Fed up w/beam pattern...project idea

[gloryaccordy]

OK so basically if you follow headlight optics at all you know the USDM beam pattern is ass...no defined cutoff, pencil-shaped beam, etc. The JDM H4 pattern would be nice if it were for LHD countries...but the flare is on the wrong side. And as far as I know usc is the only person with the LHD ECE's, and I'm pretty sure he spent a bundle to get them here.

So what's the solution?



See those? If you look in the reflector you can see the cutoff flare on the bottom...it's made for LHD use!!! I'm gonna take some measurements tomorrow, but that headlight is 6.5x4", which I think should fit, and if not I can just cut off the bottom and some of the edges.

So here's the plan: I'll cut out the stock shitty 9006 housing, fit the new H4 housing on, and hopefully get HID's down the line w/the Caspar shield modded to get the 15 degree flare. I'm not working now so $$ is tight, but I just wanted to know if people would be interested in buying something like this instead of getting projectors retrofitted ($$$$$$). Here's a pic of the potential new beam pattern W/HID's:



Thoughts?

[FDAccord]

definitely looks like it would be worth a shot, imho. However you would really have to be precist with actually molding it back to the headlight so that it can be aimed properly.. if it actually works it may end up being a shortcut to buying e-code or jdm headlights.. or even better... converting JDM headlights to LHD beam patterns... i definitely give you two thumbs up if you attempt this.

[deevergote]

Wow, I'm impressed! That's going deeper into things than I ever imagined

I have projectors, so I'm not personally interested. However, it sounds like a great idea for anyone that is looking for a good beam pattern! It's nice to see someone thinking "outside the box". It's refreshing!

[acch22]

so this wall shot:

belongs to this housing:


if so, that is pretty decent for HID's.

[gloryaccordy]

so this wall shot:

belongs to this housing:


if so, that is pretty decent for HID's.

No, that's the wall shot for a 1G Grand Cherokee with the ECE-spec H4 housing + an H4 HID low beam kit. That dude made no cutoff shield or anything and his beam pattern is pretty good.

Now if those sealed beams make some glare, I basically have two choices: 1- Open it up and paint/mod the reflector, which might prove to be impossible (I tried to get the glass off a USDM sealed beam and I wound up shattering it with a hammer- NOT out of frustration though; glass cutters take FOREVER) or I can make a 165 degree shield (for the 15 degree flare) to block off unwanted light. I think usc made one for his lights. In any case it's gonna be a slow moving project, but hopefully I can get it together and make it happen...it's definitely something I want to provide the community later on.

[According2Me]

oven 215 deg. wet newspaper 10 mins.. take it out and a screw driver will start it work your way down the top and then pull apart... works great with the stock sealent but ive found to be harder with that headlight sealant from the parts store, but still possible....

[gloryaccordy]

So this will work for the sealed headlight I showed above? I know it will work on ours...but has anyone opened up a sealed beam headlight?

[acch22]

should work the same

[gloryaccordy]

I'm gonna order these within the next few days. The original ones I posted use the glass on the outside to break up a pencil beam into the ECE beam pattern...these use only the reflector to create the pattern, like most new reflector headlights. Furthermore, they're thermoplastic as opposed to metal or glass, which are both not exactly Dremel friendly...but thermoplastic is great because it's Dremel food, and its only meltable once- when they pour the hot mold out. It's friggin cold but when I get these I'm putting them in and doing a crazy DIY/write up...stay tuned.

[H23 Lude]

can't wait to see it done

[deckeda]

There's also an "auxiliary" kit sold by Sylvania. They seem small enough to fit inside our housings. http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...XenarcKits.htm

It's designed to run along with your low beams (not instead of) but doesn't say exactly why. The description is a little confusing. On one page they're almost comparing it with "normal fog lights" but it isn't a fog light. On another page they say the light is a higher Kelvin than "typical" HID.

