7 inch budget lucas-style round headlights

[CJH]

Maybe there's still hope, just:




I know - too much time on my hands.

[itchyfeet]

Did you need to drill? Not clear from your pic
need painting black

10/10 for trying this, it's that attitude that moves things on.

[CovKid]

Three clips probably quicker though and less on show. You wonder why they setlled on blue during production. Chrome finish would also show.

[CJH]

Oh dear, I didn't realise my image manipulation skills were so convincing! That's another image of the bezel that I found online, extracted from its background, coloured blue so you can see it, and made slightly transparent so you can see Itchy's clips. I then scaled it to fit, and rotated it until I found a position that might work. Hence my remark about having too much time on my hands!

It looks touch and go if you ask me - I think it'll need three new holes drilling, and a couple of them will be right on the edge. The ones I've bought will be black, and I'm assuming all the tabs will be hidden behind the plastic grille.

[itchyfeet]

I wonder if depth will be a problem.

If it doesn't align but depth is ok for the money I think I'll buy the defender bezels, trim the tabs off and add my own in the right places.
looks better than the clips in my humble opinion.
You could also adjust depth if you add your own tabs and even change the depth in future with replacement tabs, I suspect the plastic ones will need more than the euro car parts ones as the profile is different.

Another solution may be to drill three holes in the side of the bezel and employ the services of three cable ties around the adjuster ring, this may even allow adjustment.

[CJH]

I suspect the depth will be best suited to the original Lucas lights, since these are OEM bezels. I've ordered a pair of the plastic lights now, so with a bit of luck both lights and bezels should be here by the weekend so I'll be able to have a play. I think you're right about adding your own tabs - bits of jubilee clip riveted on should be ample, provided there's room for the rivet head.

[CJH]

My new headlights and the Land Rover bezels all arrived yesterday, so I've had a go at fitting one. The bezels aren't an instant fit, but they can be adapted quite easily. I've used the plastic angel eye headlamps that I linked to above, and the bezel screws are only just long enough since I guess the light unit is a bit deeper than the Lucas version. But they all do up nice and tight, and the lamp is very secure in the frame.

This is what I did to the bezel to make it work - this photo is from the back of the bezels.


The new tab is made from a scrap of 8mm kunifer pipe (like copper brake pipe), squashed flat and made into an 'L' shape. There's room between the bezel and the headlight for the rivet head, but I had to squeeze the other end of the rivet flat in a vice to clear the screw head.


This is it mounted in the frame - new tab at the top.


Quite a marked difference visually in the side/parking lights. I wouldn't say it's any brighter, but it's certainly a whiter light.



Not much difference on dipped - as expected (same bulb, same wiring)


Just the other side to go this evening, and maybe a bit of black paint to seal the edges where I cut off the tabs and to hide the rivet heads.

[itchyfeet]

Nice one

[CovKid]

The dedicated reflector will outperform the Hella one in terms of defining the cut off point and better focus. They also don't rust but they may well fog or yellow with age - depends what materials were used. Who cares though. It works. Well done for showing another method Chris.

[Ian and Lins]

Can't see the SA ones being any different. You're absolutely correct in thinking "where are the screws" as they (or clips) don't come with lights. A cursory look suggests they don't fit. However, the lucas type lugs do definately drop neatly into the recesses so its only a case of making the clips needed to hold lamp in place. After that, they can be adjusted using same screws as stock lamps. Clearly its been done before, hence ECP flogging them as such, even if they don't provide a how-to.

I looked at them for some time, realising that they located ok before a chat with Oldie but Goodie confirmed that they only needed a little bench work to fix them in place.

If you like, hold on until I get the Landrover ones (week or so) and I'll add those to the WIKI. You still need to make up the clips but its no headache really. The difference would be that the Landrover ones will be made out of modern plastics but I imagine the beam will be far superior and the LEDs add a little glam. They'll fit series 1 landrovers so the lugs will be identical.

Better pic of light unit: http://images.esellerpro.com/2133/I/443/2/IMG_3908.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and in the dark: http://images.esellerpro.com/2133/I/443 ... 20Copy.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just remember, you WILL have to make up some clips though. I know of none available commercially (I hunted high and low) but I'm sure even the very stiff wire used to hold in headlight bulbs could be bent and made to clip lamps in firmly.

Something like: - not tried it but should work. I did it differently (check WIKI).

These W clips look identical to the ones that hold the Lucas headlight unit into the old Triumph motorcycle headlight housing (Bonneville and Trident definitely), maybe a dig around Classic Bike spares might unearth some?

[CovKid]

Indeed but I made my own and they certainly didn't look anything like that. When you have lamp and mount in front of you it becomes more obvious what you need. The best description is a Z-clip but as noted a good quality strong jubilee clip can be hacked around to make three clips. However, a cheap one will almost certainly be too thin and lack the strength needed.

[nicktennear]

I ordered these from the Eurocarparts ebay store to avoid a courier charge from the ECP website. Today in work got the message that two huge boxes that weighed nothing were in goods in. Amazingly they sent them separately in two 30x50 boxes full of brown paper. I'm tempted to move house.

I'm going to use clips I found in an inherited drawer of many things in the garage, similar to ones Covkid used but with rubber coating. Lord knows what they're really meant for. Will post progress, if they work I've got about 20 of them so can send out for postage.

[itchyfeet]

CJH
just a thought, rather than a right angle bracket with a rivet you could have used a flat plate with two holes to connect the tab on the adjuster ring to the tab on the bezel with two screws.

Have been looking for a circular flat ring that you can screw to the adjuster ring, you can then drill holes and mount defender bezels unmodified, seen some candidates but nothing certain yet.

[CJH]

CJH
just a thought, rather than a right angle bracket with a rivet you could have used a flat plate with two holes to connect the tab on the adjuster ring to the tab on the bezel with two screws.

True. And in fact I think I could have positioned the bezel tab closer to the hole in the adjuster ring, to minimise the length of such a plate.

Have been looking for a circular flat ring that you can screw to the adjuster ring, you can then drill holes and mount defender bezels unmodified, seen some candidates but nothing certain yet.

That'll be interesting to see. Don't forget to make holes so that you can access the adjuster screws.

[itchyfeet]

I like the daytime look of the lights you got