A different kind of projector headlight

After spending the last year rebuilding a 1988 Pontiac Fiero, I've gotten to the point that all of the "required" things are complete, and I am now onto convenience and performance modifications. I've been spoiled with my Tacoma, and desire more for the Fiero. given 30 years of lighting development since this car was made, the sealed beam 7x6s are out-dated and a waste of space.

A projector retrofit is a pretty standard operation, regardless of the vehicle it is for.
you split open the housing, install your projectors, and reseal the lens. I could go this route with the factory 7''x6'' sealed beam housings. but I'd like to take it up a level. with such a small projector in a 6'' tall housing, the flip-up headlights are consuming a lot of space and creating unneeded drag when open. I'm looking to do a low profile projector setup. my problem is that I'm having trouble finding a fully sealed projector housing, or similar solution.

below, the first picture is what stock headlights look like, and the second picture is along the lines of what I'm going for. the third picture is what the white car looks like under the hood.








while I could easily build and improve upon the lighting setup on the white car using identical parts, the lights that owner used in the photos are not true projectors. they are just a projector looking light that will still blind oncoming drivers.

what I'm looking for is a true projector (with a cut-off), that is sealed to the point that I can mount them open to the elements without having to worry about the integrity of the lens or water intrusion into the bulb housing.

does something like this even exist (and preferably not cost $1000)?

maybe it's as simple as putting some clear 3M headlight film over the projector lense. maybe not..... I just don't know how durable these things are int he elements.

I am also 100% fine, building a halogen equivalent to this setup, but am having trouble finding a driving light of a similar size. all halogen reflector housings this small are fog lights, and don't have the throw needed for a primary headlight.

a couple pictures of the car this is for:





under the hood, where the headlights are stowed in the closed position. I actually have a lot of room to work with when the 7x6 light is removed.



Thank you for the help

 

Seems like more trouble than it is worth as I doubt the COD improvement will be noticeable in daily driving. But, I'd take a look at the self contained LED headlight JW Speaker 90 projectors from The Retrofit Source, designed for use in kit cars, they may work for what you are looking for:
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-housings/full-headlights/jw-speaker-model-90.html

 

I'm not worried about the effort put into building them. This is what I do on the weekends for fun.

I guess I made a bigger point of the wind resistance than what is really valid. lighting output is the top reason for doing this, and aesthetics being second, with lower wind resistance being an unintended benefit.

Thank you for the link! That is almost perfect for what I'm looking for. price is really the only downfall, since I'd need 4 of them (2 low beam, 2 high beam), which would put me at the $1000 mark that I want to stay away from. I suppose I could go with 2 of the low beams, and then use some small halogen spots form the high beams.

 

You could just go with lows. I'd bet you hardly use highs anyways for the time being. I know I don't use my highs often with retrofits.

Always liked the fiero just cause it's the American version of the mr2 (which I would love to find a turbo model)

 

Immediately thought of the new Acura headlights. Would take a lot of work to break them open and reinstall them, but the heavy lifting of workable LED main headlights would be done...

 

If you want to keep cost down, you are likely going to need to go halogen. These stuffed with some HIR bulbs may be worth looking at. Rallylights carries many small projector headlights:
http://www.rallylights.com/hella-60mm-projector-headlamp-module.html

 

i could do without highbeams in the Tacoma, but i really need them for this car. i work long hours, so I'm driving windy woods roads in the dark to and from work. high beams help me look for deer on the side of the road in the distance. also, with such a small car, i have to drive very defensively. even though it's bright red, it's an easy car to miss for a larger truck or van. high beams and a horn are crucial in getting peoples attention before they potentially hit you.

those are crazy! would probably cost you $5000 for a set, but they're beautiful.

hella seems to be a great option. they are the only company with a smaller round halogen (reflector) that fits my needs. those projectors you linked look like they may be the ticket though! i'll have to do some more research on them. they go for $50, and the hella 90mm reflectors go for about $60. i'll have to see if there are any 3rd party comparisons of the two.

 

Or maybe not!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2016-2017-A...2a5aa8&pid=100338&rk=3&rkt=29&sd=151908484392

 

wow, that's really surprising!

 

Gentlemen, thank you for all of the help on these lights, specifically you @crashnburn80 ! those fully sealed 60mm Hellas projectors seem to be my best option for the main headlights. I've ordered all of the parts, and will start the mockup of the new lighting assembly this weekend.

i'll build a frame that mounts in the factory locations that the 7'' rectangular sealed beam goes in, and then build a low profile tray to mount the new lights to.

essentially this:


these are the hella low beam projectors. they come with a halogen bulb, but may get a 35w 5000k HID kit depending on their output.






and here is the high beam i'll be using. these are actually motorcycle high beams, but have gotten decent reviews. they aren't a true projector with a cutoff (the lens is really just a diffuser), which is why I can only use them as a high beam, and are not an option for the main headlight.

 

Keep us posted on the project. You may consider running HIR bulbs in the low beams, output is in the realm of 3000 lumens, significantly more than stock, while maintaining long bulb life. Still stock color though if that is a consideration:
http://store.candlepower.com/hirlighting.html
or
http://www.rallylights.com/vosla-9011-hir1-9005-65w-halogen-infrared-bulb.html

As to the high beams, I'm not sure what bulbs those take, but high beams do not need a clean cut off like low beams. While not DOT legal, you could wire it to run high beams and low beams at the same time as people do with Britebox. Since the bulbs are in independent housings it would not negatively affect life, and would provide fuller beam pattern on the high beam if the pattern is not great.

 

I like the HIRs. that would save me the hassle of mounting up a ballast and igniter. I don't recall what bulb type the high beams run, but I do know it's an LED. a number of folks on the motorcycle forums I browsed have swapped out for other non LED bulbs though, so I may be in for some experimenting. I'm using stock wiring and switching for the new lights to start with (relays may be needed, we'll see), but what that means is that off the bat, the lows will shut off when the highs go on. depending on the effectiveness, I'll probably end up rewiring for the lows to stay on when I hit the highs. I wasn't able to find many pictures of them on, except for the motorcycle guys taking head-on shots), but they do appear to have more of a spot beam pattern than a true stand-alone high beam. it'll be the same when I get to installing fog lights. they'll be on an independent circuit, and will stay on regardless of what other lights are on.

 

again guys, thank you for all of the help with this. I've started the project. first steep is fabricating the housing/structure that will hold it all. details and pictures in the Fiero build thread.

post #322
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/colinb17s-little-red-rocket-build-1988-fiero.420954/page-17