DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

just been on Amazon and have bought 'the worlds most powerful torch', so powerful that I'm worried that I'll be arrested if I shine it into the sky, blinding some poor pilot flying above at 18,000 feet....

it has got be thinking - what about LED's for 356's - and more specifically Led's for 356's that are 6 Volt - does anyone do a set of replacement bulbs, or is that over simplifying things?

frankly the lights on my 356 are as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike, so any improvement would be worth-while, but I'm not looking for an uber expensive option...ala singer style

cheers, oh and HNY to you all.
Disco

Www.classiccarleds.co.uk
Good product, helpful and knowledgeable staff, quick service.
Highly recommended.
W

I knew someone would have thought of this before me... thanks guys - appreciate the link (s)- anyone have any experience of them - ie do they make a difference?

Excellent topic Mr Disco and very interesting answers. A quick flick through both sites reveals a plethora of 6v options, it would be good to hear from anyone who's started down the LED route for their 356 and are happy with the results.

In the meantime, this flasher relay from classic car leds at £12.99 looks just the ticket.... This sort of thing is more usually around the 50 quid mark. I wonder if it would cure a lazy indicator rate ?

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collec ... -p-2-3-pin

Moto gadget do a load independant flasher if you want a non-plugin solution too - think it might also bring things like “bumping” the indicator stalk gives three flashes too

I am not sure about the load Independent flashers but the good thing about the old style Flashers is that you know when you have a bulb that is not working

Electronic flashers do NOT give you this indication, which of course risks someone running into the back of you


LED`s are very Bright but do tend to wash out the Red in the Rear Lens`s
Good clean connections particularly Earth Connections will produce very adequate lighting

mycar wrote:Excellent topic Mr Disco and very interesting answers. A quick flick through both sites reveals a plethora of 6v options, it would be good to hear from anyone who's started down the LED route for their 356 and are happy with the results.

Have a look at the 356 forum, there are quite a few on there who’ve done it and are very pleased with the improvement. Sounds as though it’s quite a big one.

I've been trying to keep abreast of progress over on the Registry, there seems to be 2 main contenders.

Firstly Jeffery Fellman's SMD headlights which have generally been well received but from what I can work out are only available in a left hand drive version :-

http://www.classicowheels.com/Phosphor% ... 20SMD.html

And secondly rear lights from CU layer which look great but will not work with cars with a dual filament indicator bulb/socket {mine}

http://culayer.com/product/model-356/

I think the advantages of fitting an electronic flasher unit are they do increase the flash rate to a more modern frequency and some have a click function so you don't inadvertently leave your indicators on. I'm not sure LED bulbs work well. if at all, with the old fashioned flasher unit and require an electronic flasher to be fitted.

I maybe wrong.

mycar wrote:I've been trying to keep abreast of progress over on the Registry, there seems to be 2 main contenders.

Firstly Jeffery Fellman's SMD headlights which have generally been well received but from what I can work out are only available in a left hand drive version :-

http://www.classicowheels.com/Phosphor% ... 20SMD.html

And secondly rear lights from CU layer which look great but will not work with cars with a dual filament indicator bulb/socket {mine}

http://culayer.com/product/model-356/

So, i’m Screwed on both fronts then !

Disco wrote:
So, i’m Screwed on both fronts then !

With the two Registry options I think we both are but there must be products in the two websites from Ashley and Winston that will work well.

Maybe best to email both companies with the requirements and see what they suggest. I need to investigate what bulbs I have fitted at the moment.

Another thing that's worth looking at is a 3rd brake light, fitted under the engine grille or in the rear screen. Anybody got one of these ?

Here's mine





Sits neatly under the grill. Pretty much invisible until 'bang' I'm attempting a stooooooop.

The LED was found on ebay. Was pretty hard to find a 6volt one (I think it was for a motorbike) and think it was £30. But it works really well, lights up the whole grill at night it's that bright and sort of looks cool too. I was very nervous about the people seeing my brake lights and had had two close calls with people nearly running into me before I rigged it up...

That looks great, where did you wire it in ?

I bought a pair of the LED headlight bulbs from http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com, they look like a really well made product but at £175 for a pair they should be. Unfortunately I ended up sending them back as the are supplied with an adaptor ring which supposedly 'enables a P43t LED bulb to be used in a P45t fitting' however on closer inspection i realised that I would have to also grind down and re model the 3 lugs on the mounting ring on the new bulbs too to allow them to sit into the bulb holder and allow it to push and twist on. For me this was a bridge too far, I don't mind a bit of hard work but clearly I'd void any opportunity to return them once I start grinding bits off to make them fit. Hopefully someone will make a proper 6volt LED lamp unit that fits the 356 headlamp.

turning out to be an interesting post - clearly lots of thought has gone into the swap out of standard bulbs, although doing a bit of digging, typically there isn't a plug and play solution. closest I got was Winstons link, but according to the specs, they only do 911 onwards which was somewhat disappointing.

However... I've spoken to a very nice chap over there at classic LED's https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/ and he's going to research what can be done for the front and rear lights for a 356 B ( and Mr Mycar, I also asked about the A ) - he's coming back to me, likely tomorrow so when I have some details, I'll post them here.