Classic Mini DIY - Installing a Third Brake Light in your Classic Mini

[@BMCC75]

In this video, you are running the Traditional Lucas L594 "Beehive" Lens. These are a Great item for British cars of this Age-Design. Switching to a Lucas L488, also in Red (or Clear-White lens since you are running LEDs!) would match your tail lamps a bit better, and will allow the unit to sit closer to the rear glass. Both the L594 and L488 are VERY common in most British cars from post WWII up into the late 1960's. Some used these MUCH later. The Great news is that this brings your light up to a height Closer to the eye level of traffic behind you. That is one of three items to consider when updating lights: Height, Brightness, and the Volume of each light. Looking at the "dot" for a light in the lens when it is lit up- It's not lighting the entire Volume of that fairly small lens evenly, so it's not going to show as well (at a safe distance) as it could for safety from hundreds of feet away- only good showing for the camera at the Exact same hieght as the bulb, and only within about 50 feet or less, as the camera was situated at. This is from an LED "Bulb". LEDs are supposed to be in Board form facing outward, as all Modern cars have. These bulbs are built poorly, unless you want to say that high sales for easy install is the way to go. "Bulb" type LEDs are small, and usually depend on the light refracting from the lens to hit their target- the driver behind your car- very inefficient. When designed right, a great board system will give around 2-3 times as much light as a "bulb" shape from Many Hundreds of feet away, and fill the entire lens, not just a "dot" spot. It's not just about the output, but also the volume. Look into proper LED boards like the double layer boards designed for either type shown here: classicautoleds.com/led-lights/lucas/lucas-l488-l594-amber-led-light-set

[@AndyMarsh]

Looks nice. I remember when I fitted my LED indicators... Definitely took a while staring at the wiring diagram to work out what was happening, and I'm an electronics engineer by training! In the end I added a coupe of diodes to the green tell-tale light and swapped to a electronic flasher modules.

[@billdeanscoutermoose9430]

My first thought was... that looks rather like K-9 from Classic Doctor Who ha ha! How appropriate it's in "Bad Wolf"

[@yvesmaetz4839]

Nice job! Did the same thing last week-end... However, I used a satin black motorcycle rear light. Amazon has plenty of nice ones pretty cheap. I drilled the parcel shelf to pass the cable directly down rather than going behind the rear seat. Also replaced the bulb by a LED bulb.

[@jamesbarrie2965]

Looks good, was thinking of using one of these under the bumper as a fog👍

[@CooperSTraveller]

Nice job sir .... trying to design up a mount (or 2) to allow me to add a third and fourth brake light on my Mini Traveller Cafe Racer.

[@LoneStarMini]

Looking good and nice work on the wiring. Agreed.. 3rd brakes lights are a near must here in the states. I have already purchased several 3rd brake lights for my minis however they are more form fitted against the glass with the perfect angle to the Mini glass. They won't have the cool retro bulb look, but they are very nice and sleek. As always.. wonderful update video

[@mostlybrokenbritishcars3220]

Have you driven with this at night? Does the brake light get reflected into the cabin by the rear window?

[@classicminidiy]

Haven't tried it at night yet but if that ends up happening I could probably create a small shroud for it to help reduce that light bleed. We shall see how it goes!

[@Richard-gw2vn]

Very nice, I have a 3rd brake light installed on my 74 Mini, ended up using a Hella light. Not as aesthetic as yours but does the job.

[@classicminidiy]

Thanks! Yeah as long as it makes you visible its a win imo.

[@WilliamMurfitt]

I think every mini should have a 3rd brake light as people just dont see them, I'd hate for somebody to smash my back door in

[@brystonecowboy]

Steady

[@WilliamMurfitt]

@@brystonecowboy gotta love a Sunday morning innuendo

[@classicminidiy]

O_O

[@classicminiculture9800]

thanks for this, still got time to add one to mine before the rear window goes in, agree with William mini's need this👍

[@andyfry1970]

Nice addition there Cole, JB does some nice stuff, I've got a couple of bits from him myself 😊

[@classicminidiy]

Thanks 👍 Very pleased with the quality of his work.

