Kammback vs high-mounted lights

[Piwoslaw]

More and more cars have lights mounted high on the rear pillar. Eg:
Pontiac Trans Sport

Fiat Punto

Opel Corsa

Ford Focus

I've been wondering about how to put a kammie on one of those cars? Clear plexi seems to be the only way to go, since cardboard and coroplast would cause problems with the lights being visible at certain angles.
What about a kammback without sides, just the top? Would that be worth the effort?

[Deezler]

you could just make the kam only on the hatch, such that the lights were still outside it.. but cross angle light visibility would still suffer, and then you have a rough aero "step" for airflow down the sides of the car.

[TomO]

Plexiglas would work best for visibility, and it isn't any harder to work with compared to fiberglass (it's actually a lot easier than FG in my opinion).

[MetroMPG]

Plexi would still obscure the lights due to reflections from some angles.

The best bet is to add lights on the outside, or tail end, or below the Kammback, I'd say.

I'd say the sides of the Kammback are important. There's twice as much area to "taper" on the sides of a typical vehicle than the top.

[Johnny Mullet]

Just install the red LED light strips available at parts stores to the bottom of the kammback.

[aerohead]

The boattail on the T-100 has fenestrations for the existing tailights which can be seen from the rear.Covered with plex,and at a 7-degree angle they are clearly visible from behind and for oblique viewing,there are reflectors at the back for added visibility,and the license plate is there with dual illumination.--------- I don't have a high confidence that an "open" tail would perform close to that of a closed structure.And Sepp has demonstrated that an open-at-the-back structure doesn't perform as well as a completely sealed unit.

[noxman]

Hallo!

I tried install paper kammback on my Punto I. It look strange. I'm not sure good function. I think the air will be making problems in edges.
Final material will be plexiglass. I don't wanna cover the lights because cops.
Angle near light can be radius better.

Any ideas how solve the edges near lights?

[aerohead]

you could cover over the original lights and disable them,providing "new" lights on the extension,powered via a trailer light kit.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by noxman

I tried install paper kammback on my Punto I. It look strange. I'm not sure good function. I think the air will be making problems in edges.

That's a good start, Noxman It looks like you continued the drop angle of the roof, which looks good. If you would like to make sure you have the correct angle, try a level ruler with cardboard triange, as I did in my mod thread. This simple tool also works on the inward angle of the sides.

I personally don't think it looks strange, but most people on the road will. It would be slightly better, in my opinion, if you extended the sides down to the end of the window. This would make it slightly more stable.

Originally Posted by noxman

Final material will be plexiglass. I don't wanna cover the lights because cops.
Angle near light can be radius better.

Any ideas how solve the edges near lights?

Covering them with plexi would be best, but that would definately lead to legal problems in Europe. No covering is allowed, even with translucent materials. Replacing the lights is also pretty much out of the question, since you can't just put in any lights. The law requires that the new lights have a lot of homologations, certificates, etc. Also, covering the lights in such a way that you can still normally use the hatch would take a lot of work.

So, unfortunately, you should probably just work on the top while the sides will be for stability only.

[noxman]

Piwoslaw: Thank you.
A asked several times for dimensions kammback. Nobody answer me

Lot of people have kammback here, can somebody please tell me one important dimension for me?
Slab thickness - i hope it is right word.
I know width and length, but i'm not sure of "slab thickness".

I thinking about 2mm, but don't know if is enough for the down and cross-wind forces.

The plexiglass which i prefer is very expensive, i wanna make a good choice.