What the hell does this bit do? (Griff lights)
Discussion
First a bit of background... While I'm waiting for Lucas to cough up a clutch master cyl seal kit, I thought I'd take a look at the lights... After an hour, I had quite a lot of little pieces in the kitchen. It's a good job Nic is a forgiving soul 
I've perspex polished the inside and outside of one fairing, and you can just see the difference in the photo. (It looks much better in real life)
Initially, I thought the reflectors had gone dull in the sealed units, but this is not the case. It seems most of the light is absorbed by the funny thing in the following pic. It's taken looking into the back of a sealed unit.
What does the black thing do?
It seems specially designed to not let light out. Should it be silver like the reflector?
Is it the reason why the Griff lights are crap?
And can I remove it by foul means?
I've got to get it all back together for the 20th for the Vrginia Water meet. Help!!!!
I've perspex polished the inside and outside of one fairing, and you can just see the difference in the photo. (It looks much better in real life)
Initially, I thought the reflectors had gone dull in the sealed units, but this is not the case. It seems most of the light is absorbed by the funny thing in the following pic. It's taken looking into the back of a sealed unit.
What does the black thing do?
It seems specially designed to not let light out. Should it be silver like the reflector?
Is it the reason why the Griff lights are crap?
And can I remove it by foul means?
I've got to get it all back together for the 20th for the Vrginia Water meet. Help!!!!
i think its a heat reflector.
protects the lamps from high heat from the MASSIVE high power
seriously! i believe if you remove them the lamps will overheat and blow. acts like a heatsink. wouldn't remove it.
stick some 100w lamps in from catalogue suppliers.
illegal, but whos to know and will only give you the right amount of light. I put Xenon standard watt lamps in after cleaning and they're fine.
left my reflectors in.
>> Edited by Guillotine on Sunday 6th February 23:42
protects the lamps from high heat from the MASSIVE high power
seriously! i believe if you remove them the lamps will overheat and blow. acts like a heatsink. wouldn't remove it.
stick some 100w lamps in from catalogue suppliers.
illegal, but whos to know and will only give you the right amount of light. I put Xenon standard watt lamps in after cleaning and they're fine.
left my reflectors in.
>> Edited by Guillotine on Sunday 6th February 23:42
I'm not completely convinced by the heatsink idea. There seems to be no path to conduct heat away from the area.
I don't have them in the driving lamps on the Impreza that are a similar size, use the same wattage bulbs and don't seem to melt...
Unless it is to keep heat out of the fairings?
Or for some poor attempt at beam shaping?
I don't have them in the driving lamps on the Impreza that are a similar size, use the same wattage bulbs and don't seem to melt...
Unless it is to keep heat out of the fairings?
Or for some poor attempt at beam shaping?
I always thought they were to stop light emitting from the bulb directly, and to make sure all emitted light is reflected evenly. But that's pure conjecture. And mine (pre cat) doesn't have them.
Having just cleaned and polished my pods without removing them from the car (no really!) I can assure you that despite the hassle your way is better!!
Having just cleaned and polished my pods without removing them from the car (no really!) I can assure you that despite the hassle your way is better!!
griffter said:
Having just cleaned and polished my pods without removing them from the car (no really!) I can assure you that despite the hassle your way is better!!
Thats possible is it? Excellent! Mine need cleaning but I was convinced it was a pod-out job. I get the distinct impression from your post that its a bitch of job though.
>> Edited by jamiet on Monday 7th February 12:41
I wondered this when i had to replace my reflector. Spoke to one of the designers at work as he did a bit of work on headlamps. He thinks that it is a crude but effective way of reflecting a diffused light back onto the main dish. It can't be a polished because that would create it's own beam pattern which would projected again by the main dish. For manufacturability controlling one beam pattern 'maker' is far easier than two.
jamiet said:
Having just cleaned and polished my pods without removing them from the car (no really!) I can assure you that despite the hassle your way is better!!
Thats possible is it? Excellent! Mine need cleaning but I was convinced it was a pod-out job. I get the distinct impression from your post that its a bitch of job though.
