Rear Lights
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I had purchased a set of Hella rear lights from Premierwiring that were intended to be recessed, or frenched, into the rear bodywork. I had always intended to do this on the back of the Striker as I think it will make the back end look a lot tidier, and having ordered clear-gel bodywork that needed spraying it seemed like a logical step.
With the arches completed I set about trying to find something to mould some recesses for the lights to sit in. I tried a sugar bowl from Ikea that looked the right size, but I couldn't get the GRP to release from it. I tried some 100mm bathroom vent ducting, but again despite wiping it in wax I couldn't get the GRP to release. The strips of mudgiard material I had used for bridging the gaps across the extended rear arches had not the slightest inclination to stick to GRP and they looked like they were made from PE. In the end I found the perfect mould for the job, actually in the kitchen cupboard! An Iceland own brand ice-cream tub. It was the right diameter at the bottom for the lights to sit in neatly, PE so the gelcoat wouldn't stick and flexible enough to release easily. Cutting the bottom off two of tubs and bolting it to the top of the lid I had made the perfect shape.
I used a 104mm and 55mm hole saw to cut out the holes in the rear bodywork for the light recesses to sit behind and used the resultant polo shaped bit of GRP was screwed to the top and the whole lot covered in gelcoat.
I made four of these recesses and then bonded then into the rear bodywork. It was necessary to enlarge the holes a little by hand and then with the remaining untouched ice-cream tub I then gelcoated from the recess out to the surface of the car to make a smooth surface.
I also decided to french in the filler cap and used some of the spare GRP boot floor that was supplied with the kit, which was bonded in at the correct depth to make the top of the filler cap flush with the bodywork and the join then filled with gelcoat using another ice-cream tub as a mould (see later).