Matt H

The thread on headlights got me thinking. How much crap would I remove from my 951 if I switched to fixed headlights. Yeah, I know they arent much to look at but the Cd would have to go down not having the headlights up and you could use projector beam lights (I guess, lighting is not my thing).

SO, I ask, who has done this, do you like it? How much did it cost?

ICESHARK - can you make the fixed position lights bright? The 944s have AWFUL lighting (as you know).

Any ideas?

Please, no responses on Cibie H4s, I can read about that in the searches, unless it is pertinent to the question at hand.
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afx

From all the posts I have read about this, all you will need to buy to get them working is 2 peices from GT racing: The clear plastic cover, and the holder for the bulbs.

It seems that from most all the posts about it, the lighting is pretty awfull that comes out of it.

tifosiman

I am going to do this over the winter as well, getting the GT racing buckets and covers. You need to source the headlight and mounting/adjustment hardware from a jetta (??year??). RageII on this board has done this.

The general consensus is that it is a compromise, due to the position of the light, that the lighting won't be as good and a bit refracted due to the cover.

I don't drive the car at nite much at all, and really like the look (and the weight savings), so that is not a concern to me.

I know that you save a lot of weight by deleting the motor, armatures, etc and also free up a lot of room in the engine bay..

Hope this turns out to be a good, informative thread!

Tifo

Ken D

GT Racing put out a revised kit this year which includes the headlights and headlight trim.
Anyone know if you need to fabricate brackets? Or is it a true bolt-on conversion?

Matt H

I dont know why you couldnt use PIAA projectors or some other form of projector. Since mine is a 951 I could use the Euro driving light to supplement it. Onve we determine what is needed I would love to know how you mount them. I dont LOVE the look but I want the rest of the headlight crap GONE.
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Flying V

I have some comments on the GT Racing kit and my solution on the "Headlight Upgrade" thread...
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...threadid=95813

Flying V

This is a summary of the info I posted on the “Headlight Upgrade” thread… sorry for the duplication:

Ok, here's the story: I needed to remove the light motor and linkage because of some other modifications. So, I could drive with the lights up all the time or look for something else. I ordered the light bucket kit from GT Racing (Lexan covers & buckets) but couldn't find headlights or brackets to hold them.

The buckets are $295 the Lexan is $175 and the Headlight kit is $175. I searched for a long time before I spent the money. I was disappointed in the buckets. The gel coat is on the back, which makes no sense at all. The Lexan covers are the best part of the kit. However, they don't exactly fit the buckets without some tweaking. The headlight kit was a huge disappointment and I would have sent it back demanding a refund if I wouldn't have waited so long to install. For $600+ dollars you get no screws to hold anything together and no instructions on how to mount any of it. You might consider just getting the covers and experimenting behind them with the money saved...

I built special brackets to hold the frames in place. In my opinion, they looked terribly cheap and were pretty much useless at night. The majority of the light pattern was in the bucket not on the road. The headlight kit was an incredible waste of money and would be overpriced at $40.

I've played with different combinations of lights and found my current combo to be good for night driving. The center lights are the brights, which need the bulbs to be changed (have the bulbs). I'm not a fan of the imitation "super white" or in other words blue-bulb coatings. I painted the back of the lexan to cover up the brackets holding the lights in place. I outlined the area with 1/4" black and the rest painted to match the body color.

This was a Ton of work. I certainly wasn't going for the rice look. The lights were built for functionality first, looks second. I also prefer the "no light" look, but would rather have this that the big lights up all the time. Now that it all works well, I need to disassemble everything, change the bulbs and reinstall permanently.

User 41221

I have been thinking about this same thing. I am familiar enough with the GT Racing parts to belive that is not going to be the best solution for us, and it takes a good bit of work to get the GT stuff mounted in a functional manner.

What I would like to see is a decent glass or CF bucket that would mount some projectors in it. On top of that, we would get a fixed clear cover (ala GT Racing, altho those lenses tend to break rather easiely if they get hit with rocks and debris), that ideally would have a solid cover that mounts over it when the lights aren't in use. If you really want to go crazy, maybe rig up a motorized cover that slides up when the lights are turned on, and retracts over the fixed position when the lights are off.

Probably not even worth dreaming about, but I agree, the flip up lights are not my ideal solution either.

Regards,

Matt H

Scott- lets work on this together. I tired calling GT racing but they didnt answer the phone or return my calls. I dont mind buying the covers but if the other parts can be made for less (and in glass I am sure they can be) and can be made with mounting points then why not. With all the ingenuity on this list there is no reason we cant come up with something.
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Red1

I'll be watching this with interest too.

Matt H

Dont watch, help :>) If you come up here in November we can work on it. I will get my father-in-law to come up too, he in an engineer and I bet he can do it.
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Red1

I could still come up the weekend of the 15th. Becki can't make it, but she'd like to be rid of me for a day or two.

Are the tires going to come in? I forgot to ask the other night.

Matt H

I am rounding up one more, you know how inventory goes.
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bloodraven

I like the idea of sliding covers...and I am not a big fan of pop up lights either....I like this idea!!!

tifosiman

I'd be happy to do anything I can do to help. One thing I have always wondered about----------Does GT make the covers to fit the n/a or the 951? I see only one listed, I would assume it was for the n/a. But they are different shapes..............

Tifo