the_glass_man

iTrader: (2)

Jim could you make it a two off set???
I was thinking along the same lines as you. A 360 looking pod and cover. You've got the contacts and resources to make it happen!!!

jimlab

I'm still working towards a design that lends itself to "mass" production, so anything is possible.

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

The added fog light is a great idea for the non-touring guys but I would rather see an air hole like the RE Amemiya replacement pod.

usmcjsy

iTrader: (1)

I just wanna say what a way to ruin a car, I mean really I had a LT1 in my S-15 Jimmy that I swapped in and what a junk motor. My freind had a 94 Z28 with one to they are nothin but problems. I had a piston crack and a head give out. Also They dont wanna stay sealed up always seems to be somthing leaking. Anyway good luck with your headlights. I just wanna say for the record dont wind the LT1 past 5500 rpm, oh and enjoy the 2 bolt main and hyperutic pistons LOL. Damn those are junk motor.

jimlab

You are aware that this is (or was, at least) a thread on headlights?

Who were the comments above intended for?

jimlab

I wasn't particularly thinking of touring guys, non-touring guys, R1 guys, or anyone in particular. The fog light would be functional, but more importantly would improve the aesthetics of the pod. A single light pod looks a bit odd based on the renderings my cousin has done.

There are enough places to pull air from without knocking a hole in a headlight.

wptrx7

with the hella lights the main reason for cutting is becuase of the high beam for lamp, right? could you use 4 low beam fog lamps instead and forget about adding high beams? if lighting is that much improved why have the high beams?

luigi

jimlab

Actually, the high beam is shorter than the low beam...



The main problem is their height, length is almost secondary. However, in order to mount them far enough back that they will fit beneath a smooth cover, the length does become an issue, especially with the low beam light. There simply isn't enough room unless the support structure is cut.





It isn't absolutely necessary to have the high beam, but their elimination wouldn't gain you anything, since they're the shorter of the two lights. Also, like any low beam, even a properly focused DOT legal low beam, you can easily out-drive your low beam lighting capability at night. Doubling them up wouldn't increase the distance illuminated, unfortunately.

Eliminating the low beam light might gain you a little space, at least as far as depth is concerned, but then you wouldn't have a decent fill pattern in front of the car and you'd be blinding oncoming traffic. If there's an ultimate solution, it hasn't been built yet... but I'm working on it.

C-West - bulges above hood, uses cheap CATZ driving/fog lights (not legal), poor lighting, non-HID upgradeable, but an excellent fit, and most people like the look. Tinted pod cover aggravates the lighting problem. Fairly expensive for what you're getting, too.

East Bear - two bulges above the hood, no sleek cover, many people don't like the look. Comes with useless IPF fog lights like the RE Amemiya kit used to, but with a bit of work, they can be replaced with Hella lights... which will protrude too far from the cover unless the brace behind the lights is cut, like the RE Amemiya/Rotary Extreme kits. The best thing that can be said about the East Bear kit is that it's cheap.

RE Amemiya - requires cutting the car, for one. Used to come with IPF fog lights, but I believe that they finally upgraded the lighting. Still not DOT legal, as far as I know. Pod mounts with cheap brackets, cover has to be cemented in place and some people have lost covers with this kit. Very expensive for what you're getting. Lights mount so low for clearance that the bottom of the beams are clipped and reflected upward by the pod.

Rotary Extreme - requires cuttong, has the best (Hella 90mm DOT) lighting of any kit so far, from reports. Pods are almost identical to the RE Amemiya kit, mount using cheap brackets (but one less, apparently) and cover has to be cemented in place. Unlike the RE kit, the clear cover is not convex shaped and is a flat panel that must be bent and formed to the pod. Less expensive than the RE kit, but not as polished in appearance, in my opinion. However, the lighting may make up for that, assuming you're willing to cut your car.

R*Magic - two kits, one requires an entirely new bumper as the lights are mounted lower in the car, the other uses a wide horizontal "fog light" in the stock headlight pod opening. Neither is DOT legal, both are very expensive and availability is limited, as far as I know. Lighting of the first kit is no better than the RE Amemiya kit (uses the same lamps, to the best of my knowledge), and requires both the lights and the bumper. Lighting of the second kit is unknown, because I've only seen them on R*Magic's web site.

Mazdaspeed - HID kit development discontinued, to the best of my knowledge.

Panspeed - See RE Amemiya. Every report that I've heard says that the most commonly seen Panspeed kit is an RE Amemiya kit, minus the Lexan cover. I saw a post which mentioned a new kit from Panspeed, but haven't seen pictures yet.