[@veloferrari]

Great video! I was looking for exactly this... and I bought a mug!

[@classicminidiy]

Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the mug. :-)

[@bonnierichter8764]

I made contact with the builder of the Roadster2. He said that he used a Landrover rear light. The classic Mini light is made of glass and only gets held on by the rubber lip gripping the chrome steel ring. Easy to pop off and steal.

[@RaviRamdeo]

I’m trying to find that bullet connector splitter you used . The ones on Amazon don’t look like yours .. any idea where to find one ?

[@classicminidiy]

Hey Ravi! Those are the OEM style bullet connectors for the mini. This should be what you're looking for. www.7ent.com/products/tube-connector-4-wire-850641.html?af=cmdiy1959

[@RaviRamdeo]

@@classicminidiy thanks Cole!!

[@benoitdupont9125]

nice trick. Like it. there are alternatives: you can also use a motorcycle tail light which is to my opinion a little less bulky, and quite café-racer too :) Cheers !!

[@TornadoCAN99]

FYI: It is best to match the LED colour with the lens it has to shine through. So red LED for a red lens brake light fixture. This maximizes the light getting through the lens. Third brake lights are meant to be only on with brakes...might actually be a legal requirement in some places. Point is that it is an unambigous signal to following drivers that your are slowing down. On motorcycles, it is becoming common to see a brake lamp flasher setup. There's typically no room for a brake-only lamp, so normally you have a combined tail/brake light in one lens. Not so easy to distinguish braking light from just the tail light. So having a flashing feature only while braking is good practise. Gets attention of following drivers. These are also possible to fit to cars...the blinker unit just splices into the brake light hot wire. Might be worth it on the mini for extra safety....

[@markpiper8082]

Could do with a 3d printed cover to finish it off.

[@Paulsmithmini191]

Looks very cool, could this be ran as a rear fog?

[@classicminidiy]

I suppose you could wire it into that circuit. Not sure what the rules are in various countries but wiring it in wouldn't be much different than what I did in the vid.

[@pix_p]

I'd be careful installing that light... when you go to open the doors it might respond with "I'm sorry Cole, I'm afraid I can't do that"

[@classicminidiy]

Hahaha, if my car started talking to me we would have a long conversation about why it constantly acts up! Lol

[@Paul_VanGo]

@@classicminidiy ...but you will also have Super Persuit Mode!

[@RaviRamdeo]

🤣 Classic Mini HAL

[@tonysiebs3426]

Hey cole I checked out the link but the one they have does not look like the high quality one as what you have there at all 🤷🤷

[@classicminidiy]

Hey Tony in his photos he still has the protective sticker on the metal. This protects it on the way to you but under it is the finish you see in my video.

[@franskamstra2728]

This looks awesome. Maybe even better when the bracket would be painted in the car color. But i realy like the "old" style

[@classicminidiy]

I am still really torn on painting black it but we shall see. I have painted interior stuff body color in the past and the blue of my car is just too bright and it ends up looking a little cheap for some reason.

[@franskamstra2728]

@@classicminidiy I see what you mean. A red or black mini could handle it better. It could also look cheap in certain colors. But still a great look as is

[@thedjse]

Did you not want it in the middle?

[@classicminidiy]

I noticed that just rewatching it. 😂 I’ll need to adjust that to the right a bit 😅

[@pakgorgor]

I installed my 3rd brake light using this. Mounted directly to the rear shelf and angled up, it's still visible and a little more discreet. www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Universal-TaillIght-Chopper-black-red/dp/B0766V7CNP

[@bonnierichter8764]

Very nice... but a bit sharp edgy? Have a look at this third rear brake light on the Mini Roadster2 converted from a classic Mini Clubman at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHS0iGihnLmJkKM. The video shows the whole 8-year built in about 12 minutes. To see the rear brake light beautifully done with lasercut aluminium backing plate on rear deck lid... go straight to 10m18s. Awesome built!

[@bartvanzyl2685]

What?! Block of wood covered in carpeting... then drilled thru back plate and screwed on with self tappers? Come on! That is hillbilly style. Please no. Do it right or not at all.