Restored Code 3XL 42" Clear with Stingers

May 21, 2010
1,203
Wilkes-Barre, Pa
Here we have the first lightbar I attempted a restoration on for a fellow collector, Wolfman, here on the board. I took this on several months ago with hopes of trying to improve it a bit and get some more experience on the older sealed beam XL bars.


It originaly was as you see it but with red and clear bulbs only, mismatched bulbs in the stingers and very yellowed and hazed lenses.


I completely disassembled the entire bar, cleaned and rewired, and wet sanded and polished the domes. The domes were the biggest suprise because the really came back to life.


I sent the speaker grille out to be polished because it was dull and stained badly. The stainless strips on top of the lenses were in the same shape, but some light wet sanding took care of that problem.


Last, we decided to use the red and blue halogen Harley Davidson Pursuit lamps opposite the GE7400 clear bulbs and in the stingers. (The red stinger is a 4416r for now). The bulbs really gave it that pop under the clear domes and the colors are very nice: deep red and nice clear blue.


The bar was delivered back to Wolfman last evening and I promised pictures would be posted of the completed project.


Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (5).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (6).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (4).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (3).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (2).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (9).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (8).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (10).jpg

Code 3 XL Short with Stingers (7).jpg
 
May 21, 2010
1,203
Wilkes-Barre, Pa
TritonBoulder47 said:
Very nice moto!!! I bet wolfman is very please...


Now, how about a video...? LOL

I do have a short one done with my 10amp power supply but it does it no justice. After I saw how it was SUPPOSED to look using full power I have get a new one next time I get back to Dave's shop. It is very bright and effective, I can tell you that.
 

HillRock

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
273
Boston, Mass.
VERY well done sir, the bar looks as if it just rolled off the line at Code 3. The Code 3 XLs by far my favorite bar of all time. Great job!
 

FedSigFan

Member
May 21, 2010
177
DFW
Wow that's beautiful. I bought an XL once, it was compeletely destroyed in shipping. And the Post Office never paid me back even though it was insured. They even kept the bar. Unreturned phone calls, lots of promises... but no check. I have awful luck with my local USPS.
 

wolfman

Member
May 21, 2010
466
Scranton, PA
Sorry, I would have posted earlier but I've been in my garage drooling all over it! I can't say enough good things about Moto's restoration of this bar. They say you can't shine feces, well let me tell you, he can! I was close several times to tossing this bar out because I thought it was in that bad a shape. Moto saw it sitting in the shop and said that it looked like it had potential, especially being a 42" version of the bar. I gave it to him with the pretense that he was going to 'try' to get it looking somewhat decent for my collection. His pics don't do it justice, the resto is amazing! Want to send a shout out to Eric for the assistance that Moto got with the speaker grille polishing, it's unbelievable!


I promise some videos of the bar once I get the shop cleaned up a bit. I'm still on the fence if I want to add the H4449R Harley bulb to the stinger, or convert everything over to 4416 red and blue bulbs. I'm loving the nice deep red and blue colors from the Harley bulbs, but the 4416R in the stinger has a real nice pop to it.


Again, thanks to Motorolamaniac for MORE than job well done! And thanks for all of the great comments on the bar!


wolfman
 

CrownVic97

Member
May 21, 2010
3,350
Hazen, ND
HillRock said:
...the bar looks as if it just rolled off the line at Code 3.

I agree! Amazing restoration on that XL!
 

lotsofbars

Member
Jul 20, 2010
1,999
NYC, New York
This bar is phenomenal! I just got myself a 56" Code 3 xl with the same configuration, minus the stingers and all the colored sealed beams are red. They're great bars, and with a little elbow grease, mine may soon look almost as good as that!
 

bfd740

Member
Jul 4, 2010
285
Babylon, NY
That looks great. We have those light bars on our engines (the longer version with 3 sets of lights and 2 siren grilles) and the mechanic took those rotators out and replaced them with the single-bulb version (MUCH brighter, especially the red). Ours were pretty much the same thing, with the 45* inboard rotators and the stingers. Nice job, looks great!
 
May 21, 2010
1,203
Wilkes-Barre, Pa
Who needs LED's when you have bars like this. LEDs may be bright but you will NEVER get the action of a rotators, ocillators, stingers. This bar has a really nice punch to it for sure.
 

Newberry13

Member
May 21, 2010
613
SC, USA
That bar is amazing. You would never guess that it's as old as it is. I would still use that beauty!
 

stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
I agree, rotators are outstanding warning devices, but bars like that XL require a lot of amps. That is a nice restoration. :thumbsup:
 

fireball3

Member
Oct 25, 2010
864
Lyon, France
motorolamaniac said:
Who needs LED's when you have bars like this. LEDs may be bright but you will NEVER get the action of a rotators, ocillators, stingers. This bar has a really nice punch to it for sure.

+1 :thumbsup:


-----------------------------------------------------------


Moto,> What is the method and by what means to polish the speaker grill, to get a good result!


Thanks
 
May 21, 2010
1,203
Wilkes-Barre, Pa
fireball3 said:
+1 :thumbsup:
-----------------------------------------------------------


Moto,> What is the method and by what means to polish the speaker grill, to get a good result!


Thanks



To get a mirror like shine like this grille, I send it to a board member here and he in turn takes it to a polisher who specializes in polising automotive trim and metals. You can use a good quality automotive all-purpose metal polish to bring back a shine to some stained or dirty trim parts.
 

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