[gloryaccordy]

There's also an "auxiliary" kit sold by Sylvania. They seem small enough to fit inside our housings. http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...XenarcKits.htm

It's designed to run along with your low beams (not instead of) but doesn't say exactly why. The description is a little confusing. On one page they're almost comparing it with "normal fog lights" but it isn't a fog light. On another page they say the light is a higher Kelvin than "typical" HID.

I thought about projectors for a long time; even getting some cheap Bosch's and running them with halogen H7's...but 1. they're too hard to install and align properly IMO, and 2. they just cost too much...esp. for that kit...

I'm planning on sticking with halogen and just getting a new relay and running 100W bulbs, and possibly modding the bulb shield to control the extra glare. There's also an HIR bulb that actually has the same housing as ours called the 9013 I believe- it has the same wattage but has some infrared coating that keeps the heat inside the bulb, heating up the filament more and putting out more light. I think they're like 2/3 as bright as HIDs...I might see what those are about...

But yea for the cost of the Xenarcs (which work really well actually) I could prob. get 2 sets of JDM headlights and an H4 HID kit.

[gloryaccordy]

UPTADEZORS!!!!!

Major progress has been made and I think I'm at the point that I'm ready to retrofit, but WITHOUT the Autopal lenses. The housings you can use are super cheap- go for either the tiny sealed beams w/the metal reflector or Motor Trend's $9.99 flashlight housing. I got two of the flashlights because I saw that they use an H3 bulb, meaning the reflector would be removable and Dremelable. In addition to that I got 2 plain Jane H4 bulbs and a $20 lawnmower 12V battery (all from Pep Boys).

I took the reflectors out of the flashlights and 'discarded' the H3's...they just shoot out a pencil beam. I figured out 2 things: one, the way light is reflected in the reflectors is that the farther the light is away from the reflector, the wider the light will be spread...but since the light bulbs have short filaments, when you move the light away from the reflector you get a 'hole' where there's no light...

In addition, creating a cutoff with some kind of shield will not work at all. I tried to work with our 9006 bulb but that wound up being a waste of duct tape and soda cans. I remembered hearing the H4 bulb had a 165 degree shield built onto the low beam, meaning it had the regular 180 degrees (a semicircle) of light plus a 15 degree flare. When I put the bulb in the reflector and connected the low beam, the cutoff was SHARP, and there was indeed a 15 degree kink. The only problem was that there was a hole in the middle....

This hole could be closed by one of two ways (the latter being the one that works best and that I will go with in the future): pulling the bulb back, which closed the hole but penciled the beam, or by tilting the bulb up and back with the low beam cup facing up. By doing this, the 15 degree flare is lost, but the cutoff is still sharp and the spread is great. It seriously looked like an HID projector beam- super sharp cutoff and a nice spread. By tilting the bulb, I don't know how to explain this better, but basically the cutoff line is brought below the hole, while the width of the light is maintained. From what I saw there are NO hot spots and again the cutoff is great. I can't wait to retrofit this into my USDM housing...

Which brings us to the next problem: as of now, I have an H4 bulb and basically a metal bowl with a hole in the middle. The challenge now is how to secure the bulb in its proper place. I already figured out how to make it so the bulb is positioned correctly, assuming solder won't melt from the heat of the bulb; I just have to figure out how to hold the bulb in place and waterproof everything. In any case this is a great development...for $40 you can have quality lighting. By the end of the week these will be either in my car or on a fresh new set of headlights...DEFINITELY stay tuned. Pics to come within the week as well...

[gloryaccordy]

Not consuming at all...I just have to figure out how to hold the bulb to the reflector at this point...it's almost ready.

[gloryaccordy]

Fucking snow...I would have had these mounted tomorrow. Anyways I got a running prototype (super glue, soda cans, paper clips, rubber washers) going so it's just a matter of time. You don't even have to mince your headlight housings...just crack them open and mount it in front of the empty low beam. I'm psyched...many pics to follow...