shoebox headlight question

hi, I'm kinda a newbie when It comes to building a kustom, but I like to try to do what work I can. I'm planning on frenching the headlights on my 51 ford and was wondering If I could weld on 49-50 ford headlight rings and just trim the buckets and flip the clips to mount the lights from the inside of the fender. I know a lot of people use the 52-54 bezels, but I want to go with a more flush look to match the frenching job I did on the tailghts. do you know if the fenders are any different on the 51' from the earlier shoeboxes?

thanks for the help,
jimmy

 

if i understand what you are describing if you mount the buckets inside the fender and then put the bezel where its supposed to be you will have a gap between the two

the 49-50 bezels dont have a lip on the inside around the headlight like a 51 does

as far as i know the shoebox fenders are the same around the headlight the only place i know they are differentis for the markerlight mounting holes and of course the 49 doesnt have the big markerlight surrounds

 

I was looking for a way to flush mount them like these ones. I don't really like the way the 52-54 bezels tunnel the lights in so far. any suggestions on how to achieve this? maybe some other bezels?

 

49-51 fenders are basically the same..only difference is the holes for the parking housing..flip the Headlight mounting tabs on the fenders..the headlight buckets have a lip..remove the lip so I can sit more flush with the inside of the fenders..before you weld the ring drill a small hole On the fenders near the headlight opening..so the water won't sit in the fender in case you drive in the rain..after you weld the ring adjust the spring in the headlight buckets..

 

judging from your pics the blue ballion built shoebox has stock 51 style rings welded to the fenders and maybe the buckets mounted inside the fenders
the other 2 look like they have stock 49-50 rings just welded to the fenders with the buckets left stock

im by no means a custom expert

 

thanks for the help guys! I'm gonna pick up a set of 49-50 rings and mock it up. if there is a gap, I will just have to take it to work and see what the guys can do with them. I work in a machine shop that does a lot of stainless sheet metal fab.

 

check on the 1953-56 Ford F100 pickup headlight bezels they made stainless and reg steel, I've heard of guys using the steel ones if your going to weld them on, they are shallow. My brothers building a 57' Ford wagon and I think he's using 56' F100 bezels

 

I did just what your talking about on my 51. These rings came off a 1950 Chevy truck. They are mild steel instead of S.S. The bulb glass is just about flush with the leading edge of rings. In doing this job I learned a lesson. If you want both ring holes to line up strait across from side to side and flat top to bottom be sure your car is setting at ride angle and fenders are fit correctly on the car. If you just stick them on the fender hole and weld them up you may have one pointing North East and the other looking South west. When you look at the front end from the side believe me when I say it looks like Crap. You may need to trim the inner edge to get things squared up.
The Wizzard