Change headlights to Europe spec.
Discussion
Just got all the parts from NIMAG a couple of days ago: 229.30 euro including VAT for two reflectors, two headlamp glasses, two rubber seals and a tube of mastic. They're generic Bosch parts.
AFAIK, it's a question of removing the front grille (pre-facelift models) and reaching for two 10 mm bolts on either side that hold the fibreglass headlamp 'rings' which is fixed at the top with a bob of mastic, aftwe which tyu can remove the headlamp units that, too, are held with body sealant. You'll need a wall to align the headlamp patterns.
I'll let you know how I get on, although it could be a while as the car is sitting in my parents' garage.
AFAIK, it's a question of removing the front grille (pre-facelift models) and reaching for two 10 mm bolts on either side that hold the fibreglass headlamp 'rings' which is fixed at the top with a bob of mastic, aftwe which tyu can remove the headlamp units that, too, are held with body sealant. You'll need a wall to align the headlamp patterns.
I'll let you know how I get on, although it could be a while as the car is sitting in my parents' garage.
OK, done this over the weekend. The headlamp covers are a simple bolt-on affair, two 10 mm bolts reachable from through the front grille opening as said before.
Then the fun starts. The headlamp glasses are bonded to the glassfibre with sealant. There's three larger 'gaps' filled with mastic at the 9'o'clock, 3'o'clock and 6'o'clock position around the glass. Behind those are the bolts with which the reflectors are attached to the body and adjusted. On my car, wing nuts were on the back of the bolts, which cam undone after lots of WD40 and a bit of juducious swearing, Except two on the offside - one had a tiny conventional nut (7 mm) which didn't want to go all the way over the bolt thread (so I cut the last couple of mm including the nut off with the Dremel) and one where (as it appeared when the stuff was out) the win nut was cross threaded which resulted in lots of turning action but no discernible giving way until I put it under tension by leveraging the old reflector.
Check the light pattern and height ajustment before re-bonding the headlamp glasses with sealant. Now you can still access the adjustment bolts from the front as well as the nuts from behind, which (although the tabs the bolts run through at the reflectors are threaded) does help matters no end. There's also a fair bit of 'opportunity' to get the headlamp glass positioning wrong, so check beam pattern and make sure that the headlamp covers still go on.
As an aside, the 13 year old original reflectors and glasses were predictably junk (even before I broke the nearside glass when removing) - if you, too, think your Chim's headlights are useless, try a new OE set. It's quite literally a night and day difference.
Then the fun starts. The headlamp glasses are bonded to the glassfibre with sealant. There's three larger 'gaps' filled with mastic at the 9'o'clock, 3'o'clock and 6'o'clock position around the glass. Behind those are the bolts with which the reflectors are attached to the body and adjusted. On my car, wing nuts were on the back of the bolts, which cam undone after lots of WD40 and a bit of juducious swearing, Except two on the offside - one had a tiny conventional nut (7 mm) which didn't want to go all the way over the bolt thread (so I cut the last couple of mm including the nut off with the Dremel) and one where (as it appeared when the stuff was out) the win nut was cross threaded which resulted in lots of turning action but no discernible giving way until I put it under tension by leveraging the old reflector.
Check the light pattern and height ajustment before re-bonding the headlamp glasses with sealant. Now you can still access the adjustment bolts from the front as well as the nuts from behind, which (although the tabs the bolts run through at the reflectors are threaded) does help matters no end. There's also a fair bit of 'opportunity' to get the headlamp glass positioning wrong, so check beam pattern and make sure that the headlamp covers still go on.
As an aside, the 13 year old original reflectors and glasses were predictably junk (even before I broke the nearside glass when removing) - if you, too, think your Chim's headlights are useless, try a new OE set. It's quite literally a night and day difference.
900T-R said:
As an aside, the 13 year old original reflectors and glasses were predictably junk (even before I broke the nearside glass when removing) - if you, too, think your Chim's headlights are useless, try a new OE set. It's quite literally a night and day difference.
I would second that. I replaced mine with alternative upgrade, the old units were not very reflective. If I were renewing them I would source some rubber dust covers for the connectors as an attempt to keep the reflectors clean (which I also did on the beam/dip/indicators for my sp12 conversion).
Dave
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