Topic: Tri-bar headlight cover

[ksmith0034]

I would just send him an email.  I haven't seen anyone on here yet who has one of his headlights.  Let us know what you find out, now I'm curious...

[Anti-Johnny]

I guess youre looking for an h4, which I understand, but this seller has this version and a spike. Looks like its made for honda.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290463466263&crlp=1_263602_304652&ff4=263602_304652&viewitem=&guid=8bde40c712c0a04371a1ffe1ffd6fbba&hlp=false&rvr_id=181124151688&ua=M*S%3F&itemid=290463466263#ht_7740wt_1459

[750K8 Kev]

Why ask here?  Just email Carpy ...........

I've emailed Carpy about some of his store items months ago and still haven't gotten a response, even left a voice mail.

[AnthonyMichael]

Carpy has two emails thats the problem. I placed an order and emailed him a month later and he totally missed it. still pleased with the stuff though.


Anyhow, my headlight is from Carpy so yes, it needs to be notched.

[ksmith0034]

Ah-ha!  A Carpy headlight owner!
Do you mean notch the bucket?  Do you have pics?

[AnthonyMichael]

Ah-ha!  A Carpy headlight owner!
Do you mean notch the bucket?  Do you have pics?

posted pics earlier in thread. You need to renotch the housing it sits in. It's pretty self explanatory

[ksmith0034]

Sorry for being dense - is yours a Carpy light?

[AnthonyMichael]

Anyhow, my headlight is from Carpy so yes, it needs to be notched.

[ksmith0034]

Alright that's it, I'm going to bed before I hurt myself.  My brain it toast.

[nomad]

So... I contacted Carpy and he said his tri-bar light attaches the same way as a stock lens, with the same 3 prong bayonet fitting.  Btw, he responded pretty quick... less than 15 hours after I emailed him!

But, OTOH, AnthonyMichael had issues with his Carpy light installation.  So, I guess the answer is, it fits, but be prepared to do a few modifications if needed.

[Alan F.]

Not sure if The OP's original question got lost in discussion or if I skipped something, but...

Hey all,
I picked up a tri-bar headlight cover (the kind they had in the '40's) and can't get it to work on my headlight because of those three glass tabs on the front of the lens. They hold the cover up off the surface and you can't get the light assembly back together. I tried to dremel the tabs off but cracked the sealed beam.

All you need to remove the three tabs on the sealed beam is a diamond file or an abrasive stone, work slowly to reduce the heat generated (which is what cracked the first one you used a dremel on) and use a little water or oil.  You could use wet/dry sandpaper but it'll wear quickly and won't be worth the effort. Be sure to tape off the area surrounding the 3 tabs so you don't scratch up the front of your headlight.  If you're really talking about the tabs behind the headlight that locate the bulb in the headlight rings it's even easier, just slowly grind the tabs down until you can rotate the bulb the way you want to.

Alan

[AnthonyMichael]

^^^yes or just notch into the metal housing that the tabs fit into so the bulb doesn't shift over time.

[GRock]

Thanks Alan F. for the answer! Yeah, the post kind of took a different direction.  If the need comes up again, I will go that route. I ended up making the conversion to the H4 set up. The tri-bar cover came from Chevysofthe40's.com. Since I could not get a standard sealed beam without the three glass tabs, I called Chevy's of the 40's to see if they had a lens that would except their cover and they did. So I was sort of pushed into the conversion to make the cover work. The cover, lens, and bulb all came together nicely until I went to put it in the bucket and another problem presented itself. The lens is much deeper than the sealed beam and shoving it into the bucket with the wire looms is to tight for me. As a matter of fact, so of the connections pulled apart. I've seen on some of the cafes where they have a much deeper bucket and I kind of like the look so I'm modifying my bucket so that it's deeper. Carpy has one but you put your speedo in there as well. All in all, it's been a HUGE pain in the glutes, especially when you consider it's not even running yet; but I'm working on correcting that!!! The headlight was just a side project that really should have just waited but my A.D.D. gets the best of me sometimes!

[Alan F.]

That extended bucket is gonna look great! please post some pics of it when you have it painted and on your bike.
(And maybe get in touch with Frankenbike to see if he wants to make a mold of them...)

[Really?]

Yea, it could get some more things made!

[GRock]

(And maybe get in touch with Frankenbike to see if he wants to make a mold of them...)

If he would be interested, we could figure something out. That would be pretty cool. Thanks for the compliment.
I haven't worked on it much lately due to it being pretty cold in St. Louis and I don't want to do fiberglass and bondo work in the house. I'm going to take the recesses out of the back so it's just a smooth bowl sort of structure. I'll mount the blinker noise maker thing somewhere else.
Does anybody know if the aftermarket headlight ears put the headlight farther up and out?