Lets See Some Light: The Definitive Lighting Thread

[zombiewolf513]

Originally Posted by Malik

these headlights are sweet as fuck

I agree with this

[Future240]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

you are right, but some people are just clueless and have bad taste. imo, all those generic aftermarket retrofit parts are junk. its either OEM or bust.

It's not just lights. As I follow this thread (mostly for posts from you and silviaks2nr) it is a representation of how the "scene" is these days. A bunch of crappy half assed attempts and making something work where form >X2 over function. (Though in some of these retrofits the form is just as terrible as function imo.) Where you have a few people holding out and taking pride in their builds, instead of just slapping some parts together and "making it work".


The funniest (saddest?) thins is when people try to defend it. Apparently looking "cool" is more important than having a properly built car.

[ixfxi]

Originally Posted by Future240

It's not just lights. As I follow this thread (mostly for posts from you and silviaks2nr) it is a representation of how the "scene" is these days. A bunch of crappy half assed attempts and making something work where form >X2 over function. (Though in some of these retrofits the form is just as terrible as function imo.) Where you have a few people holding out and taking pride in their builds, instead of just slapping some parts together and "making it work".


The funniest (saddest?) thins is when people try to defend it. Apparently looking "cool" is more important than having a properly built car.

Well, to be honest a lot of people just dont know better - me included. It took many years and lots of trial and error for me to learn. Not everyone learns, some people are just destined to be stupid.

One of my friends owns a 240Z and told me that he wants to buy a CX Racing turbo kit for his RB.... (sigh). My response was "good luck with that, bud."

[Malik]

Originally Posted by zombiewolf513

I agree with this

thanks so do I

[Rustys14]

I figure I minds well stir the pot since this thread hasn't seen any action lately. Last month while browsing Alibaba I stumbled across some 7x6 LED headlights. They were $45 and promised to be plug and play for the s13 in addition to haveing far superior lighting. Now I knew what I was getting into but I was curious and for $45 I figured I didn't have much to lose. Anyway they came in yesterday and I figured that I would share my findings.

Here is what they look like out of the box (kind of an ugly but most LED lights are IMHO)



I'll admit that I was fairly impressed with the construction of the lights, the lense is thick plastic and the rear is made from cast aluminum. I've seen the quality of some of the castings that come out of China and these are much better then I was expecting.



The plug is the standard for most sealed beam lights. On my set one of the plugs was pinned wrong (high and low beam wires were switched) so I had to re-pin it. Its 3 prongs and the plug was even color coded to the wires so idk how you could fuck it up but they did. Anyway I was fully prepared for something like that so it wasn't a big deal, but it should give a good Idea of the actual quality lol.



Once I got the wiring sorted out I installed them and to my surprise they worked, no dead leds or any nonsense that I was expecting.

Here are what they look like compared to the old lights (you can already see here that these are going to blind any oncoming traffic):



Lowbeam against wall (slightly too close but couldn't I back up any further):



Highbeam against wall:



Lowbeam on road (photo came out pretty shitty):



Highbeam on road:



And installed on the car with the lights off:



Sorry for the long post but I'm seeing these things start to pop up on eBay for $120 and wanted to get some info out there before anyone went out and spent that kind of money on these. People are free to draw their own conclusions from above and I will admit that the light output is better then stock but that said, I won't be running them on my car...

[Matej]

Originally Posted by Rustys14

Lowbeam against wall (slightly too close but couldn't I back up any further):

Beautiful cutoff.

[KAT-PWR]

He's pulling out leg. That's actually a flash light pointed at the garage.

[Rustys14]

Originally Posted by Matej

Beautiful cutoff.

Its hard to see what doesn't exist.

Originally Posted by KAT-PWR

He's pulling out leg. That's actually a flash light pointed at the garage.

Hahaha, I wish it was a joke...

[usdm180sx]

Look like fly eyes lol but nice light

[silviaks2nr]

Horrible in every possible way.

[Future240]

It looks like someone is puking light onto the wall.

[blueshark123]

We should just install light bars on the roof of the car like jeeps.

[ixfxi]

no markings on the glass, i am surprised those managed to make it into the country

i have a feeling those will be banned............. eventually

[IIIXziuR]

Pretty sweet. It kind of looks like those landscape spotlights people use around their homes.

[Z_Spool]

Originally Posted by Rustys14

Originally Posted by Matej

Beautiful cutoff.

