kbull

Butters--are you sure your nose panel isn't removable? Mine was held on with 6 screws and two hex bolts. Is yours welded on or something? I found the removal DIY on Clark's Garage.

odurandina--I doubt it's legal, per se, but I've also been driving around with "illegal" 90/130W halogen bulbs in E-code housings for the last 3 years and have never been flashed by oncoming traffic or pulled over for them. These control the light cutoff and spread even better than my old ones did, so I doubt anyone will care. Bi-Xenon lights are fairly common in my area, so they don't stand out too much.

Arominus--I can say they're clearly better than my 90/130W halogen lights. Is the improvement worth what I spent on them though?? That's a matter of personal preference and choice. Like I said earlier, these can also be done well for about $200. I've been thinking about these for quite some time now, and I happened to get a good tax return this year, so this turned out to be my spring break project while home from school for a week.

krystar--Thanks and good points! It's extremely important to get the aiming and rotational alignment correct. Fortunately, for my retro, a lot of measuring and OCD eyeballing was sufficient. Because these are round, they can be rotated in the housings, so getting the rotation 100% perfect before installing wasn't absolutely vital for me. You are correct though and if I did this again, I would definitely mount and aim them first before sealing everything up. I wish I could've used screws/nuts to mount them, like you suggested, but I couldn't think of a way to do that without making an adapter bracket out of sheet metal and I don't have the tools or expertise to do that.

kbull

BEAM SHOTS!!! (And these pics really don't do these lights proper justice)







Sorry that last one is a little blurry. I put it at the end here, but it was actually the first pic I took. I promise it's a sharp cutoff.

Butters944

Omg looks great! Don't you think that sort of brightness would bother other drivers on the road?

The early cars had welded on front panels..

kbull

Thats too bad. Honestly though, it wouldn't prevent you at all from doing this install. I only took off my nose panel so I could mount my ballasts discreetly out of sight. You could easily choose another location that would be more accessible.
And these are very bright, but they do not blind other drivers if they're aimed properly. That's what the sharp cutoff ensures. And since our cars are very low already, you're incredibly unlikely to give other drivers glare as it is. Haven't been flashed so far!

Hollywood D

That sure is a nice upgrade. Strong work.

Type_LT

Nice job!

Paulyy

nice job i must say,

1 negative: it looks funny. because of the small lens and the larger outer lens.

but man that is some quality work!

That globe with a GTS headlight (non popup) would look so good!

86 951 Driver

I really want to make a setup like this. It uses less energy which is always good.

krystar

do remember that while digital ballasts are only rated at 35W (or 55W if u get the ULTRA bright ones), the older analog ballasts takes more juice on initial ignition of the bulb. do not run analog ballasts on original wiring. u'll either fry your headlight switch or possibly a wire. use a relay harness tied directly to the battery triggered by the original wiring.

kbull

Paulyy--I agree, it isn't the most visually attractive solution, but I don't have the expertise necessary to be comfortable with installing GTS-style buckets and getting them to the level of quality I would be happy with. This way, I can keep the stock look when they're off, while having modern OEM-level performance when turned on. At night, I'm much more concerned about lighting performance than how they look on the vehicle. Honestly, the pop-ups look funny anyway. If I had any skills with fiberglass, I'd love to make a GTS-style enclosure that's somewhat modeled after the Ferrari F-360 or Corvette C6.

Krystar--you're exactly right about that. The running voltage of the ballasts is 35W, which is great, but they draw more power on start-up to warm the bulbs up quickly, so a relayed harness is required. I was fortunate in that I already had the Rennbay one installed from my old overwattage halogens.

OakRZB

Excellent work. Good ballast choice - how fast is warm-up? I could never get a straight answer on the warm-up times on their Morimoto ballasts.

I run their blazer 5000k kit on my Lincoln.

Next I'll be retrofitting their H3 kit into my 968 fogs. Next to zero fabrication but the fogs will probably outshine my stock headlights.

V2Rocket

good thing they hide away then

odurandina

great road pics.... i'm also going all in in the next few days.

my project will be here (w/ pics)...

https://rennlist.com/forums/968-foru...ml#post9408112

Mike1982

I did this EXACT same upgrade to my Jeep Cherokee and LOVE the light output! I even had a few people at work ask me to do it to their lights, until I explain the whole process, time put in and money.... lol

kbull

OakRZB--The Matsu****as warm up very quickly. They're pure white the instant they're turned on, and gradually grow brighter and lose a bit of the blue tint in the 5-10 seconds that follow. Performance is exactly what you would expect from an OEM system. What ballasts do you use?

odurandina--that looks like a great project! I'm blown away by the ambition there. I'll follow that thread.