and well executed too

Mart.

Extremepower3918 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:34 pm

I wired it from the left brake light, brown wire for earth and I think it was green and red for switched 12V. I ran the wires along the path of the window washer fluid pipe as I'm not using the rear washer.

Do you have the check panel? I thought I read somewhere you had to wire it in before the check relays to prevent a warning light? Or am I talking rubbish?

martauto wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 4:52 pm

Seconded mate, lovely idea and well executed too

Mart.

Cheers Mart

TriggerFish wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 5:02 pm

Do you have the check panel? I thought I read somewhere you had to wire it in before the check relays to prevent a warning light? Or am I talking rubbish?

No check panel for me so that should make things a bit easier