PorKen

heinrich

Yes very nice. Now add a contoured dish that wraps around the light a la 2005 Vette.

Stan.Shaw@Excell.Net

I don't want to hijack this thread, but perhaps the lighting experts here can help. For my race car, I would like to put some lights in the driving and/or parking light locations to use, if ever needed, on the track. Street legality is not an issue. One issue is that the bumper is gone, so a mounting point would probably need to be fabricated.

These need not be expensive, a low cost, effective solution is what I am looking for. Thanks!

PorKen

It's raining, so it's tough to tell how the complete beam pattern will look, but even with the wet streets, I have the same light that I would have in dry conditions with the halogens. The more forward, and slightly higher position does give more fill to the sides, which I wanted.

I think I'm still a little conservative with the aiming height, I'll take it up a turn or so, over time, until people start flashing me.

The electrical tape on the cover is to stop the reflection off of the fender in front of the headlight hole. It's smaller now, lower, and stops the light that lit up the sky, and was an eye-burner if you stood in the wrong spot.

I noticed today that the silver paint on the magnesium light surround matches the silver of my S4 rims!

I'm not going to use the Hella turn signals as turn signals, but I am going to put them to the outside of the projectors, with clear bulbs, for parking lights. I may even get fancy, and have them light up when I put it in reverse, like a SAAB.
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Stan,

I would use a bolt-on driving light, mounted behind the cover, shining through the opening. You could reuse the bumper shock mounting holes to attach a bracket for the lights, for example.

glack

That looks so slick. What kind of projector and bulbs are those?

whitefox

IMHO it would look alot better if the bottom of the covers curved towards the nose might give a better light too, looks like the light is hitting the corner of the cover, seems like it would distort the beam...

PorKen

Glenn,

No cover would be best for light output, and might look pretty good too, but I did want to keep a semblance of the stock appearance. That's just me.
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glack,

They are Hella 50mm sealed units. They are surprisingly heavy, as there is no plastic whatsoever, all aluminum, magnesium, and glass. I converted the halogen version to HID, but there is a D2S housing available.


Susquana Motorsports
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whitefox,

I was going to drop the front of the cover, but the step made a good place to put a sheild. The front of the fender is higher than the headlight hole, so stray light from the beam reflects off of the fender and is blinding if you are in the right spot.

If I were to mount the projectors higher, I would have to pull them back, but then the fender cuts off the light to the near sides. The useable 'window' out of the fender is much smaller than you would think by looking at the 9" hole.

The main (useable) part of the projected beam begins at the flat part of the cover. There would be a little more overall light fill if the lamp were completely exposed, like up in the bumper.

PorKen

No wall (pattern) pics, yet.

Here's the trial mesh cover. It actually looks pretty good (if you don't look to close) and gives the cover some lighting. I'll get a tighter weave, in stainless (this is 1/8" chicken wire) for the finished version.

FlyingDog

The glowing headlights look very cool.

Nicole

You will definitely lneed something to cover the area around the light, but you should make sure it won't diffuse the light in a way that it blinds oncoming traffic, or upwards. The latter would make it more difficult for you to see in the rain, and almost impossible for you to see anything in fog. This has been a big issue with early tilted headlights. Not sure what they ended up doing to fix it.

Benton

I'm going to do a lighting setup similar to this for my race car, but without the HID's. Ken, can I purchase some of those formed covers? Nice job on the project.

For the turn signal, I'm going to use a small clear LED that glows orange on each side in a similar location to your signal instead of a big honking signal. Just a thought...

Evil Patrick

Correct me if I'm wrong (again ;-) but those are like, $370 each!

And they're low-beam only?

Troz!

--Evil Patrick
79
82
84 (for sale - cheap - make offer)

heinrich

Ken if you deleted the rearmost flange on the cover the unit could be raised maybe enough to keep it from hitting the front part of the hole? I'd rather have a car-paint-coloured metal pan than chicken wire

heinrich

How about another vacuum-formed part for the tray ....

PorKen

Nicole,

I thought to use the mesh in order to not create reflections to other drivers. I didn't think about the fog and rain aspect! Most newer trays I've seen are focused, with angles that focus the stray light back into the beam.

I'm starting to think about putting a box underneath the whole thing, in order to keep in the unused light. The beams are so bright, there is light leaking out of everywhere, bumper, fender, etc.
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Red,

I have one extra pair of covers. I'll have to have some more made for spares, eventually.

Do you have pics or a link to the blinker you are thinking of using?
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Patrick,

Low beam, but only ~$210 each if you convert the H7 housing with an eBay HID kits. I already had ballasts, so it was $140 each for me.

High beams and fogs will go in the bumper.
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Heinrich,

A body painted vacuum formed tray would be my choice, too. Unfortunately, with white, as Nicole said, the tray is so close to the beam, it would reflect light all over the place.

Cutting off the rear flange is a good idea, I'll take a look at that.

If I bought a new shocks/springs, I could adjust the front end down, which would make aiming easier, too.