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I've fancied one of these for a while, and after doing a bit of research, decided to take the plunge. Using the overview article published in Westfield World published Summer 2012 by Andy Banks as a guide I purchased the Surface Mount Slimline LED unit from Carbuilder Solutions at £38.40 (http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/surface-mount-slimline-led-third-brake-light-red-lens) Sure there are others out there but this one has been mentioned before here and I think quite a few members have used it with good results. I wanted a bit of additional visibility with it, so I sourced an in-line strobe module from Superbright LEDs all the way in St Louis, Missouri (https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/emergency-strobe/brake-light-strobe-module/195/845/). I fitted a similar unit into my wife's SLK last summer and was really pleased with the effect. Although the strobe was less than $5 it cost me a further $16 to ship it here by international first class post. They do a few versions, with different functionality / strobe patterns. The one I liked was the LSC-100A module, which flashes the LED it's wired into four times quickly (half a second) then 4 times slowly (2 and a half seconds) then constantly on until the brake pedal is released. Anyway this 11 second video gives you the idea... I wired the LED through the roll-bar (drilled and tapped for M4 bolts) to hide the wiring and connected everything down by the rear offside light cluster. The S2000 seems to have a different colour scheme for the rear light wiring compared to Andy Banks's article: Mine is wired Red - Brake Lamp, Blue - Tail Lamp, White - Earth. Using piggyback crimp connectors, everything can be removed and un-installed if needed, although once I've had a few good runs I may decide to solder and heat-shrink the wiring once proven. All in all a very quick and easy upgrade. From a safety pov, I think it's a no-brainer....

Time to post a heart warmer..... My VDO Speedometer was having moments of.......erm... 'being a tad vague' sometimes it was lucid enough to let me know what warp factor was engaged but I just don't want that conversation with the plod ... So..... I rang the factory and...... was told they were made to order. Any one of you that's met me will know that I'm a born cynic..... even if that model has been discontinued there must be a like for like-ish replacement..... after all VDO are a huge company! Let the hunt for a replacement begin..... I was having visions of a new dashboard and hours of fun when good old Aunty Google finds a place called ETB Instruments in Southend.... I thought to myself "I'll ring them and see if they can repair mine....." Here's the killer, "Got those in stock sir, sell em all the time....would you like it programmed with your calibration and mileage sir " and "could you accept delivery tomorrow sir", "sorry no says I, I'm at work"...... "oh no problem sir we can deliver to your work address".... Awesome..... superb..... slick as..... Not enough nice words for the superb service.... THANK YOU ETB Instruments of Southend on Sea, Oh yeah and here's the killer bit that warmed me all over CHANGE OUT OF £200. Nem.................

Depending upon your pocket depth, there are new ones to be had for less than 5k http://www.nengun.com/spoon/honda-s2000-new-engine

You won't beat bang per buck if you go s2000.

Don't get hung up on a plate. Build the car you want. Plates are ephemeral.

Thanks for the replies chaps !! I'm leaning towards having the piping ☺️

You missed out ploughing

Diesel automatics for towing and high mileage, petrol for everything else!

I thought it was fairly simple. Diesel = Crap Petrol = Good Here endeth the lesson

I have just bought a new Ford Kuga 1500 petrol Ecoboost and it is really economical. Not as good as diesel but when you have to pay £2500 extra for a diesel and 7p a litre extra for diesel I worked it out that I would have to do 15,000 miles a year for 4 years before a diesel starts to pay back anything. The 1500 drives like a 2000 so no issues with performance either.

I think both Marks and Pete's are an excellent solution. I wondered if a slight tweak to both would make it even more effective. How about if the flat section like on Marks above returned forwards again over the top of the chassis rail and then was secured with a spacer to the bottom of the same plate as per Petes. This could then be slipped over the front chassis member and secured. Having a design cut from Steel would be easy, powder coating would be easy too. It would just be getting the double bend. Any thoughts? I have had a number of steel parts laser cut locally and also powder coated.

Thats fine, at least you be Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive!

I think a guy on ebay sells them Bob, of course Dave's may be different... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flashing-3rd-Third-Brake-Light-LED-Kit-Fully-Legal-/310263224343?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item483d211817

UK carbon prices for Westfields are a bit of a red herring on the whole, I suspect many are almost loss leaders; you've only got to look at how many businesses start offering it only to pull out when they realise how difficult it is to make a net profit. Compare them to someone like Reverie or Westermann over in Germany to get an idea of where the prices perhaps should be, (from a manufacturers point of view). Trouble is the Westfield market just doesn't really seem to support those prices. It's a catch 22 situation for manufacturers.

there's a lot of work involved and waste materials'i don't think people realise.

I PM'd Nick last night and he's kindly made an exception Looking forward to Rockingham, if I survive North Weald on Sunday.

I have to say I'm not a fan of these flashing lights in your standard Corsas or Cleos ( yooffull boys racer types) but for an enthusiastic sort of car see them as a possible safety enhancement. Anything within reason you can do to make the rest of the visually challenged drivers see you must be a gain. I would guess if the driver were an experienced type who used the brakes judiciously then can't see a problem if however you were one of the ever growing population who haven't yet found there handbrakes and sit with the foot brakes on at any opportunity dazzling everyone behind, then these flashers would be a proper pain in the eyeballs. I think I may get one of those little modules though, just for the 3rd high level job which happens to be the same as this posting. Bob

First, let me thank the mystery bidder. Second, just to put the price achieved by the two sets of side panels recently sold and under comment on this thread in perspective. A pair of carbon cycle wings made in the usual way ( wet lay up, top skin carbon the rest grp) contain approximately less than 1/3 the carbon content of the side panels and yet sell for mostly £150 + and some are over the £200 mark.. So are the cycle wings expensive or are the side panels too cheap! Regards Mick

This was mine

Watch out for Yorkshire's events - both Yorkshire 8 and C2C cover many of these roads. You'd all be very welcome

Most decent ones only trigger once then will not trigger again for a certain time period, I know mines like that. It's aimed at being safer/more discrete in stop start traffic. I went through several MOTs with it on, though I always fit mine so that bypassing it takes a few minutes if needed. Many production cars have flashing rear brake lights under hard use now anyway, so when it just does it occasionally, then behaves normally, the tester just kind of dismisses it as being too eager on the brakes!

Done - how about a more aerodynamic windscreen design for those of us who don't want to use an aeroscreen?