>> Edited by jamiet on Monday 7th February 12:41
Isn't yours having a front end respray? I assumed the pods were removed (sounds like they're not?) in which case all you would have to do is open them up, clean the lamps and put them back together ready for the bodyshop to refit. It's the refitting which is a pain unless you're lucky. One of mine went back without any trouble at all, the other was a complete pig.
I've just bought a reel of 30A wire after investigating the TVR standard wiring...
Should be enough for 200W per side - more than enough to melt the fairings.
Wish me luck!
BTW, the black thing is purely there for shaping the headlamp beam to reduce scatter to the sides (so that it doesn't dazzle anyone
)
Should be enough for 200W per side - more than enough to melt the fairings.
Wish me luck!
BTW, the black thing is purely there for shaping the headlamp beam to reduce scatter to the sides (so that it doesn't dazzle anyone
) jamiet said:
griffter said:
Having just cleaned and polished my pods without removing them from the car (no really!) I can assure you that despite the hassle your way is better!!
Thats possible is it? Excellent! Mine need cleaning but I was convinced it was a pod-out job. I get the distinct impression from your post that its a bitch of job though.
>> Edited by jamiet on Monday 7th February 12:41
Yes, but be warned - it's an arse of a job purely cos it's fiddly, and there is the potential to do more harm than good.
Griffter cunning technique to avoid excessive labour #1299735:
Basically, you need to remove the headlamp access covers from the wheel arch, then the rubber boot (if there is one) from the back of the headlamp reflector. DO NOT accidentally push the reflector into the headlamp pod (yet). If you do it can be retrieved but it's a lot easier if you FIRST tie a piece of string around the bulb holder.
Now you can carefully push the reflector into the pod - it will 'pop' out of the springs which retain the reflector in the headlamp mount (the bit bolted to the headlamp pod with the beam adjusters). Do this while holding onto the reflector or it'll slide down to the bottom of the pod and the main beam earth tag will scratch the perspex (he speaks from experience). Now, this is the 'Griffter special tip', get a beanie hat or other suitable soft bag and put this inside the headlamp pod. CAREFULLY manouever the reflector into the beanie. Once in, you can slide the reflector around inside the pod without scratching the pod itself or the perspex (careful that earth tag doesn't poke through the beanie though).
You should now be able to get a vacuum cleaner extension in there (careful you don't scratch the paint (experience again...)), wet cloth , colour polish, T-Cut etc. Take your time, accept the fact that your forearms will get scratched to b*ggery by the access flange, and you can do a decent job.
When it comes to replacing the reflector, carefully take it out of the beanie, remove the beanie (if you want to be able to see at night), and manipulate the reflector back up against the mounting spring clips (the string is useful here - tie it off on the wishbone). If you do one lamp at a time you can use the other for reference. Angle the reflector so as to get it 'clipped' in two of the springs - I suggest the lower and outer. Then gently pulling back on the reflector, you can get a long flat bladed screwdriver on to the remaining spring and whilst pulling the reflector back, 'pop' the remaining spring into place.
The above does work - I've done it. But I can't stress enough, that your headlamps may be different to mine (the spring clips on mine are slightly different between the two lamps, although I managned it with both), and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're fairly used to using tools for things they weren't meant for and generally doing fiddly jobs that were never meant to be done. Be warned that if you pop your reflector into the pod and you can't get it back in its springs, you'll have to dismantle the pod to get it back. That's how I developed the above technique - after reading reports of the hassle and mess of dismantling and refitting the pods...
Oh and good luck.
>> Edited by griffter on Tuesday 8th February 12:39
>> Edited by griffter on Tuesday 8th February 12:42
GarryM said:
Interesting technique! 
Unless I misunderstand it though, it wouldn't let you clean the inside of the actual lamp. On mine the pods weren't that bad but the lamps themselves were almost white with fine dust on the inside! Look lovely and clear now.
Not the space where the bulb goes, between the reflector and the lens, no. You can't actually remove the lamp unit without opening the pod.
If I were to try and clean in the lamp unit itself I'd leave it in place and bodge a fine, flexible tube attachment for the vac
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