And that about sums up the lighting situation. So far there's no combination of good (or DOT legal) light coupled with a kit that doesn't require cutting the car.

RonKMiller

All I can say is I just put in my Silvania Silverstar bulbs last night and there is a HUGE difference. For $40 (minus a $10 rebate coupon) I am impressed.

A little careful tweeking of the aiming adjusters (it took an hour to get them just right) and I can actually see another 150 to 200 feet down the road with my LOW beams without pissing off everyone coming at me.

Regular halogens look like candles in comparison.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, I think the biggest thing an FD owner can do short of a complete new lighting solution is to reaim their lights. My God, I thought the previous owner had sucidal tendencies the first night I drove it. Could not see more then twenty feet in front of the car.

A call to him revealed that he NEVER had the lights reaimed, all those years he had it (factory aim!). He also had those 'original' (meaning at hte beginning of the colored bulb craze) cheap faded multi colored bulbs in there, and that certainly did not help. Talk about being embaressed when I tunred on the lights that first night drive, it being on my first date with a new girl hehe.

JadedX

ok so where r u at on the completion of the headlight kits





I'm lost

eagletsi

well now that I have chosen different lights I need to redo the mold. that will be a while,. and I am also building a machine to help my building process... thats where alot of my money saving comes in so I aint saying jack about the machine SO DONT EVEN ASK ABOU TIT!!!

but overall the project is coming along smoothly. I am a full time student so I am doing the best I can and any free time I get is spent on this project. I found someone in my area that has a VERY good looking 1991 tsi so when the project is complete I will install the lights and post pics, but those pics will be a while

half past twelve

Really, I thought we were still talking about a machine, not ****?

eagletsi

lol I was gonna comment after I realized I messed up my spellign but it looks liek you got me covered

eagletsi

does anyone know which kits for the rx-7 are legal and which ones are not DOT approved?? or are pretty much all the kits considered "off-road use only"???

jimlab

The box you took those fog lights out of should have that information.

Seriously though, no fog light or driving light is legal for use as a headlight. The beam patterns are not approved by the DOT, and you'll blind on-coming traffic unless you aim them down (which is what they were intended for, since they are fog lights) and then you've defeated the purpose of using them for a headlight because of the shortened viewing distance.

Not that they have a good beam pattern for use as a headlight even if they were legal. For example, the C-West kit looks good but has horrible lighting from all the reviews I've read. It uses CATZ MSC and XLO fog/driving lights.

The Rotary Extreme kit is the only one that uses DOT legal (Hella 90mm) lights.

wptrx7

since the high beams are the shorter of the two (in the hella lights), can you just mount those and point them down?

and jim if you plan on using a single light source that houses both igh and low beams in hid, won't that make the kit expensive?

luigi

jimlab

First, you'd still have to cut the car. The RE Amemiya/Rotary Extreme headlight pod requires that the lights be mounted far back in the opening, and as you can see in the picture below, even the high beam extends into the area where the stock sheet metal used to be.



Second, there's not that much adjustment available. You could point them down as far as possible and still have people ticked off at you and compromised lighting.

Beam dispersion is key for a true low beam headlight. As you can see in the picture below, the high beam light is nothing more than a variation on a driving light. The beam goes everywhere.



The benefit of using a single bulb projector is that it would only require one pair of ballasts for both high and low beam instead of two. Cheaper, not more expensive.

rotaryextreme

iTrader: (2)

Actually the Low Beam Hella has a very sharp cut off point.





Unless you point them too high, there is no way you can blind the uncoming traffic.

The high beam is very nice. You can not really judge the beam pattern by looking at the lights. The reflector does all the work to determine how the pattern turns out. The only way to see it is to hook it up like I did. The Hella high beam is the best I have ever seen, especially my HID one. (not street legal though)

I have a BMW 330i with factory HID and also a GS400 with factory HID. The Hella HID ones are even better than the BMW factory HID. You can see those pictures on my website.

Chuck Huang

jimlab

I know, Chuck. Wptrx7 was asking if you could use two high beams per side to avoid cutting, since the high beam assembly is shorter than the low beam.

rotaryextreme

iTrader: (2)

My bad Jim. Sorry. You can't avoid cutting and the guys on the other lane will want to shoot you if you use twin high beams. =P

Chuck

eagletsi

ok I had to redo the clay model and here is what it looks liek now. MUCH better than my first one!!

eagletsi

the other pic..........

BoOsTin FD

that kind of looks like new Ford Focus.

tookwik

and you can do this for an fd????