[ajzride]

For about six months now I've been looking for ideas on how to french the tail lights in my 65 coupe.

Recently GPR showed some pics of his 68 coupe with the tail lights frenched, along with some progress pics.

http://www.moddedmustangs.com/forums...ml#post4108354

Looking at his post, I still can't see how it could easily be done on a 65/66 because the tail lights on these are one piece, with a bezel around and in between them, rather than three separate lights. They also angle out rather than in.

1968



1965



Unless someone has a better idea, I'm thinking my best bet is to try and install a set of 67/68 tail lights into my 65. Since I don't have any 67/68 mustangs handy to look at, I've got a few questions.

1. How tall are the 67/68 lights compared to the 65/66 lights?

2. The tail lights on a 65/66 are two wire, two light designs, are the 67/68 the same way, and I will just be able to daisy chain my two wires to all three lights on each side, or will I be in for a headache with wiring?

3. Does anyone have an opinion on whether it would be easier to try and weld in some dividers into my current light light panel, or try and cut it out and replace it with a panel from a 67/68 mustang? Based on the fact that the 67/68 angle in, I'm thinking I'll be much better off trying to patch in a full panel, but I'm open to suggestions.


Thanks guys

[MustangOne]

you could use part of a 67 tail light panel

[ajzride]

I've been looking all night and cannot find anywhere that has the dimensions of all the body panels on classic mustangs, does anyone have a link?

The more I look at what I want to do, I think I have to replace the entire tail light panel including the middle section with the fuel filler. This is due to the fact that the entire rear panel of the 65/66 is concave, while the entire rear panel of the 67/68 is convex. I am worried about it being too wide (although I could chop the middle and weld it back together) and also about getting the fuel filler to line up.

[MustangOne]

The fuel filler will be fine you will need the part that goes around the filler to keep with the shape.

the 67 is a little taller. Take what you need out of it.

[frdnut]

I think the tail light panel and lights are too tall to fit into the 65-66 body..

[MustangOne]

Yes it is, Take the middle of it out for what he is going to do. He will need the shape.

[MustangOne]

OK,

Yes it will Work...

The tail light panel on a 1965 from trunk lid to top of bumper is 7"

The tail light opening of a 1967 it 5" so we have 2" to spare.

[ajzride]

Thanks MustangOne

[MustangOne]

The more I look at it, I think we could use the whole tail light panel.

[ajzride]

So it has only been five months, but I've finally gotten to this portion of my project. However, instead of trying to put a 67/68 light panel in my 65, I've decided to try and french my 65.

After looking at it, I decided that I could do something similar to what I saw done on the 68, by moving my light box from the outside of the panel to the inside. However, I am going to need to make a custom red lens, and also going to have to weld some dividers into my panel. I started my trial run tonight.

First I removed the chrome bezel and red lens from the assembly:

Ed: This first picture refuses to upload to photobucket, so I borrowed one from the interwebz



Next I removed the light box from the panel:



The studs on the box stick through the panel, and are held on by bolts inside the trunk:



Using a set of pliers, I simply broke the tack welds loose that held the bolts in:



Next I took the light box and set it in from inside the trunk, and placed the broken out bolts on the outside:



From what I see, everything can work. What will happen next is that I will weld the bolts into the tail light panel, and then grind them flush, so that I essentially have studs sticking into the trunk that the light box will bolt to.

Next I will need to weld in some metal strips to divide the panel into three vertical sections (right now it would look like one big light instead of three small ones like all classic mustangs).

Then I will need a piece of flat brake light panel plastic. This is actually been harder to find that I anticipated. I think my best option is to use some sky light plastic from Lowes, and paint it with some candy red paint. The red plastic will get sandwiched in-between the rear panel and the light box (there will probably be a gasket in there too)

Lastly I will need to do a little smoothing on the outside to fill in those two grooves that you can see on the left side of the picture.