Installing Blue Dots

So I decided to change the taillights on my lowered bug. I like the taillights from earlier bugs and I had the opportunity to buy some rear fenders off a 1967 bug that had full taillight assemblies with them so I bought them. I needed to buy new fenders anyways because the ones on it are pretty rusty so It should work out good. The taillights on the 67's are smaller and don't have reverse lights in them. They come with an amber turn signal light but I like the ones that are all red so I bought the all red lenses and decided to put blue dots in them. Here are some pictures of the light assembly with the original lens and the 2 I bought. I took them apart and will clean them up and paint them before I install them.

 Here are the blue dots I am going to install. I picked them up when I was at the Logan car show last year. If you want the best effect you need to get the glass blue dots. There are lots of stories that are out there about why people install blue dots. The best one I heard was that they were used back when doctors made house calls. If a doctor had blue dots, the cops knew not to pull him over if he was speeding. Once the hot rodders found out, they put them on so the cops wouldn't give chase at night. There are a lot of hot rodders that have them on their cars. I wanted them because they look cool. When you have your taillights or brake lights on they turn your lights purple. I had them on my first bug in high school and loved them. One note if your considering them, They are illegal in Utah so you are taking a chance of being pulled over by the cops and you won't be able to get your car to pass safety inspection unless you change your lenses before going to get it inspected. To me it's worth the hassle.

 I used a 7/8 hole saw on my lenses and it worked perfect. Remember to go at a constant speed and don't rush it. Let the saw cut, don't force it or you will crack your lenses. The blue dots I have are a weird size. It measured out at .920 of an inch which is closest to a 59/64 drill bit. I didn't have one so I drilled it to 7/8 and then used a pencil grinder with a tiny barrel sander to get the size I needed.

 Here is the first hole cut. Worked like a charm.

 Here are both of them done and ready for the blue dots to be installed.
Just remember when your installing the blue dots to twist the tabs of the bezel. If you just bend the tabs over the blue dots will fall out. Here is a picture of the back side of the blue dots and it shows the twist.

 Here it is installed. I love the looks of them and hope they look as good on the bug as I am picturing them in my head.

I need to prep the fenders I bought and get a new front fender then I will paint them and install them. Stay tuned for that.

Anxiously awaiting snow and bad weather!

What the heck is up with the weather! I hurried and got the baja bug going so I could keep driving a bug all year long. As it turns out, (so far at least) I could of just kept driving my lowered bug. Here in Utah we had the lowest amount of precipitation in December ever recorded. We had another record of the warmest day in December ever recorded and as far as I can tell, there is no good (bad) weather forcasted in the future. I am going to drive my lowered bug to work this week and hopefully that will make mother nature change her mind and decide to snow. Just for the heck of it I may wash and wax all my cars and see where that gets me. We had a week of colder weather where it dipped into the teens at night and that motivated me to fix my choke and install an oil heater on the baja. It really helps getting it warmed up quicker. (Not that I've needed that lately.) Anyways, I was going to show some pictures of the oil heater I installed but my camera froze up on me and I can't seem to get it to work. I also replaced the hood hinges on my hood. My boss made fun of me for my bungee cord tie down that I rigged up so I fixed it right. I did manage to get some pics of that so here you go.

This was my fix for the broken hood latches. It worked really good.

 I drilled out the upper bracket on one side and then realized how crappy the new brackets are. They are a lot thinner so I just changed out the rubber pieces and kept the old brackets. I can't stand the fact that you can't buy good quality stuff anymore. Everything has gone very cheap. I will save that rant for another post.

 Here are the new hood hinges. Now my boss can't make fun of these. There are still plenty of other things he can comment on though. Oh well, one thing at a time.