Lucas Lights

[Stuart Joseph]

Good morning. My email address is: stuart.joseph@btinternet.com

Thanks for the interest

Stuart

[Stuart Joseph]

Hello Ian. You are quite right in that R40's and R47's are similiar but have significant differences. The R40 is made from thicker brass and the rim is much heavier. The rim is deeper and thicker than the R47 and engages with the bowl differently to the way the R47 rim engages. On the R47 there are three lugs rivetted to the rims and three slots in the bowl into which they engage. On the R40 the lugs are on the bowl and the slots are in the rim.

A major problem with the R47 is the ease with which the rims become detached, depending on three springs pushing the reflector onto the glasss. A technique which I use on my new lamps is to omit the bottom lug and replace it with a 4BA screw through the rim into a nut silver soldered to the inside of the bowl.

The reflectors for R40's fit R47's although they are often not fitted with pilot bulbs.

There are plethora of ways in which R40's are fitted to the car which sometimes make them impossible to convert for A7's.

Regards Stuart

[Ian Williams]

Hi Stuart, I have a number of R40 some of which I have converted to R47, you simply need to remove the three rim locating studs from R40 shell and cut three L shaped slots as per the R47. Once you have done this an R47 rim fits straight on, and as you say you can use the R40 Reflector. I have not noticed any difference in the thickness of the brass that the buckets are made from, but have never actually put a wire gauge on them. The rims are of course completely different on the R40 and of no use to us in an A7 context. There are also some R40 variants which have a three hole mounting for the base stalk, I assume these are the ones you refer to, these are much more difficult to convert but they can be done if you are desperate.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

A technique which I use on my new lamps is to omit the bottom lug and replace it with a 4BA screw through the rim into a nut silver soldered to the inside of the bowl.

That is a great idea!

[Mark R]

Is anyone making new rims for R47s, I have bowls but presumed the rim was what would stop me from using them?

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Yes - I have bought several from Stuart Joseph over the years, very nice they are too!

[Mark R]

Thank you Ruairidh, I remember Stuart saying he no longer had the tooling for the spinnings but perhaps this was the shells rather than rims. Best sort out the shells and get some rims ordered I think.

[Stuart Joseph]

Hello Mark. I have a very limited number of new rims available but rather than sell them outright I do prefer to complete them with the fittings and fit them to your shells.
Please email me if interested.

Regards

Stuart

[Frank Stoll]

Hello,
although this thread has answered already many questions, I am still not quite sure what the differences between Lucas LB 130 and Lucas LB 130P might be? Any ideas?
Regards
Frank Stoll