[Mk2] [Generic] Project quads - flush headlights !

[planted1]

Its ono ken's car
arguably the finest mr2 out there

http://skill-s.com/typeono

The lights are the inners from a nissan cima f50

http://www.mobilityengineering.com.au/nissan_cima.htm

[craig]

Those Volk wheels on that thing

[gazrev1tubby]

A little update........

Both light housings are finished and ready to mould from yay

I've sussed the polycarbonate lens covers so once i've completed my reverse moulds I should be able to make them to order :th:

Just got to sus how to fit the projectors with adjustable bases for beam adjustment but I have a few ideas kicking about I'm also in the process of fitting dual filament bulbs with a true plug and play harness to the stock wiring for a 'proper' quad look :th:

Some pics :

[bolton]

someone else playing with there 2 today!! im not alone!! lol!
looking very good!!

[Bone]

Looks great! How are you doing the lens?

[gazrev1tubby]

Thanks guys, the lense will be made from polycarbonate either 2 or 3mm thick. They should fit straight in the moulds as i've done some test pieces but I may try thermoforming them for a 'moulded' fit

[lemonyfresh]

these...... are looking awesome
mabye ill have to ask for mould when youre done

looking forward to the next update!

(pop ups are still my fave tho )

[Bone]

I reckon £300 is too much mate. £200 - £250 sounds much better. You'll sell more. If I was to spend £300 I would rather pay a little bit extra a get Rogue pop ups.

[gazrev1tubby]

Thanks for the heads up mate, although its the projectors that are the most expensive part as they are £110 for 4 !

From doing a bit of working out, the housings with lenses will actually cost me £40 to make plus all the time involved actually laying the fg and then trimming/sanding it afterwards. I reckon each set of housings will take approx 4-5 hours to lay, trim, sand and prime

With the complete setup, it costs about £40 for the housings + £110 for the projectors, £25 to make the looms using h4 male and hb1 female adaptors, and then the extra bits like mounting plates and adjustment adaptors for the lights, 2 pairs of hb1 bulbs, convolute tubing, paint (as they would be sold pre painted to any colour), vehicle cutting templates etc etc. And plus about 6-7 hours labour to make them

As you can see, the profits aren't huge at all, in fact there is no profit in them considering the time they take to make.

I looked at the 'frog eye' quads on ebay which look toilet and they are £300 delivered unpainted and the rogue low rise are circa £400 delivered. Plus, my lights aren't available anywhere and will be literally made to order.

I thought £100 for housings and circa £275 - £300 for the complete setup was priced competitively but it depends how much there is. Obviously, if loads of people wanted a set I might be able to buy the materials in bulk and pass the savings on

Let me know your thoughts

[raptor95GTS]

if your units are a fit and forget then folks will pay extra. There does seem to be this culture on here (dunno about anywhere else) about getting everything for cheap. Paying for parts and labour is a fact of life and if you can't afford, either do it yourself or don't buy it

Rant over lol.

I think the flush units look great so far, me i'll stick with the pop ups Just don't sell yourself short if you do sell them (then if no one buys them you have a one off on your car)

[C50]

These are the daddies:

No, these are the daddies...!













Sadly not economical to produce... There are some build pictures here if they help with your project, but I'm pretty sure we'd do it differently if we did it again:

http://roguemotorsport.com/images/misc/shocklights/

indeedy!

you should deffo make them again but more economically

[RST]

Been watching this on the 'oc occasionally. Really very impressed -I wish I had time to do stuff like this as I think they'll look great when finished.

I agree with what Allan said though -folk don't understand why things cost. If youd turn this into a manufactured product, with tooling and moulds I'll bet the price quadrouples.

...Looks great though -I always wanted a flush kit on mine.

[gazrev1tubby]

Alan and RST,

I appreciate your comments guys and you have hit the nail on the head. If I were to offer copies for sale, they would be 'fit and forget' unlike other fibreglass products that i've had experience with

I won't sell myself short by any means, in fact - I seem to be buying extra bits daily that I hadn't thought of - its the adjustable projector bases that are proving testing but i've pretty much got them sussed now

Funnily enough I done a search on the rx7 forum about flush lights and stumbled upon a 'manufactured, off the shelf' kit that is available - and that retails at around £1200 and is immensley popular Just goes to show that just because I've made them, doesn't mean they're lesser quality

Anyway - I appreciate all the kind comments so far guys and here is a small update:

Both light housings are now sprayed matt black and I done a final test fit on the car - although I didn't bolt them down. Think i've now finally ordered everything I need to complete them so it's just a case of waiting for things to arrive. Also, ordered the clay and casting plaster to create mould should anyone else be interested

Some pics:




They look awesome from the road and make the car look really aggressive

A couple of pics of the metal that will need cutting away - a little more than i'd hoped so i'm going to fabricate aluminium braces to bolt over the back of the lights onto the remaining metal for rigidity

[Si_Crewe]

I know it's a little late in the day to make a significant change but anyway....

