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IIRC, US H4 headlights are typically aimed so that, measured from the centerline of the lens, the beam dips 2" over a length of 25 ft
there are minimum headlight height requirements (center of lens), in CA for example min. 24" above the ground.
so measure your current pop-up light centerline, measure the height to your bumper lights and trig it out to get the same beam height @ 25ft.
something you might try if you maintain your pop-ups, go get a 6-8" LED light bar (for "off road use only") from ebay and mount it under your pop-up cover. so when the lights are "up" you have these insanely bright laserbeams pointed down the road.
i had 2x 8" LED bars behind the "grille" of my 944 for a few years and they were powerful enough to use as primary headlights.
Has anyone either deleted their headlight completely and/or just use the bumper lights instead, with perhaps a housing or bulb upgrade? The reason I ask, the custom built widebody I have came with either 944 or 911 slant nose pop ups and the motors/mechanisms are very problematic and the illumination is horrible. I've tried several different lens/bulb combinations and have found nothing that gives me anything much better. On top of that, the motors to raise the lights work whenever the hell they feel like. I'd like to either replace them with fixed lights possibly, or just pull all power to them and just run with the bumper lights if they can provide good enough lighting. I'd like to get to something resembling modern lighting performance. Even the cheapest of new cars has far superior headlights compared to what I currently have.
One issue, as you can see in the pics, is that the slant nose fenders might cut off any fixed light solution due to the fact that the buckets aren't flush with the front bumper, so I'm not sure I can mount anything inside that would be high enough to allow the light clear the front of the fender/bumper.
If anyone just runs with their bumper lights, did you do any upgrade on the housings or bulbs?
Any suggestions as to what to do with this?
I just want to pop my head in here and say that the slantnose 928 is probably the coolest p-car have ever seen. Any chance you have a part number on the installed headlamp unit? Curious as to what was used. Mazda maybe?
They used the lids off a 1st Gen Mazda RX7 and welded in the support brackets. They used cheap foglight projector lenses. I might just replace them with Hella 60mm high and low projectors with H3 or HB3 bulbs, if I can get the motor to raise them working consistently.
They used the lids off a 1st Gen Mazda RX7 and welded in the support brackets. They used cheap foglight projector lenses. I might just replace them with Hella 60mm high and low projectors with H3 or HB3 bulbs, if I can get the motor to raise them working consistently.
IIRC, that's what the 930 slantnose conversion guys use, though I have heard that they can get a bit bouncy while driving down the road. I do wonder if that's a more install oriented problem rather than a problem with the actual lights themselves.
Revisiting this. We made a late night Taco Bell run at SITM after the power went out everywhere and the drive was frighteningly dark.
Here are my issues:
1. The RX7 motors are problematic. I've replaced them both once already and one has failed again.
2. The don't raise high enough to illuminate far in front of the car. If I try to mount them higher, then they don't close completely.
3. They are unstable and bounce/shake too much. I can watch the lids rise up and down at highway speeds.
4. The custom cut of the buckets sits too high on the fender, so the lower part of the beam is cut off. (see the pictures of the bucket earlier in this thread).
5. Due to the supercharger setup, the radiator was moved forward and the stock headlight bar was removed and I don;'t think it can be refitted. Due to that and the custom cut of the headlight bucket, I don't think I can go back to a stock setup.
I bought 60mm Hella projectors high beam and low beam lenses with HB3 bulbs. They are better than the cheap fog projectors that were in there, but not sure if they're the best for this. They have a weird cutoff or light pattern to them, though. I'll post a pic of that tomorrow.
I feel like I have 2 realistic options. Either permanently mounted lights that stick well above the fender and cover them with some custom enclosure or rely on something in the bumper to be my headlights.
I know the 2nd option isn't optimal, since they sit low and won't shine out as far as fender mounted lights, but they should still be much better than what I have now. So, I'm looking for advice on how to implement this.
