New headlight positioning

[Ducati07]

Just looking through the new range line up on cc website and was trying to work out why the new range look so much more aggressive - its the position of the headlights - they're so much lower and further forward, to the point that in profile they hardly protude above the bonnet line - makes a huge difference IMO.

Anyone noticed and done the conversion / know how easy it is to retro fit?

[downsman]

My metric chassis Seven has these mounts.
The supports are attached to the forward upper wishbone bolts.

I don't know if they fit to the older chassis.

[Ducati07]

Sorry to be dim - the metric chassis 7? Do you mean the non S3 cars, ie csr/ sv cars? It looks like the entire range has them now.

[downsman]

It is an S3 but as from about 2007 Caterham took over production and the chassis was redesigned using metric measurements. The earlier chassis were made by Arch and are known as Imperial chassis.

[Ducati07]

I see, thank you for that - I'm still learning!

[MBBlat]

The lower brackets have been out since 2010/2011, my car was one of the first to be supplied with them, which caused a bit of head scratching during the build as the manual didn't mention them.

Pic without lights
caterham-006 by MBBlat, on Flickr

[Gingerbread Man]

But can they be retro fitted? Not sure from the picture above, but has the headlight bracket been made to work with what fixings there currently was on the chassis, or has the chassis or similar been modified with brackets or new parts to allow the headlamp bracket to attach if that makes sense?

Old style mounting:

Edited by Gingerbread Man on Wednesday 15th April 04:11

[g7jhp]

Old higher position





Newer lower position

[MBBlat]

Gingerbread Man said:

But can they be retro fitted? Not sure from the picture above, but has the headlight bracket been made to work with what fixings there currently was on the chassis, or has the chassis or similar been modified with brackets or new parts to allow the headlamp bracket to attach if that makes sense?

looking at your picture the main problem is that there is no hole in the wishbone mount to pass the headlamp wiring through which can be seen in the pic below. Interestingly my car also came with mounting points for the old style brackets, and the nose cone has a corresponding flat spot, but no hole.
caterham-001 by MBBlat, on Flickr

You could always cable tie the wires to the outside of the bracket - an IVA fail, may pass an MOT. Lack of instructions meant I did it that way until someone on Blatchat pointed out the error.

[Gingerbread Man]

I believe that there have been lowered brackets made up for imperial chassis, or talk of such. I'd be interested in updating.

[CraigyB]

I did the retrofit, just drill a hole through the bracket to get the wiring through, and paint the hole to stop rust

[downsman]

Remember to use a robber gromet to stop the wires chafing.

[harry b]

Lowered bracket (alu) from MOG on a imperial:

[framerateuk]

I still much prefer the higher position. Every little bit of height helps with the lights too when it comes to being spotted by other drivers!
EDIT - what the heck's gone wrong with the forum? I just noticed all the threads on top were last replied to in April (including this one, before my reply obviously!).

Edited by framerateuk on Thursday 29th October 13:58

[shrink1061]

To add to this old thread, although they look better, the new lower position is useless in the dark. Genuinely the poorest standard lights I've ever experienced on any car.

The higher position with better bulbs is hugely more efficient at night.

I wouldn't lower mine

[mickrick]

Weren't they repositioned for IVA reasons?

[bcr5784]

mickrick said:

Weren't they repositioned for IVA reasons?

I'm pretty sure there once was a minimum height of 2 feet. That has now gone and (according to the Honest John site) there is now no minimum height for main beam, but dipped beam is now 500mm minimum. So I suspect that is why they lowered the lights.

Improved lights are now an option - but cost a whopping £800!

Edited by bcr5784 on Sunday 8th January 10:40

[shrink1061]

But even new improved lights will be at same height. And the height is the biggest problem. Not sure I'd pay £800 for lights that still won't cast a beam far enough.

[anonymous-user]

shrink1061 said:

But even new improved lights will be at same height. And the height is the biggest problem. Not sure I'd pay £800 for lights that still won't cast a beam far enough.

That interesting. I don't find the lights an issue, better than our SLK's halogens. They're not great, certainly compared with xenons etc but not that bad. Your reflectors aren't dirty/corroded are they? Are they aligned correctly?

[bcr5784]

shrink1061 said:

But even new improved lights will be at same height. And the height is the biggest problem. Not sure I'd pay £800 for lights that still won't cast a beam far enough.

Certainly the lower the lights the more critical the beam alignment is - but obviously if the headlamp is aimed parallel to the ground the only limit on how far it goes is the intensity of the beam.