headlights

[Dave Adams]

when i get round to taking my car to bits this year (now the Quantum is on the road) I have been wondering what to do about the front end of the car, especially as the headlights are knackered and need replacing. To be honest i have seen very few cycle guard modifications that look good on Phaetons because of the shape and height of the bonnet and nose cone.

But i am thinking of cutting out the headlight pods completely and making the mud guard look as if they were never there. and buying some HID projector lamps and making some holders, either both sides of the nose cone or inside the grille area, hidden. OR making some eye shaped pods to sit on the mudguards for the smaller lamps, what do you lot think?

[Dave Adams]

You can see how the wings would look with out the headlight pods, and its a good look methinks. I think I will use the figure 8 lights on little brackets either side of the nose cone close to the front of the car, so they sit at about level with the nose cone top, or so that the centre of the lights is level with the nosecone top.

[0rw6bdt01g9w5]

yeah could look ace... got for it!

 

what about mounting the fig8 lamps diagonally for a bit of go-faster look (if lenses allow)?

 

 

 

[Adrian Southgate]

I like the single 5" and double 5" but not sure about the shaped ones.

Twin lamps and clamshells will probably be my route when I eventually get the garage roof fixed and the phaeton back in there to fiddle with.

The twin beam horizontal units would buit a beneto or sierra.. Daryl? what do you think?

I have the S4 chassis with a green S3 tub, the red bits of S4 shell of ebay the other day, black clamshells courtesy of someone affiliated with our club but a jago owner..

Probably looking at sierra 4x4 mechanicals though as I want to try my hand at a 4wd but keeping it low like Tom's, road going 4wd not off road. That'll keep until the better half lets me have a sierra or beneto to play with.

[Dave Adams]

It looks like i will be removing the headlamp pods from my car and rebuilding the wings to look as if they were never there, the headlamps will be hidden in the front nose cone (easily at the legal minimum height for dip beams at 500mm to centre of light) These are what i have found, they look ideal for my purposes......

 

http://furoreproducts.co.uk/projector-headlights/39-combined-dip-ma...

 

They are only 50mm wide (65mm) at the widest!

[Adrian Southgate]

He will have a queue at the door Steve..

The repairs in my back bumper have held for 6 months so I can fix all the other little bits on the legerra the same way and maybe even paint it (if the damn rain EVER stops)

[Dave Adams]

so what method did you use to repair the rear bumper then Adrian?

[Adrian Southgate]

Machine out the old gelcoat along the cracks with a mini drill and a rough burr tool, soften the edges of the crack and matting underneath with acetone then use pure resin to fill the gap. Over fill the gap and sand flat with a block and 80 grit.

It was the result of my mrs trying to fit her mondeo towbar onto my Legerra backwards, not surprisingly she failed. What looked like a small crack on the surface of the bumper went right through and split the inner skin of the matting and spread out 18 inches across the flat part of the bumper. I added a couple of layers of matting inside once it had cured just to seal it all in.

I've got one star fracture in the drivers side sill and will take some photo's while I am repairing that one as its a bit smaller and easier to document.

[Adrian Southgate]

I have thought about the lights on both the Legerra and the Phaeton.

The Phaeton was quite an easy choice as I really like the look of Mick Joyce's Phaeton and have been given a set of clamshells, the bonnet is cut about anyway as it has a 12" hole in the middle for a huge air filter so major surgery there followed by a quad light setup.

The Old legerra will keep its original fittings as to remove them would alter the character of the car and I want one thats pretty much original.

The second one is already altered to popups (supra) so just need a set of projectors to fit into the supra housings. It will probably mean the lights will popup too far and the opening angle will have to be altered.

[Dave Adams]

I have been looking further into this, I knew side lights were regulated but not the lateral position of dipped beam, only the height. But it appears you may be right.

[Dave Adams]

my MOT manual only gives the minimum height, how ever my SVA manual (now out of date because its now IVA) does give the maximum distance for the side lights from the side of the car and the dip beam distance as being 400mm, so a rethink will be required...still going to get rid of the headlight pods and do something.....maybe the figure 8 headlights either side of the nose cone.

[Dave Adams]

Here is what the C+U regulations say about lamp position:

(Only dip beams are regulated as such, main beam lights are not required to conform with the min/max heights lateral position except that they must not be outboard of the dip beams. there is no angles of visibility requirements for dip/main beams.)

Unlike other lamps on a car that form a pair on a car, there is no requirement for headlamps to be of similar brightness. (odd i know) (just rechecked this...it is required that they are similar in brightness, but it does not form part of the test for IVA????) i am confused.

Lamp/reflector lateral position is measured from the extreme outer edge of the vehicle (disregarding tyres, mirrors lamps and reflectors) to the edge of the illuminated area (or reflective surface on a reflector) nearest that side of the vehicle. Lamp/reflector verticle position is measured from the ground.

In the case of the minimum height to the lower edge of the illuminated area (reflective surface on a reflector) (See below)

In the case of the maximum height to the top edge of the illuminated area (reflective surface on a reflector)

In the case of a dipped beam headlamp the minimum height is measured to the apparent trace of the beam cut-off on the lens. (in practice, half way up the lens)

So:

The headlights have to be not more than 400mm from the edge of the car and a minimum of 500mm from the road surface, a maximum of 1200mm from the road surface.

 

Hope all this helps lads.

[Dave Adams]

The requirement for the lights to be of similar brightness seems to apply only to Gas discharge lamps (HID lamps) not "normal" bulbs, really confusing, it would be just simpler to make sure they are both the same.

 

Oh, it not allowed to have more than two headlamps that dip, but you may have more lamps on main beam.