Headlight Question

[fatman2k4]

First off, This is a great forum!

I plan on buying a MKIII Turbo. But....I am not a big fan of the pop-up headlights....Does anyone here know where an aftermarket headlight conversion?

For example....these are for the S13 240SX:

More information and pics...http://www.raceonusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=914

If I can't find these eventually.....I guess I'll have to make some....:icon_conf

 

[92Turbo]

not really a kit for these cars...but there have been some custom ones. The pop ups grow on you though..I never liked them but now I love the look of them

 

[cjsupra90]

Like stated before, nothing that you can buy, but could be custom made. I am trying to work on something similar for mine. Dont get me wrong, I love pop-up, but I do a lot of night time highway driving and I have checked it a number of times and I loose between 2 to 3 miles to the gallon when driving at night and with gas prices the way that they are, every bit of savings helps so the drag generating pop-ups have got to go.

 

[KeithH]

WOW! 2 - 3 miles/gallon? Somehow I seriously doubt that.

When I make the drive to Vegas each fall I don't notice any difference in mpg from daytime to nighttime driving. This is constant highway driving so there are very few variables in that equation.

 

[supra90turbo]

The AW11 MR2 lists different top speeds depending on whether the headlamps are up or down! :icon_lol:

I just don't see the point, even if you are saving 3mpg with them down, to do the conversion for that point solely.

I mean, you're gonna spend at least $400 if you do it right...
How much gas are you gonna save again?

 

[MassSupra89]

Pop-ups FTW. They're sweet and definetly grow on you. I love driving at night and seeing the reflection of the moon bounce off the top of the pop-ups.

But as for integrated lights, If you go the custom route don't use low quality fog lights as driving lights.

 

[KeithH]

Thanks MassSupra89 for that reminder.

If you are going to do something like this make sure you use lights designed to be used as headlights and NOT auxiliary lights.

 

[Nick M]

See Lamarossa.

 

[Figit090]

popups WILL grow on you.. as will the car... i wasn't sure about weather i like them up or down because i felt they both looked a bit odd but looking at her today i realised that my car looks great both ways, and it's unique compared to other cars.... i get comments on the "eyes" on my car...

if you're into mods and have skills u could do it, but i would just buy the car and then go from there...you'll have pleanty of other things to blow 400 dollars on.... save your money for something you're actually going to notice when driving...

do you not like the view from the outside of the car? because if that's the case just turn them off when you're about to leave the thing.....then they're down and the car looks nice and sleek...

 

[MassSupra89]

Here's a install guide of someone who did the flush-mount's on an MR2
"The Beast flush-mount headlights"


People also use NSX intregrated lights... but those lights are roughly $900 a piece I believe... then it requires modifying $1,800 lights to fit.

 

[fatman2k4]

I was thinking about getting a pair of Acura Integra Dual Angel Eye headlights and making a custom shell out of sheet metal, and work around the gap between the two peices of glass...e.g. how the fiber glass is on the Integra (if they will fit...):

 

[fatman2k4]

I also like how these are set up...but I would not put any plexiglass...Intread, I would maybe put the metal bases in front of the headlights at a good angle so that water can run off...I would just have to insulate around the lights.....

Any suggestions?

 

[Figit090]

nice idea...you could do that or work on a mod that would keep the popups but they would only open enough to expose those very lights...that would look nice. I've seen it done i believe. It would be kinda like sleepy-eye but a bit higher so it wouldn't be a full blown dated square light and it would probably look good... just rig mounts and some sort of seal like you mentioned to keep water out, and then somehow mod the lights to open to the correct angle...they have adjustments but i'm not sure exactly what they adjust....probably the stopping point of the motors but i'm not sure how much adjustment they allow.

you idea seems cool, but i have no idea how to go about doing it so i cant give suggestions on the fesability of it...sorry.

 

[supraman7mgte]

Its all about the time and effort put into it. I really don't think they will give you the same light spread as a set of pop-up's.
Hell,I just turn off my headlights and use my Hella driving lights anyways!!!

 

[cjsupra90]

WOW! 2 - 3 miles/gallon? Somehow I seriously doubt that.

When I make the drive to Vegas each fall I don't notice any difference in mpg from daytime to nighttime driving. This is constant highway driving so there are very few variables in that equation.

Like I said, I cheched it several times cause I found it hard to beleave myself when I first noticed it. I avererage 28 miles/gallon in the daytime highway driving and the best that I have ever gotton at night was 26 and tend to average 25. Again, I found it hard to beleave myself and is the reason as to why I have checked it a number of times.

Now Im sure that having the cruise set at 90 doesn't help here and now that I thought of that, I'll have to check it at 70 (actual highway speed limit) as 20mph differance at those speeds can have a significant inpact on aerodynamic drag.

 

[born2drv]

how did you measure out your daytime and nightime MPG so accurately? didn't you drive both day and night using the same tanks of gas?

Or did you drive one month at night and one month in the day time or something and average them out

 

[KeithH]

Can you let us in on your secret to improving the factory gas mileage by 5mpg? I would KILL to get 28mpg in my Supra. I could improve things by 1mpg if I went with the automagic.

Published highway mpg is 22/23 (5sp/auto) for the turbo and 23 for the NAs.

There are so many factors that go into this. Your previous tanks of gas will actually affect mpg.

When I leave Portland for Vegas I don't get as good of mileage as I do on that last tank of gas before I hit Vegas.

I'm not saying that they don't create a loss in mpg... but 13%? I don't think so.

 

[KeithH]

Fatman - Do some research on those headlights. I think you will find that the cost on those will be higher than going out and getting the Hella lenses. The Hella lenses also do not have the funky angled outer glass that you will have to figure out how to fix - making the whole job easier.

 

[Jeff Lange]

Can you let us in on your secret to improving the factory gas mileage by 5mpg? I would KILL to get 28mpg in my Supra. I could improve things by 1mpg if I went with the automagic.

Published highway mpg is 22/23 (5sp/auto) for the turbo and 23 for the NAs.

There are so many factors that go into this. Your previous tanks of gas will actually affect mpg.

When I leave Portland for Vegas I don't get as good of mileage as I do on that last tank of gas before I hit Vegas.

I'm not saying that they don't create a loss in mpg... but 13%? I don't think so.

I consistantly get at least 25mpg in my Supra on the highway, sometimes higher for a tank.

 

[cjsupra90]

I get 28 do to the fact that I have a full stand alone system and have it tuned so that under cruise conditions I have 40 degrees of total ign. advance and also between 17:1 to 18:1 afr constant. If I turn the system to close loop active, I only get in the 22 to 24 miles/gallons range.

We have already kinda hi-jacked this guys thread so if anyone has any other question, please PM me and I will go into detail.

Back to headlights now. I do like the flush mounts and like I said before, I love the pop-up. Just about every car that I have ever owned has had pop-ups except for my 68 camaro.

Having come across the new Hella 50mm modules, I may go back to a low profile pop-up insted of flush mount.