Are the Hella projector lenses and those HB3 bulbs good enough or should I consider something else? Halogen? HID? or ???? Should I modify the projector lenses to be used with different bulb types?
How hard is it to change up what is contained in the bumper lights? I'm pretty ignorant on the way lighting works, ie bulb position, light refraction, etc.
Do I need to move the headlight wiring from the fender lights to the bumper lights. I know the bumper wiring works properly with the high/low position on the headlight switch, but will the voltage be appropriate for a headlight setup vs a fog/driving light setup?
I greatly appreciate any and all help with this. It's been a constant pain in my *** and I'd like to fix it once and for all and move on to other things.
HID or LED bulbs in projector housings are going to be your best bet for the low beam as far as cutoffs go.
Have you considered other headlight motors like ones off an MR2? They could be more reliable than the RX7 ones.
Even if the headlight motors are rock solid reliable, they just don't raise high enough for all of the beam to clear the front of the bucket/fender and the angle doesn't shine far down the road. There's no real way to aim them any better due to the way the lenses have to be mounted.
I believe HID and LED require self-leveling mechanisms so as not to inadvertently blind oncoming drivers with these more powerful lights.
Sounds like there are two cruxes to the problem: 1) no room for the light bar if going for the stock setup and 2) placement of the non-stock setup is too low/too far back.
A possible solution to crux #1 is to develop a different mechanism that doesnt require the bar to connect the two sides. Simplest could be an adaptation of the hood mechanism using cables and hydraulic pistons (and similarly requiring manual closing (lights down)). If you want to keep your custom widened fenders however, you would need to graft back in much of the stock set up (including stock light openings) minus the light bar and connecting parts as part of the solution.
I am not sure how to address crux #2 if the 60mm halogens still get blocked by the fender, other than the obvious of coming up with a different mechanism that positions the entire light assembly higher up and/or further forward when in the "up" position yet still creates a covered look when in the down position (a look that I find very appealing).
Edit: Re: headlights in the foglight area, look for a 2006 thread by darkside called "Bertha is home (pics)" for a foglight area lighting solution. From memory and familiarity with that area, I believe he used modern light assemblies targeted for 94-99 GMC vehicles (Suburban, Tahoe). I believe Bill Shaw also did something like this.
Last edited by hernanca; 06-06-2018 at 04:31 PM.
Reason: Added info.
STOP! The bumper lights alone are terrible solution - don't go there. They will be worse for projection down the road by nature of their location.
The cover mechanisms don't seem to work very well - investigate that. Better hinge (compound?) and better stops. You should really be able to get better lift and more stability at the up position.
It will be work - but go that direction - at least there is cheese down that hole.Just look to change out for a totally different (but stock for a volume car) mechanism.
What else has a high lift requirement? - something low at the front - so look there and investigate how they work. You really want something that lifts up at the front AND the back as it opens - (just more lift at the front)...
Revisiting my headlight situation and had some thoughts for a solution. Does anyone have experience with linear actuators? My thought is to replace the traditional window motor type lift with a linear actuator that either pushes straight up the necessary 5"-6", or pushes horizontally and then has some mechanism to convert the horizontal movement to vertical movement. In this picture you can see the thin bar going across the bottom. I think I can attach an actuator directly there, or some part of the mechanism and attache the actuator straight back in the bucket to push towards the front with the mechanism raising the lid vertically. I am also thinking to have a spring on each side to provide some strength so the headlights don't bounce around. I am considering replacing those 2 hella projector lenses with a 4x6 h4 lens.
The 1st problem I see with mounting it straight up and down is that, when closes there is only 2" clearance between that thin bar and the bottom of the bucket and I haven't found an actuator that is only 2" tall and can raise 5"-6", unless it telescopes.. I could probably attach it to the actual lid further back to account for the clearance problem and the height of the actuator housing.
The problem I have with mounting it horizontally is that I don't know what mechanism would convert horizontal to vertical and would need some suggestions as to how to accomplish that.
01-15-2018, 11:59 AM
