TitaniumTT's I hope I make it to DGRR '09 Build

[TitaniumTT]

I'm waiting for CA to implode under it's own fail.

[Force13b]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

I'm waiting for CA to implode under it's own fail.

After seeing the rolling smog stations that are going up in socal i'm wondering if the ACLU would have something to say about it. For the most part the ACLU is a buch of wack jobs but CA is getting nutty with this shit

[need RX7]

Not to thread jack or anything but...

Originally Posted by Force13b

rolling smog stations

I had to google that and... WTF?!?!?!?
Jeez... http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2694141

I'm glad I don't live there. I wonder if any rotary owners have ever been involved in a high speed chase after 'suspiciously avoiding a checkpoint' .

[Force13b]

Originally Posted by need RX7

I had to google that and... WTF?!?!?!?
Jeez... http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2694141

I'm glad I don't live there. I wonder if any rotary owners have ever been involved in a high speed chase after 'suspiciously avoiding a checkpoint' .

Welcome to Commiefornia!

Yeah crazy shit. This has to be some kind civil liberties violation

[helghast7]

Originally Posted by need RX7

Not to thread jack or anything but...



I had to google that and... WTF?!?!?!?
Jeez... http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2694141

I'm glad I don't live there. I wonder if any rotary owners have ever been involved in a high speed chase after 'suspiciously avoiding a checkpoint' .

by the looks of it i dont think most rx7's could get up there without scraping or getting caught on something....and i wonder what they do about awd cars.

[vex]

I remember something about unreasonable search and seizure... Hell put up enough of a stink and not roll down your window they can not detain you without probable cause--and refusing to put your car on a dyno or have it inspected/searched is not reasonable cause.

[Force13b]

Hey brian thought you'd like this lighting setup

Originally Posted by David Hayes

Merry Christmas! Hope Santa is good to you.

Wanted to update you on my progress with retrofitting my car with an OEM-quality HID sleepy eye kit. If you've followed my 20B conversion thread, you'll know the pain I've gone through getting the conversion done. The good news is the process is now at an end thanks to Jesus Padilla and Kilo Racing in Orlando so I am now at a point where I can turn my attention to the little things that I don't like about the car and the biggest of those is the inferior 1990's lighting.

I have waited patiently for a kit to be built that meets my needs of vastly improving the lighting of the car while also enhancing its aesthetics. To me, this means retaining the pop up feature of the lights but making the pop up mechanism more modern, or not having it go so high up. This also means improving the functionality of the very weak lighting by bringing it up to today's HID performance standards. Finally, from an aesthetic perspective, I want to do something that looks like it might be on a car of today.

To date, none of the pop up kits have met my functionality and aesthetic standards. Kits like the Knightsports ones improve the pop up looks of the lights but aren't very good with actually improving the lighting on the car. Other kits like the one currently offered as a bi-xenon pop up upgrade dramatically improve the lighting of the FD but IMO leave much to be desired from an aesthetic perspective. So, my only choice was to go out and develop a kit for myself.

So, after much thought, the best solution for me is one that pops up about half the height of the originals and one that uses two lights per housing. My rational for the two lights per housing was to ensure the car looked balanced when the lights are being used. I want the car to look like its was designed this way, not retrofitted.

With the above in mind, I did much research on HID projector systems, wanting to find something that would give superior lighting while having OEM quality. My criteria was HID-based projector lighting for low beams as I wanted the 300% improvement in lighting that HID systems offered as well as the proper cutoff of projector style lights. For the highs, my only criteria was more lighting so for me, a halogen-based solution was just fine. To find the proper lights for my application, I spoke with the makers of OEM lighting for today's cars, including Hella. Hella then put me in touch with www.rallylights.com, one of Hella's leading retailers, and Will from rallylights.com was most helpful. He pointed me to the Hella headlamp modules they sold and I ultimately decided on the 50mm Xenon HID projector units for the low beams and the 90mm halogen units for the high beams. The 50mm unit specs can be found here:

http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1796

And the 90mm halogen units are here:

http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=127

The good thing about these lights, in addition to their OEM quality, is they are sealed units as in they both have lens covers so they can be used as is. They also have mounting brackets which allow them to be adjusted via screws just like OEM units. The caution here is they are not cheap and everything I ordered, including the 4 lights and all needed hardware and brackets will set you back about $1,200. Yes, there are cheaper options but I want to do this right one time and then enjoy.

So, as I am mechanically challenged, I have Kilo Racing doing the fab work and the installation of these. To date, they've modified the control arm mechanisms on the headlight units so they now pop up to the correct height. They have also modified the brackets to fit into the headlight housings and they have test fitted the lights to ensure we're able to complete the conversion. They're now busy on finalizing the installation and adjustment of the lights. The final step in the process will be to have OEM-like shrouds made to complete the conversion and to give it a finished look. We're going to cut up the OEM shroud to reduce its height and then use this as the template for the new shrouds.

A few pics of the lights to date:







Note the lights aren't aimed correctly and also note the 50mm lights will be raised up so the tops of them are in line with the 90mm units.

The project should be done in a few weeks and I'll then post up the results!

[EJayCe996]

Originally Posted by Force13b

Hey brian thought you'd like this lighting setup

His paint looks nice

[helghast7]

ohhhh thats very interesting..i like that

though i think i would change up the lighting placement, and use something a bit more compact then the highbeams he used.....might do a little reasearch of my own...perhaps talk to the parts manager at my job

[TitaniumTT]

Free pass?

[helghast7]

huh?...what are those going in?

[TitaniumTT]

The FC for "daily duties" I'm going to keep the corbeaus and swap them out for the track unless I can figure out a clean and sexy way to retain the harnesses and my ass stays where it's supposed to on the track. I rememeber back in the day my knee would be sore after an auto-x from pinning itself against the dash or the door to keep me in place. The seats are comfy and will be much appreciated around hour 20 during some road trips. Not to mention the reclining feature is something that I've grown to miss over the years. Should be in by tonight if not tomorrow night.

The seats go in, the car goes to PA one last time, then the car comes apart and the list starts getting attacked

[WE3RX7]

I recognize those, lol. I'll tell you right now though, although more comfortable than the fixed bucket seats, those cloth 8 seats will wear you down on long road trips. They suck for auto-x too.

This may not apply to everybody, but Brian and I are roughly the same frame and the wide bolsters on the stock 8 seat don't hold me well under hard cornering. I need to fatten up

Oh - and since they're two piece, after a single season auto-x the two sections "knock" lol, I'm looking to tighten them up before next season or finally get a decent pole position in there.


Good luck with the install - should make the deals gap trip nicer, until you hit the dragon!

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by WE3RX7

Good luck with the install - should make the deals gap trip nicer, until you hit the dragon!

Hmmmmm, interesting. Looks like I'd better keep the harnesses especially if I roll in with a set of race tires in tow

[helghast7]

let me know how much trouble you have getting them in, i want to put a set in my FD when i have a chance