Has anyone fitted spot lights to a Chim ?
Discussion
Thanks Pupp
I do like a bit of shiny stainless. At the rear the car has nicely rounded stainless exhausts and I always thought the front was a bit bland.
Hopefully these improve the looks and the lighting.
Just returned from Mat Smith Sportscars in Downham Market (recommended to me on Pistonheads) who has helped me improve the engine idle and general smooth running as well as giving the car a general check.
Car now running better than ever although the new HT leads that I sourced and Mat Smith fitted are causing interference with the tacho making the needle flutter and the gauge over-read by 200 - 250 rpm...
I do like a bit of shiny stainless. At the rear the car has nicely rounded stainless exhausts and I always thought the front was a bit bland.
Hopefully these improve the looks and the lighting.
Just returned from Mat Smith Sportscars in Downham Market (recommended to me on Pistonheads) who has helped me improve the engine idle and general smooth running as well as giving the car a general check.
Car now running better than ever although the new HT leads that I sourced and Mat Smith fitted are causing interference with the tacho making the needle flutter and the gauge over-read by 200 - 250 rpm...
The Horse said:
Thanks Pupp
I do like a bit of shiny stainless. At the rear the car has nicely rounded stainless exhausts and I always thought the front was a bit bland.
Hopefully these improve the looks and the lighting.
Just returned from Mat Smith Sportscars in Downham Market (recommended to me on Pistonheads) who has helped me improve the engine idle and general smooth running as well as giving the car a general check.
Car now running better than ever although the new HT leads that I sourced and Mat Smith fitted are causing interference with the tacho making the needle flutter and the gauge over-read by 200 - 250 rpm...
I think that looks great. How did you mount them?I do like a bit of shiny stainless. At the rear the car has nicely rounded stainless exhausts and I always thought the front was a bit bland.
Hopefully these improve the looks and the lighting.
Just returned from Mat Smith Sportscars in Downham Market (recommended to me on Pistonheads) who has helped me improve the engine idle and general smooth running as well as giving the car a general check.
Car now running better than ever although the new HT leads that I sourced and Mat Smith fitted are causing interference with the tacho making the needle flutter and the gauge over-read by 200 - 250 rpm...
Hi Dungman
The first thing I did was to cut the holes in the grill in the places that I wanted the lights. I used a 5" hole cutter which coped with the aluminium grill quite easily.
I needed to cut the fibreglass verticals behind the grill to accommodate the lights.
I then made a bracket up from a 240mm x 50mm strip of 2mm stainless, bent it to fit the internal curve.
I drilled a 12mm hole at the light end (light needs 8mm hole) which allowed me some adjustment and a 6mm hole at the other end to hold the bracket whilst the silkaflex was drying.
If I was doing it again I would have welded a piece to the side of the bracket from the light end to the other end as there is a bit of "flex" at the light.
Can anyone who's fitted lights to the front tell me the best place to tap into the loom for the live feed and the main beam line for the relay ?
Cheers
The first thing I did was to cut the holes in the grill in the places that I wanted the lights. I used a 5" hole cutter which coped with the aluminium grill quite easily.
I needed to cut the fibreglass verticals behind the grill to accommodate the lights.
I then made a bracket up from a 240mm x 50mm strip of 2mm stainless, bent it to fit the internal curve.
I drilled a 12mm hole at the light end (light needs 8mm hole) which allowed me some adjustment and a 6mm hole at the other end to hold the bracket whilst the silkaflex was drying.
If I was doing it again I would have welded a piece to the side of the bracket from the light end to the other end as there is a bit of "flex" at the light.
Can anyone who's fitted lights to the front tell me the best place to tap into the loom for the live feed and the main beam line for the relay ?
Cheers
[/quote]
I think this looks great and the lights are a good size, even modern designed lights can't defeat the "bigger is always better" rule with driving lights.
Saying that I'm a big fan of LED technology and as I have a Mk2/3 front end I'm forced to go with something smaller to fit neatly in the upper grill appeture.
So I've chosen PIAA LP270 driving lights which are only 70mm diameter (& expensive). I'll be testing them out soon and let everyone know how the perform.
My Mk3 headlight conversion with the LED H4 bulb replacement units have already proved game changing compared with Mk1/2 headlights with their corrosion prone reflectors and incandescent bulbs.
