I'm sure it's in here somewhere, but was just wondering if anyone has a way to french headlights from scratch???I mean without having to buy a kit to do it...Thanx
Weld the headlight ring to the fender and make the head light bucket mount from the backside, up in the wheel well.
The "kits" don't french them...they tunnel them. The term to "french" means to "make flush". The traditional method is to weld the headlight bezel in place, and then modify bucket to be mounted from inside the fender. It makes for a bit of a PITA to mount and adjust, but not so terrible. Removing the tire makes it easier. - Rick
what they said. take off the chrome first, and this is ***uming you have steel trim rings.... the plymouth and dodges have pot metal so you gotta use chevys ect. you could braze/solder pot metal ones on i think though. as far as the buckets go you just grind the lip off and screw it in from behind as stated. those kits looks stupid.
Probably why the term "frenched AND tunneled" was used a lot in the "little book" days, tunneling required a LOT more work. A number of different "rings" (bolt on fender extensions like 52 to 54 Ford, 55 Olds, etc.) out there that are popular for this or you can make up your own from round rod and fill the gap to the fender with bits of formed sheet metal. Essentially what you are doing is eliminating the body seam between the fender and the fender extension (headlight bucket or ring). If you don't want the grief of going up into the inside of the fender to adjust the headlight, a lot of cars used a bolt on inner ring to span the gap from the fender extension to the actual headlight, exposing the adjusting screws when removed ('75 Cordoba comes to mind, just like the ones I have saved for just such a project).
In the latest Rod&Custom magazine, there is an article about using 49 chevy truck healight buckets and making them adjustable with some pretty simple mods.This was just to conquer the adjustability issue.
The Jalopy Journal