Why mount the lights right at the back of the pod?

Instead why not move the lights forward in the pods so you don't need to cut into the metal?
I'm assuming the projector lights are small enough that it wouldn't matter.
You could still cover the entire pod with a sheet of clear lexan. The end result would just look like the later Mitsu' GTO headlamps.... which are, after all replacements for the earlier pop-ups.

Basically, something like this: http://www.octanemotorsports.com/images ... ight_1.jpg

It'd be worth doing now if it means you can sell a kit that doesn't require any cutting of metal.

[RST]

Just goes to show that just because I've made them, doesn't mean they're lesser quality

...not at all. Very few times I've seen this done (there are a few write-ups out there) there are very small lamps used. Really very impressed, so far -just want to see what the finished article looks like!

...One question though -how do you secure the plastic lens and keep out moisture (maybe not got that far yet). Do you need to remove the plastic lens at MOT time to adjust the lamps or it it all done from the back.

Looks really good so far anyway

[RST]

Why mount the lights right at the back of the pod?

Instead why not move the lights forward in the pods so you don't need to cut into the metal?
I'm assuming the projector lights are small enough that it wouldn't matter.
You could still cover the entire pod with a sheet of clear lexan. The end result would just look like the later Mitsu' GTO headlamps.... which are, after all replacements for the earlier pop-ups.

...I think Isaw this question before -excuse me for jumping in but from my own measurements this would mean a "bulged" clear cover to accomodate the lights. There's not much room to keep the original lines on the SW20 so you can't shift that much further forwards (with useable lights anyway) and keep the proper lines.???

[Si_Crewe]

Why mount the lights right at the back of the pod?

Instead why not move the lights forward in the pods so you don't need to cut into the metal?
I'm assuming the projector lights are small enough that it wouldn't matter.
You could still cover the entire pod with a sheet of clear lexan. The end result would just look like the later Mitsu' GTO headlamps.... which are, after all replacements for the earlier pop-ups.

...I think Isaw this question before -excuse me for jumping in but from my own measurements this would mean a "bulged" clear cover to accomodate the lights. There's not much room to keep the original lines on the SW20 so you can't shift that much further forwards (with useable lights anyway) and keep the proper lines.???

Fair comment.

I must say, I'd give it a shot before commiting to chopping the metal though.

AFAIK, the lexan needs to be shaped by sitting it on top of an OEM headlamp cover and heating it so it melts.
Perhaps it'd be possible to sculpt some lumps onto the cover using clay so you end up with something a bit like a FIAT coupe headlamp when the lexan is heated?

Just seems a shame to have to chop away metal if a more elegant solution can be found.

[gazrev1tubby]

Just goes to show that just because I've made them, doesn't mean they're lesser quality

...not at all. Very few times I've seen this done (there are a few write-ups out there) there are very small lamps used. Really very impressed, so far -just want to see what the finished article looks like!

...One question though -how do you secure the plastic lens and keep out moisture (maybe not got that far yet). Do you need to remove the plastic lens at MOT time to adjust the lamps or it it all done from the back.

Looks really good so far anyway

Thank you mate - the lights are indeed quite small in diameter but are about 100mm long in total. Originally I intended to bond the covers on with sikaflex but decided against it in case they ever needed to be 'opened up' for removal and if a cover got damaged by a stone etc then they'd be a bu88er to get off !
I've actually decided to use a small self adhesive backed bubble gasket that will adhere to the perimeter of the housings and then the covers will have a small countersunk allen head bolt in each corner to fasten them down. Slightly against what I wanted to do but seems to easiest and most practical solution

Also, you are exactly right - the lines of the mr2 taper down at such a rate that to move the projectors forward would creat no end of problems moulding wise - and although making bulged lenses would be a solution, in reality actually trying to mould them would be a nightmare. Also I think it'd spoil the lines of the front end ?

Ideally it'd be nice to not cut any metal away but I searched everywhere for smaller (length) projectors and couldn't find any ? Maybe moped ones would be smaller but I don't like the idea of having something like that and also I bet they wouldn't come with a cast housing so that an adjustable base could be mounted to them - more like downlighter bulbs in your home !

Once fitted the projectors will be fully adjustable and accessible via the rear of the unit and will be adjustable both up and down, and left and right

[planted1]

Hi
Will you be able to offer the plain uncut buckets and lexan covers for sale?
by uncut i mean without the holes for the circular lights pre cut.
i would be very interested in a set of those if you do.

steve

[gazrev1tubby]

Yes bud no problem at all I'll have to update as and when I take moulds which might be this weekend. All being well - it should be good