Will my PIA LP270s be the icing on the cake.... or an expensive mistake?
Only time will tell.
The Horse said:
Hi Dungman
The first thing I did was to cut the holes in the grill in the places that I wanted the lights. I used a 5" hole cutter which coped with the aluminium grill quite easily.
I needed to cut the fibreglass verticals behind the grill to accommodate the lights.
I then made a bracket up from a 240mm x 50mm strip of 2mm stainless, bent it to fit the internal curve.
I drilled a 12mm hole at the light end (light needs 8mm hole) which allowed me some adjustment and a 6mm hole at the other end to hold the bracket whilst the silkaflex was drying.
If I was doing it again I would have welded a piece to the side of the bracket from the light end to the other end as there is a bit of "flex" at the light.
Can anyone who's fitted lights to the front tell me the best place to tap into the loom for the live feed and the main beam line for the relay ?
Cheers
Thanks for the write up going to try this myself. I have the led units used by CoG on order I assume you can get a similar set for the BMW spotlights.The first thing I did was to cut the holes in the grill in the places that I wanted the lights. I used a 5" hole cutter which coped with the aluminium grill quite easily.
I needed to cut the fibreglass verticals behind the grill to accommodate the lights.
I then made a bracket up from a 240mm x 50mm strip of 2mm stainless, bent it to fit the internal curve.
I drilled a 12mm hole at the light end (light needs 8mm hole) which allowed me some adjustment and a 6mm hole at the other end to hold the bracket whilst the silkaflex was drying.
If I was doing it again I would have welded a piece to the side of the bracket from the light end to the other end as there is a bit of "flex" at the light.
Can anyone who's fitted lights to the front tell me the best place to tap into the loom for the live feed and the main beam line for the relay ?
Cheers
During my refurb I had to strip the front loom in the area of the grill for some repairs, right back to where it arrives from the ns inner wing,I can confirm there are no spare feeds available to supply additional power through a relay for extra lights
You will need to install a new supply back to the fuse box
Rich
You will need to install a new supply back to the fuse box
Rich
What route did you use to get from the fuse box to the lights ? I can see where the wires go.
Which fuse should I use to provide the live feed for the extra lights ?
I was going to mount the relay by the driving lights and use the main beam wire at the headlight to trigger the relay. Is this a sensible solution or is there a better way ?
Thanks
David
Which fuse should I use to provide the live feed for the extra lights ?
I was going to mount the relay by the driving lights and use the main beam wire at the headlight to trigger the relay. Is this a sensible solution or is there a better way ?
Thanks
David
As luck would have it I didn't have to disturb the loom from where it emerged from the inner wing although I did pull a new alarm sounder cable through.i routed this along the inner wing below the air intake pipe and took it into the cabin via the large grommet where all the ecu wiring runs
There are probably some spare ways on the fusing but it is of a type of busbar construction and didn't look to be too easy to pick a spare way up,as it is only 1 feed you need it maybe better to run a dedicated fused supply direct from the battery,if you make it nice and neat and label it up for future reference it should be fine,while you are at it perhaps run a dedicated earth as well,you can run both in some small converluted plastic tube so it keeps it tidy and does not load the existing earths anymore
As you say,yes you can use the main beam switching to operate your additional relay
Rich
There are probably some spare ways on the fusing but it is of a type of busbar construction and didn't look to be too easy to pick a spare way up,as it is only 1 feed you need it maybe better to run a dedicated fused supply direct from the battery,if you make it nice and neat and label it up for future reference it should be fine,while you are at it perhaps run a dedicated earth as well,you can run both in some small converluted plastic tube so it keeps it tidy and does not load the existing earths anymore
As you say,yes you can use the main beam switching to operate your additional relay
Rich
phillpot said:
err yeah, coz Griff lights are brilliant
ChimpOnGas said:
Very small and very powerful, these PIAA LP270 LED driving lights work a treat on my Chimaera 
Add Gen 3 LED H4 headlight bulbs as I have and nighttime visibility is outstanding
Can you provide some more info on the type of LED headlight bulbs you fitted, sounds like a big improvement on the standard candles!!Add Gen 3 LED H4 headlight bulbs as I have and nighttime visibility is outstanding
das2000m said:
Can you provide some more info on the type of LED headlight bulbs you fitted, sounds like a big improvement on the standard candles!!
Its quite a long read...https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
But worth it
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