Headlight conversion

[lali]

Was thinking about converting from popups to erm.... non-popup headlights....

has anyone else done this or know of anyone who has?

 

[944Turbo]

Have thought about it but not done much more than that. There are a couple of threads here
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/showthread.php?t=222159&highlight=lights

and semi pop ups

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/showthread.php?t=215550&page=1&pp=15&highlight=lights

(unfortunately the moderator killed that one)

Tony

 

[Peter Empson]

Hi,
I've also been looking at doing this, but have decided to wait till I start getting the bits together for a respray next year. My intention is to go with Carrera GTS style ones. There were kits available in the UK a while back but concerns over the light output (they were based on Metro lamps from memory) and the hardiness of the plastic covers are areas that I'll need to satisfy myself about before committing surgery - after all my car has to withstand all year round (ab)use and track days so they have to be both functional and practical.
Best regards,
Peter.

 

[chrisdenton]

A couple of months ago I asked Dan Wray about the feasibility of fitting twin lamps into the pop ups. He wasn't to keen on the idea but had some advice on fixed lights

Hi Chris,
I assume you mean 2 lenses in each headlight bucket for a total of 4 lenses.
Yes, that is a project that has been around for 5 years or more. Many have tried and everyone has failed for one reason or another as far as I know. I even looked into it myself about 4 years ago and never went forward on the project as it was too expensive and really won't work much better than single lens round upgrades, even in HID. If you want to do it, do it for cosmetic styling reasons. Except you won't see the twin lenses unless the buckets are up.
There are some people working on replacing the whole front header panel and pop up buckets with fixed headlights. I believe the only company that has ever done that is Stroseck in Europe. That is very expensive also by the time you get it all said and done.
I wouldn't do it myself but if you want to try, use the Hella 90mm headlight lens. Those arge good lenses and you can get them in both halogen and HID.
It will be a REALLY tight fit but should work.
Regards,
Dan Wray

----- Original Message -----
From: <chris@expd.uk.com>
To: <wraydan@msn.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 6:20 PM
Subject: headlight upgrade

Hi Ice Shark
Ive seen somewhere a modification to 944 headlights that give you twin lamps
in the pop ups. Do you know anything about this and is it worth doing?

This is the first time I'd had any contact with Dan and unfortunately will be the last but maybe if someone could get this to work it would be a fitting tribute.

 

[lali]

Ok guys have just found this...

http://www.gt-racing.com/catalog/GTR944.pdf

Im going to drop them an email to see if they do a RHD version?

 

[Peter Empson]

I read on Rennlist that the GT Racing ones are difficult to fit properly but it appears all after market ones will throw up their own challenges. You might also want to contact Clubautosport for more information about the ones I think they offer.
Best regards,
Peter.

 

[Fen]

I must admit I do wonder what the point is. OK they look different (not necessarily better) but I think most struggle to throw out even as much light as the pop-ups. All our cars are plenty powerful enough for the road with the lights up to make no appreciable difference and on track they aren't up. I guess they may be lighter in weight though.

What I have considered is something in the bumper like someone on Rennlist has done, but I suspect they would be too low to meet construction and use regs.

 

[Peter Empson]

Hi Fen,
The weight reduction is the main reason I was considering it, but I have to admit I like the look too.
Best regards,
Peter.

 

[944Turbo]

Weight and extra underbonnet space would be my reasoning, although you dont save either with the semi pop-ups - I did actually quite like the look of those but not sure I would want to spend money on them unless the light performance was much improved.
I like the smooth action of the pop ups but I dislike the 'sad frown' they produce (same with early MX5's) they remind me of Marvin from the tv version of HHGTTG.
Tony

 

[Guest]

www.clubautosport.co.uk do a kit, but it's bloody expensive (around £400 for a "fabricated" bucket), and honestly, the quality is absolute rubbish. I've heard the same of the gt racing kit, but it seems that they've now added a load of mounting brackets in their kit, so i suppose it might make it easier (but I don't know of anyone who's done it so can't say for sure!)

GT won't supply a rhd kit as they can't get rhd e-coded lamps cheap or readily enough, so you'll need to get the kit minus the lamps, and find something that fits afterwards. BTW, the clubautosport kit used old metro lamps!

If you really really want to do it, i'd suggest the gt kit, and expect a lot of hassle fitting it (as long as you have a lot of time on your hands, i don't suppose that matters!), and maybe a load of extra cash to get your hands on some decent lamp units to put in (bear in mind a pair of metro lamps will be a fiver from a scrappy, or you can put in qhad hella 90mm HID's at £300 a lamp!).

Last but not least, expect to pay out for a few cover sets too. the covers are perspex, and with the weathering and proximity to the hotlamp, they will "yellow" quite quickly. either that, or spend yet more cash to have some glass covers made up.......

I guess I spent more time looking at this than I wanted! []

 

[lali]

Ok..how about binning the headlights all together and having nothing? Is there a way that you can certify "daylight hours" only driving?

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: lali

Ok..how about binning the headlights all together and having nothing? Is there a way that you can certify "daylight hours" only driving?

nope.

you may be able to replace the driving lights with headlights, but you'd need to check on the minimum legal level of the light. (I think it'd be too low)

 

[Fen]

That's what I said in post #6.

What about a removable light pod like the rally boys have - take it off on the track.

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Fen
....What about a removable light pod ......

That is so simple that it borders on absolute brilliance. (quite appropriate really)

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: Fen

That's what I said in post #6.

I'll learn to read one day! []

What about a removable light pod like the rally boys have - take it off on the track.

Brilliant, but flawed. (is that the idea or just Fen? [] )

IIRC, the headlight needs to be permanently attached to the car. not a prob for the MOT, but if a rozzer pulls you........ (and then there's the insurance aspect, but after the other thread, I'm not going there!)

 

[Fen]

My suggestion was slightly throwaway, but how is bolting a pod on the car all the time it is used on the road different from the current lights which are after all bolted to the car? So long as it's not too Mickey Mouse then the fact it can be removed shouldn't be a problem. It's not all that uncommon for track cars to have a headlight temporarily removed in favour of cold air induction.

 

[Guest]

Fen, get your tongue out of your cheek suggesting things like that! I'd love to fit a row of Cibies on a roof bar as headlights! []

A pod a-la rally car would have to contain auxiliary lights as they could be removed "easily". don't ask what would count as easily as I don't know. I would just imagine they would count as extra lights, and as such not be counted by an MOT, or DVLA rep as "headlights". If you were to "permanently" fix them, then that's another question.... They'd have to effectively be in the same place as the existing lights as if mounted further inboard, they'd again be counted as aux lights.

I suppose in that case, why not weld up the brackets for the existing lights, and dump the mechanism? with a bit of fibreglass work, you could probably make them blend in a bit more...... (or even use Future's lower quad conversion and perma-mount them!?)

 

[Fen]

I think it would have to be 2 pods mounted where the original ones are, probably either with a no headlights badge panel or one with fixed standard covers underneath. You could probably use the original pods removed from the car and with a bit of bracketry fabricated, probably with tabs sticking out the bottom passing through holes in the badge panel and bolted underneath to another bit of fabricated bracket. I'd expect you could use split pin fasteners or similar so long as the pods can't move around. That way they could only be removed with the bonnet open to get to the fasteners.

 

[Fen]

If I was going to go with a 924GTS-esque conversion I'd use small projectors from something like a Puma. I can't help thinking the original Porsche idea was to have lights that could be used without being popped up in endurance racing rather than to save weight, which suggests to me they were more bothered about drag than kgs.

 

[Guest]

what about the Strosek conversion kit? I don't care for it myself, but........