Since the local Makerspace (where I work on the car) and autocross days are suspended, I started looking at smaller projects I can do from the apartment.
My headlights need to be brought back to life, so I started toying with some design ideas to make them look less....cute?
Yesterday I noticed the JGTC MR-S's looked way more aggressive. While this primarily due to to the wide-body, I also noticed that the headlights looked like they had a smaller radius. Any thoughts as to what was done here? Did they swap the reflector housing for a sealed beam (doesn't make sense for a track car)?
The original SS article had this to say: "The factory windshield is still in place and the original equipment headlights and taillights still work". It doesn't look completely OEM to me and I'm pretty sure JGTC allowed some level of modifications to headlights.
Topic starter
Posted : April 13, 2020 3:50 pm
I had a similar idea in 2007 To replace the housing with either a sealed beam or a plastic cover that can be found on the old Porsche 911. I like the look, reminds me of a vintage LM car.
Posted : April 13, 2020 4:03 pm
1
I retrofitted pre-facelift headlights with D2S projectors and Apollo shrouds 5 years ago. The Autobacs and ThangCu35's retrofit were my inspiration for my work. This was only my 2nd time retrofitting headlights. I can't tell if the OEM housings on the Autobacs are completely stock (they look more elliptical to me), but there are a few tricks being done here that make it look better that the professional retrofitters know how to do.
1. Obviously, all black housings making everything look smaller.
2. The projector/lens is vertically closer to the top of the housing. That is one of the best tricks you can do to make it look better. A drop-in kit will only center the projector, and you need a custom rig to achieve this.
3. The projector/lens is pushed closer to the front of the car. You can see them from the side of the car. They are not buried in bowl of the housing.
4. The projector/lens is unusually wide in diameter. The shroud looks like a custom job.
All of these things work to make the projector/lens look larger, while making housing look smaller. Of course the widebody is #1 most important thing in making the housings look smaller.
scottsmods.com
Posted : April 15, 2020 1:58 pm
1
Very astute observations Scotched. Any pics of your retrofit by any chance?
Topic starter
Posted : April 21, 2020 9:36 pm
A very long time ago there was a double headlight combo in the housing that was sold by an obscure company. It had a big headlight and a slightly smaller headlight at unequal lengths and no turn signal next to it. It could be that the smaller clear headlight is the turn signal.
The only pictures were from a Malaysian MR-S forum and a link to a webpage for purchase but I believe the price at the time was near $1k. The other problem with it was some stupid design choice of having fake rivets around the clear plastic which was completely unnecessary. This was by far the best looking headlight set up I have seen with this car and I kind of regret not getting it as I would have never would have guessed the pictures would have disappeared.
Posted : April 23, 2020 8:58 am