I tried everything on the original headlights, polished up the covers (needs doing monthly in summer if kept outside), fitted upgraded bulbs and still useless on dip to the point of being dangerous. I looked into original replacement units and saw the price, plus they still may not be that good. Replacement internal bits are not available. I looked at aftermarket and still very expensive, unknown results and not sure about the look.
Then I started thinking about adapting some form of universal dipped beam only headlight. A quick look at ebay revealed such things exist. Two sizes available. 90mm Hella as fitted to some TVRs and various other cars at £50 each and the ones I opted for, 50mm motorcycle units at £35 each. I purchased one to try out the beam. Plugged into a battery all looked good with a distinct cut off pattern.
Next question was how to fit. My initial idea was to dismantle my units and atempt to adapt the internals to take the new light. I may still do this at a later date. It could be done either by removing the existing dipped units and replacing, or it may be possible to fit them where the sidelights are (an alternative place for the sidelight bulbs would be needed. Getting adjustment could be an issue. I'd also like to have a choice of both alternatives to hand if I do this to see which fits best.
Instead I opted for a simpler way. I mounted them on brackets in the void between the grill and radiator behind the lower black grill (under the fin) as close to the outer edge as possible. the 50mm lens is just the right height for the grille height.
![Automotive tire Font Watch Rim Automotive lighting]()
![Font Circle Auto part Fashion accessory Rim]()
I used a simple L shaped bracket bolted to the upper crossmember. I cut a hole in the grille slats, the lights sit just behind the grille. Looking at the car from the front they are not that noticeable unless you crouch down as the fin overlaps them from above so fairly unobtrusive. I believe some models had a mesh grille instead of slats, that could be even better with no cutting.
Well I have so far fitted one and the results are impressive. An excellent spread of light with a distinct cut off. Even on the standard bulb supplied a huge improvement. With the second one fiitted I'm sure they will be up to modern car standards. I have left the originals wired in for legality (think there is a minimum distance from edge of car and it makes sense anyway). As I never use the equally useless foglights I have diverted the wiring from those so one pull of the lightswitch brings the new lights on together with the originals.
You could of course just stick them where the foglights are but too low to be legal unless used in fog and you'd be regarded as one of those idiots who use fog lights all the time and continually flashed.
This may be regarded as a bit of a 'bodge' job but for safety it's a simple, quick fairly unobtrusive solution. Mines a high mileage daily driver. You may not want to be doing this on a concours car of course.
One day I may get around to buying a spare light unit and experimenting (or maybe somebody else here might). Make sure you buy the correct left or right dip for your country. UK needs the left dip version. They also come as main beams so make sure it's a dip beam and make sure it's adjusted (by bending the bracket!) so the kink in the dip is straight ahead and the level below horizontal. I'm tempted to just disconnect them in case of any MOT tseting issues but I don't see any regulation against having more than two dipped headlights so long as the outer ones are near the edge of the car and all are adjusted correctly.
Dave
Then I started thinking about adapting some form of universal dipped beam only headlight. A quick look at ebay revealed such things exist. Two sizes available. 90mm Hella as fitted to some TVRs and various other cars at £50 each and the ones I opted for, 50mm motorcycle units at £35 each. I purchased one to try out the beam. Plugged into a battery all looked good with a distinct cut off pattern.
Next question was how to fit. My initial idea was to dismantle my units and atempt to adapt the internals to take the new light. I may still do this at a later date. It could be done either by removing the existing dipped units and replacing, or it may be possible to fit them where the sidelights are (an alternative place for the sidelight bulbs would be needed. Getting adjustment could be an issue. I'd also like to have a choice of both alternatives to hand if I do this to see which fits best.
Instead I opted for a simpler way. I mounted them on brackets in the void between the grill and radiator behind the lower black grill (under the fin) as close to the outer edge as possible. the 50mm lens is just the right height for the grille height.
I used a simple L shaped bracket bolted to the upper crossmember. I cut a hole in the grille slats, the lights sit just behind the grille. Looking at the car from the front they are not that noticeable unless you crouch down as the fin overlaps them from above so fairly unobtrusive. I believe some models had a mesh grille instead of slats, that could be even better with no cutting.
Well I have so far fitted one and the results are impressive. An excellent spread of light with a distinct cut off. Even on the standard bulb supplied a huge improvement. With the second one fiitted I'm sure they will be up to modern car standards. I have left the originals wired in for legality (think there is a minimum distance from edge of car and it makes sense anyway). As I never use the equally useless foglights I have diverted the wiring from those so one pull of the lightswitch brings the new lights on together with the originals.
You could of course just stick them where the foglights are but too low to be legal unless used in fog and you'd be regarded as one of those idiots who use fog lights all the time and continually flashed.
This may be regarded as a bit of a 'bodge' job but for safety it's a simple, quick fairly unobtrusive solution. Mines a high mileage daily driver. You may not want to be doing this on a concours car of course.
One day I may get around to buying a spare light unit and experimenting (or maybe somebody else here might). Make sure you buy the correct left or right dip for your country. UK needs the left dip version. They also come as main beams so make sure it's a dip beam and make sure it's adjusted (by bending the bracket!) so the kink in the dip is straight ahead and the level below horizontal. I'm tempted to just disconnect them in case of any MOT tseting issues but I don't see any regulation against having more than two dipped headlights so long as the outer ones are near the edge of the car and all are adjusted correctly.
Dave
