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 Post subject: HEADLIGHTS
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:03 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:21 pm
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Location: Western Queensland
Hi guys, what sort of headlights should my Cooper S have? It has been convirted to H4 with a flat front. I have a set of really curved ones , I don;t care about the lighting ability, just need to get it ready for the mini muster!

Thanks
BRett

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:07 pm 
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Location: Down South
I think mine has Lucas sealed beam.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:09 pm 
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are they curved or flat front?

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:27 pm 
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Location: Down South
Curved!

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:28 pm 
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Location: Under the bonnet son!
Should be curved. The sealed beams seem to usually have a flat front, but curved glass H4's can be found. Truck wreckers are a good (cheap) source of H4's.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:29 pm 
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thanks guys, off to fit them now

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:30 pm 
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Location: near Baulkham Hills, NSW
Hella H4s are flat, my Wipac Quadoptics (from Minispares UK) are curved, but less than a Lucas sealed beam is.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:49 pm 
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Those Wipacs are awesome, I've got them too. It's tough to pick them from Lucas sealed beams at a glance, and they cant be compared for light output, much, much brighter.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:11 pm 
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I have actually found it harder to see at night with the Wipac's, but it is probably just the adjustment.
Does anyone know how to properly adjust/set up the lights? I read somewhere about parking 5m from a wall and aligning them using a measuring tape. Does that sound right?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:16 pm 
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I usually nose the car up to a wall and place a cross on the wall in the middle of the circle of light. (I use a bit of masking tape to mark the cross)
Then I roll the car back about 2 metres and see where the lights are shining in relation to the cross. I try to get Low beam on the bottom left of the cross, High beam in the middle of the cross.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:38 pm 
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Location: Sunny Shine Coast, Qld Australia
OK Found this - its American but the set up is how I remember doing it years ago - as discribed but on HIGH beam (not low as article) then low beam projects down and to left of crosses.

If your headlights don't seem properly aimed or you've installed new headlights, you may want to adjust the alignment of the beams for optimum night visibility.


Choose a location on level ground in front of a blank wall or a garage door. Position the vehicle so it's perpendicular to the wall and about 25 feet back.


Set up a double-crossbar target on the wall, using black electrical tape (figure A). Measure the distance from the center of one headlamp to the center of the other. Use this as the span between uprights of the crossbars. Now measure the distance from the ground to the horizontal midline of the headlight. Let this be the height of the horizontal bar.


With the vehicle 25 feet from the wall and the headlights on low beam and aimed at the crossbars, adjust the vertical and horizontal alignment screws on each headlight until each beam is centered exactly (figure B). You may need to raise the hood to get to the adjustment screws.

Note: This method will give you an approximate adjustment. To have your headlights aligned precisely, take your car to an auto-service center.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:42 pm 
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If You are looking for originality the headlamps should be Lucas seal beams, ( with Lucas in the centre of lens ) Any headlamp that you can remove the globe from the rear is a semi seal beam


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:52 pm 
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"To have your headlights aligned precisely, take your car to an auto-service center"

Or find a nice long stretch of flat road and just adjust away until you can see as much as possible.

Cheers, Ian


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:42 pm 
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John Smidt wrote:
If You are looking for originality the headlamps should be Lucas seal beams, ( with Lucas in the centre of lens ) Any headlamp that you can remove the globe from the rear is a semi seal beam

Early 850 etc pre-dated sealed beams... I'm sure my 61 never had them. :wink:

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:33 am 
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Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:54 pm
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Park against the wall, put two small bits of tape on where the lights would touch. Reverse 5 meters, and try to get this sort of approach.

Has worked for me many times. I found it in a Gregory's manual.

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