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Every time I take my car out at night I think to myself how horrible the Aero-style headlights in my car, and so in my free time today I sourced some parts for a theoretical 7-inch round headlight conversion. I'd like to get input from the board about my ideas and provide a chance to hear any more suggestions
Brackets: though the junkyard would be the best place (cheapest) place for parts, I've never seen a single-round headlight Brick on the road in my hometown. In fact, I've only ever seen one single-round Brick on the road--there's virtually no chance I would find brackets for the lights in a junkyard. So, I would order these off of VLVWorld for the fairly reasonable price of $31.88 each.
Can anyone tell me what the difference between part "24hbra7" and "24hbra7gt" is? Based on the price, I would think the parts were identical, but the first item is the assembly and the second is called the assembly "spacer." What would I need to have something in which to mount 7-inch round beams?
Lights: Daniel Stern Lighitng's 7" Convex/Dome-face H4 high/low beam. Is that all I need here? I'm guessing I don't need the city light version, so that saves me $2 a light. Do they go right into the single-round Volvo headlight brackets?
Are there any better lights than those offered on Daniel Stern's site? I'm willing to trust Mr. Stern with the purchase, and I would contact him beforehand to solicit his input for my project (he seems to know a bit about European cars, if not Volvos specifically). I haven't found any similar lighting alternatives, as Cibie has stopped selling their famous Z-Beams, it appears. I would guess (and hope) that Mr. Stern offers whatever is now the best from Cibie.
For the mounting of the lights and filling in the space left around the lights, I'd have to fabricate something. Kane used zip ties and other low-tech parts in doing his conversion, and I would probably duplicate something like that (works well enough holding my grille on!). For cosmetic purposes, I guess I'd have to find some box frames or something to fill in the gap. What I'd really like, though, is something behind the lights--I want my front end to be all the way to the front, not having two holes that go all the way back to the internal structure that are covered by plexiglass or something. I wish those truck brackets weren't so expensive, or that a truck junkyard were nearby! (Do those even exist?)
But, back on topic, I suppose I might also want to consider a relay kit. If I were to get one, I'd probably buy from Daniel Stern again. Are there any objections to the sources for parts I've mentioned so far?
I initially thoguht things were hopeless because I have no way to "find" single-round brackets and all online sites had them at dealer price, until I wandered over to VLVWorld. I've gotten stuff from them before and trust them, and $30 a part doesn't seem like a lot. Even with a good set of 7-inch round lights, the monetary investment for this project wouldn't be excessive, which is my main obstacle, should things go wrong and have to be abandoned. If I get started, though, I plan on making this work. Does anyone have any advice for me?
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'89 244 GL -- 106,910 miles (see profile for info on car)
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