Crunky

Okay, So I decided to rplace my fog lamp bulbs, and while I had it apart I noticed that it would be fairly simple to take out the shield inside the light housing to allow the light to shine through the center of the lense. But i think that the lense is also designed such that it creates a wider spread beam compared to regualr driving or headlamps, and I'm sure oncoming traffic would really enjoy my fog lamps in their face. So, now that thats not really an option, does anyone know of an aftermarket kit for the 944 to turn the fogs into driving lamps? Or anyone know of a shop that I can send my lamp assemblies into and have them fabricate new lenses to turn them into driving lights?

FRporscheman

Why not get a euro bumper? Then you could have both.

Crunky

I know, but Euro's are fairly rare to find, and when I do see them are quite expensive. I have been thinking, and I was already planning on shaving and snubbing my bumper. I may just look for another US bumper to play with and cut out holes and fabricate my own light set-up on it. The stock US bumper should be cheap enough to fool with, I hope.

SoCal Driver

Some states are starting to ticket those with bright "fog" lamps that drive against traffic with them on. Personally I wish I could shoot some of them out that come at me.

Crunky

I hear yah, before I moved to Tucson I had to commute 25 miles eachway to work on a rural 1 lane highway. Every night on my way home I would be surrounded by jerks in their stupid lifted trucks, both behind me and oncoming traffic, with their bright lights and fogs on, could't see a damn thing. Thats why I'm worried about removing the shield in the fog lamp, I want an actuall conversion, I don't want to be blinding anyone with my lights, unless they're one of the A-holes I just desribed.

SoCal Driver

You have to leave them as true fog lamps with the shield and 55 watt bulbs or replace them with driving lights. Being in the open desert I don't think you run into much fog. Driving lights would be more benificial. Taking the shield out and puting 100 watts in will brighten up the road. Will also over head the plastic housing a bit.

Tony K

Go ahead, take the plunge and buy a good pair of driving lights!

Cutting the shield out of a fog light will just give you a fog light with a little bit of a messy forward throw of light. It won't aid in your driving appreciably.

Trust me, a good pair of driving lights is worth every cent. For the size/space of the 944, I went with Cibie Series 35 (aka "Airport"). If you look around, you can buy them for decent prices (directly from Valeo USA, the occasional vendor, and of course eBay). They recently jumped up in price; they were around $50-60 a piece for the longest time, but now they are $60-80 a piece. Still worth it. Used ones can sometimes be snatched on eBay for $10-20 if you check every day.

Here are my Cibies fitted to the 944:




Here they are on full blast. In this photo, the HIGH BEAMS are on. They are Hellas. The Cibies throw so much light that they drown out the high beams; looking ahead down the road, you can turn the headlights off entirely and you will barely notice the difference.



I spent a lot of time figuring exactly (to the millimeter)where to position the lights so that they would not interfere with the wide beam of the fog lights, not block air to the radiator, be fully adjustable, and not be too obtrusive.


The only pain in the *** is aiming them. The bolt is inside the bumper. Getting them perfect (and they really need to be) involves a lot of trial and error, because you have to keep removing and reinstalling the bumper just to make a tiny correction. You can't just slip the bumper on and off, because its angle changes when you tighten it. And the slightest change in any direction on the light is a big change down the road.

Don't forget to have at least 1/2 tank of gas and one (or two) person in the car when you aim them. If not, the beams will point too high when you are actually in the car.

I have mine wired so they can only come on with the high beams, but I have a switch in the blank next to the fog light switch that enables me to turn them off so I can run the high beams without the driving beams. This is because most of the time the covers are on, and I only take them off and actually use the driving lights when I know in advance I am going to be in the middle of nowhere at night. (or on a road rally! )

Email me if you want to know more about the wiring, relays, etc.

Regards,

Tony K

GOBOGIE

Nice look Tony.

Funn944

I actually took off the little sheild inside the fog lights, put in 100 watt bulbs, and new lenses that weren't scuffed up and pitted, and aimed them down quite a bit. I drive with only those lights all the time, never have a problem with people flashing me that my lights are in their eyes, and they are quite bright. Haven't had any problems with them getting too hot. I have the Fiberwerks front bumper so the lights are mounted higher than on a normal n/a valance.

Thom

Where are the driving lights located on a stock US-spec 944 NA ?

PuttingThePoorBackInPorsche

There aren't any. The only cars that had driving lights were the Euro-spec cars.

Techno Duck

I was going to suggest exactly what Tony did, buy a seperate pair of actual driving lights. You can take out the stock foglights, which are almost useless in my opinion except as a mediocre daytime running light or dush / dawn light and put in a more powerful light as Tony did, this would preserve the factory look. There is plenty of space to fit something in there also.

Though i have no experience getting any euro parts from the UK, it seems that you can obtain a euro front or euro rear bumper off ebay for roughly less than US $200. That is if your willing to risk a non-delivery item or wait a week or two for it to arrive. Thats really not that bad compared to what people are selling euro body parts in the US for.. a local guy was selling a euro front bumper for $350 and would not budge on price. I could 'probobably' get one through eBay with some risk for $150-200.

With that i hope to get the euro driving lights and get a better foglight in the stock valance location. This way i could theoretically throw out ~600 watts of lighting power with Icesharks wire harness.. 100watt headlights, 100watt fogs and 100 watt driving lights... hehheh, i hope the alternator can handle that .

FRporscheman

If one were to replace the factory fog lights with high-wattage driving lights, this would draw more current and melt some wires. If you plan on doing this you should also install some relays. The 944 routes all head light and fog light current through the dash switch!