I lul'd

Originally Posted by usdm180sx

Look like fly eyes lol but nice light

Glad I'm not the only one who thought this.

[Matej]

Non-DOT headlamps.

[ixfxi]

More like non-ANYTHING headlights

Is there a lighting standard that those conform to? Doesnt appear to be the case, from what I can tell.

[mad-ass]

My ballast is starting to act up after 8 years(First gen Mod-Express 35W)
Will probably look for new ballast in 55W, should I even bother looking past the TRS ballasts?

[silviaks2nr]

OEM Densos BNItoyotaB from trs for $130... hard to go wrong. hella gen3 are great too but don't like aftermarket bulbs. Both sets in my cars are over 15yrs old and work like a charm.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/cl...l#.VkTLb7-ndVc

[Habibi240]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

Well, it all depends on how you see it. The way I see it, its a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a car the way you want it. No sense in building a Z32 with high HP and then driving with some antiquated lights. Last thing anyone would want is to run into something at highway speeds. Lets not even talk about medical costs, the cost of headlights is a drop in the bucket.



^ Here is a photo for the fancy S13 owners. They do exist.

Honestly the only thing I don't like on my s13 hatch is the lighting and soon I will try to get fancy with it . Currently running stock kouki tails and stock pop up I have a strange love for the pop up style lights but I don't like the lighting it provides .

[ehhhregartless]

[ixfxi]

great use of those cima projectors

[silviaks2nr]

silvia dual projectors w/ modified rx330 projectors, oem bulbs/ballasts, satin black paint and clear headlight covers. The owner wanted to wrap the edges with black vinyl but I usually paint that part on the polycarb lenses when I finish.

[DJTTon]

I cant recall the name, but can you guys remind me the name of the style of the zenki headlight covers? Im talking the stock style with the plastic ridges on the lenses.

Also, I read somewhere on here of one way of transforming them. Something like sanding the inside of the lense and getting rid of the ridges to make the lense a bit clearer. Any input on that?

[silviaks2nr]

You can replace the factory fluted lenses with aftermarket polycarbonate clear "covers" (lenses). If you do this you need to do a projector retrofit at the same time in order to have proper light dispersion/ beam pattern.

another zenki jdm housing bixenon projector retrofit







please excuse the dust that settled on top of the lenses...

[Black R]

Originally Posted by Rustys14

I figure I minds well stir the pot since this thread hasn't seen any action lately. Last month while browsing Alibaba I stumbled across some 7x6 LED headlights. They were $45 and promised to be plug and play for the s13 in addition to haveing far superior lighting. Now I knew what I was getting into but I was curious and for $45 I figured I didn't have much to lose. Anyway they came in yesterday and I figured that I would share my findings.

Here is what they look like out of the box (kind of an ugly but most LED lights are IMHO)



I'll admit that I was fairly impressed with the construction of the lights, the lense is thick plastic and the rear is made from cast aluminum. I've seen the quality of some of the castings that come out of China and these are much better then I was expecting.



The plug is the standard for most sealed beam lights. On my set one of the plugs was pinned wrong (high and low beam wires were switched) so I had to re-pin it. Its 3 prongs and the plug was even color coded to the wires so idk how you could fuck it up but they did. Anyway I was fully prepared for something like that so it wasn't a big deal, but it should give a good Idea of the actual quality lol.



Once I got the wiring sorted out I installed them and to my surprise they worked, no dead leds or any nonsense that I was expecting.

Here are what they look like compared to the old lights (you can already see here that these are going to blind any oncoming traffic):



Lowbeam against wall (slightly too close but couldn't I back up any further):



Highbeam against wall:



Lowbeam on road (photo came out pretty shitty):



Highbeam on road:



And installed on the car with the lights off:



Sorry for the long post but I'm seeing these things start to pop up on eBay for $120 and wanted to get some info out there before anyone went out and spent that kind of money on these. People are free to draw their own conclusions from above and I will admit that the light output is better then stock but that said, I won't be running them on my car...

For $45 that's not bad.

Cheaper than autozone replacements.

What's the link for those things?

I'd be willing to aim my headlight buckets at the ground - I just don't like the sealed beam bulbs at all.

[turboshoebox]

All this cool stuff silviaks2nr is posting and someone asks about the shity led s13 pop up lights?

[Agamemnon]

And quoted the whole garbage post!

[ehhhregartless]

[tuzzio]

looking for any info on anybody whos retrofit s13 bricks, or removed/rearranged the reflectors for better aim/output