Hey everyone, I am just letting everyone know of the amazing light bar I just got for 48 bucks. I bought it from a guy on ebay (user id reddrockets). It is powdercoated and just what I asked for. If anyone is in the market for a light bar I can't recommend him enough. Tonz better than 170 for an alta or 3... three something for a palo uber.


Will post pics soon so everyone can see.

 

I have the same bar. When I got it a while ago I told him to come to NAM and sell these here. I got it for the same price and these are AMAZING. Same bar as the other's selling for much higher.

 

Great to know. Thanks!

 

Here is a couple pics of the bar you are talking about installed on my car.





It is a very nice bar but imo the lights need to be closer to the bumper. Jusr look at the pics in my link and you will see what I am talking about. That can be fixed very easy tho. I was going to cut about 2" off the mounts and reweld them to bing it in close but I just made my own palo knockoff for $30 and 4 hours of my time. Here is how it turned out, would anyone be interested in buying the bar I made?

 

Doesnt that cause cooling reduction into the engine bay?

 

Any pics of just the mount? It would depend on the construction/design.

 

I might be interested. I'm assuming you have to modify the grill?

 

Yeah I would be interested in one of your mounts if the price is the same! Let me know

 

MidMOmini: What's your price and do you have any pictures of the bar you made?

Also, in checking the OP's bar, it appears a couple of holes drilled (and rustproofed, of course) would allow the bar to be turned 90 degrees on it's axis and flipped so the light mounting holes would be on TOP of the bar. This would bring the lights ~1" closer to the car and ~1" higher.

I also like the possibility of putting a quick-connect plug in and, with 2 bolts, removing the light bar (except for the tube-shaped mounts). Hmmm, maybe I can use those as launchers for bottle rockets...

Nice job both.

 

MidMoMini , were you able to mount the bar/lights a bit lower with the bar off ebay or was that the lowest you could of drilled the mounts onto the bumper ??

Thanks

 

That was the lowest I could mount them. and for DixonL2, you cannot flip it to make them closer.

The bar I made has 3/4" angle that needs drilled and bolted to the bumper support. The bar that runs across the bumper is 3/4" square tubing. the pieces that have the lights mounting to them are 1.5" wide metal straping 1/8" thick. it is all bolted together using 5/16th bolts. it could all be welded but i didn't have access to a welder at the time. Also, your bumper will need 4 sqaure holes for your lights brackets to set thru onto the mount.

I have not yet decided if i want to make any of these bars up yet but I will let you guys know if I do. It is a very sturdy piece and will take you about 2-3 hours of your time to install.

 

midMOmini, can you re-post the other pics you had of the eBay lightbar from your f/s post? I wanted to check the distance between the lgihts and bumper area... thanks!

 

updated my first post

 

I bought and installed one of these a little while back as well. To be perfectly hones I do not see any reason you can not do this. If you really wanted to I bet you could flip the bar and then run the lights upside down to get the closer to the position of the Alta bar.

 

A lot of lights, liek the Hella 500's, cannot be run upside down because your beam pattern would be screwed up.

I'd be interested in a bar liek the one mentioned above, but I didn't liek the light positioning. I've been toying with the idea of getting the ebay bar, after fabricating my own bar, and doing a poor job of it. I've gone back to running two lights instead of four, on the original brackets I made.

 

midMOmini, I'd be interested in seeing your bar removed from the car and without lights. I don't know if I'll ever run the lights, but the reference would be good.

 

I was stupid and never took any pics on it but i will try to get something drawn up and post what it was.

 

In regards to the one on eBay -

Have a few questions (also asked the seller of the bar)

1) Is there enough room to have the license plate mounted between two outside lights?

2) Is there any vibration or bouncing of the lights?

3) How easy or hard is the install?

4) Also how does it line up with the factory bonnet stripes?


I already have to "L" brackets but they bounce and am looking for something more sturdy.

Thanks,

Matt
~MNEEME

 

1) Never had my plate mounted but I assure you there should be enough room

2)I never had any vibration with mine that I could tell. The bars mounting brackets have 3 spots drilled for mounting screws but on my bar the lowest one was right on the bottom of the bumper support and a screw could not be installed so I only had 4 screws holding mine on and they were still holding strong after 2 months of the bar being installed.

3)It didn't take long at all but I do some mechanic work on the side and I am a carpenter by trade so the layout took no time at all. All that is needed is an allen wrench(don't remember the size), a drill bit(don't remember the size), philips screwdriver, drill, utility knife, and tape measure. This install was the first time I ever had the bumper off of the Mini and that took the longest. I actually used a dremel with a cutoff wheel to cut the mesh in the bumper but a utility knife with work just as good. Total time was about 2 hours.

4)Cannot tell ya, I don't have stripes on mine.

 

Given that the Hellas are 5 1/4" lights, you've got at least 10.5" plus any additional space freed up by the angles of the lights vs. the bumper. My license plate measures out at 12". Worst comes to worst, you can surface-mount the license plate (or use a thin aftermarket bracket, WalMart has 'em, they're black and only 1/2" thick) and you should be fine.

I've got one of those bars coming and will report, but it won't be for a few weeks.

 

I like this a lot and almost bought it but I drive into downtown DC everyday and just have visions of someone taking out $150 worth of lights in my parking garage.

 

OK Guys, here's the scoop with my bar I made. I am more than willing to start making them. The catch is that I didn't take any measurements when I made mine and I would also like to come up with a new mounting location.

What I am asking for is that if you are close to Missouri I will build and install your bar for free as long as you buy the materials. The materials costed me around $30 for it all. I even have some stuff left over to help with your costs also that I will throw in on the deal so it will cost you a total of around $15.

I would like to do an R53 first because that seems to be what most people are asking about but I am also interested in an R50 and R56. It would also be nice to get my hands on a car with an Aero kit on it as well. Who ever is the 1st for each model the assembly and install will be free, I just need it for measurments.

If you have any questions please PM me or just post up.

 

ide hate to have to replace those lights after being backed into by some careless motorist.
is there any light bar that brings the lights inside the lower grille opening without sticking way out like that/
i think that would look real nice

 

some people fab up there own to that i see here on the web sometimes. as for a bar being made to mount the lights behind the bumper, i don't know of any. The hella 500's like on mine will not fit any further back anyway.

 

I dont mean behind, I am talking about in front of the lower vent opening, below the bumper, in line where the driving lites are. I was wondering if maybe removing the plastic grill and mounted it there up close to the radiator to keep the lites tucked in tight to the body.