TA fog light upgrade

Dirty Dog · 06-25-2009, 04:50 PM

I am not sure exactly where local tradition would put this, so feel free to move it. But hey, lights are electrical...
It's pretty much universally accepted that the TA headlights are less than ideal. I noticed that I had a fog burned out, and that the lens were in bad shape after 160,000 miles of road rash. So... a chance to repair is a chance to upgrade, right?

I ordered a pair of Hella Optilux 2500 Angel Eye lights from (pick your favorite vendor...). I couldn't care less about the LED ring, but they're about the right size, and with 55W H3 bulbs they ought to be bright enough to eliminate the need to ever turn on my air brakes - I mean popup headlights. The kit comes with a wiring harness, including a toggle that will let you turn on either the halo light or the driving light. I tossed the harness and switch into the spare parts box. All you need from the kit is the lights and the brackets.

We started by removing the factory fogs and spending some time examing the brackets to figure out how to modify them. Turns out it's pretty simple.

Use a cutoff wheel to remove the "bucket" the factory used to wrap around the light housing. Picture one shows this in progress. If you're a neat freak, you can use a bench grinder to cleaen up the cuts. I did, but left a bit of a rib to add rigidity to the now "L" shaped bracket. Picture two shows the modified bracket next to the original. Note that I shot this before I cleaned it up...

According to Hella, their bracket attaches at the "top" of the light. We don't care. We mounted it upside down. Picture three shows the new light bolted to the modified bracket. Note that Hella kindly included a molded boss in a spot that is perfect for a bolthead. Notice the hole we drilled into the modified bracket. This was done to allow us to run a bolt to give us some up/down adjustment. Picture four shows the assembly from the rear.

Picture five shows the assembled units. Notice that we took the spring off the factory adjuster, stuck it over a bolt and ran the bolt through the modified brackets. Use this to adjust your beams and then put on a jam nut. It won't budge.

Picture six shows the finished product. The lights are well centered in the factory holes and they're MUCH brighter than the fogs. I'll get out after dark and see if they eliminate the need for headlights, but I will not be suprised if they do.

The pictures could be better, but all I had with me was my iPhone.

pentavolvo · 06-25-2009, 05:03 PM

looks good

xXxSilveradoxXx · 06-25-2009, 06:56 PM

Hahaha! Keep us all posted, this is just what I'm looking for!

pentavolvo · 06-25-2009, 08:12 PM

IMO you probally should use a relay though I bet they draw alot more then oem fogs

Dirty Dog · 06-26-2009, 02:58 AM

Jusr drove home from the theater. The new lights are plenty bright, but we have them aimed low enough that they were not blinding anybody. They light up in front of the car great, but don't light up the shoulder of the road at all, so headlights are still needed. I hope someone will come up with a non-popup replacement for a reasonable price. That $1000 for the only set I have seen seems a bit steep.

xXxSilveradoxXx · 06-26-2009, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirty Dog

Just drove home from the theater. The new lights are plenty bright, but we have them aimed low enough that they were not blinding anybody. They light up in front of the car great, but don't light up the shoulder of the road at all, so headlights are still needed. I hope someone will come up with a non-popup replacement for a reasonable price. That $1000 for the only set I have seen seems a bit steep.

That's sounds really good! I think since the fog lights are recessed quite a bit it blocks most of the side lighting. Reading this thread got me looking into installing some of these on my car. I'm not feeling the LED ring thing, so I've been looking for some 4" lights. I've found three decent ones. Your Hella Optix lights and the two below.

Street Scene Driving Lights

Westin Driving Lights

They are all 55W H3 bulb lights. The only difference I see, other then the LED ring, is the Hella lights have steel housings and the other two have plastic housings. I gotta figure out which ones to get!

One thing is for sure though, any of these housings with some HIDs would be so bad ass it wouldn't even be funny!

Dirty Dog · 06-26-2009, 07:04 PM

I just clipped the wires off the silly LED ring. I wanted the metal housing, since I just think it's stronger, and because the Hella lights have the boss cast in that we used to fab an adjuster.

4WOFURY · 06-26-2009, 08:19 PM

How hard will it be to change the lights out once they blow?

BRD-PREY · 06-26-2009, 08:49 PM

My Hella 90's produce more usable light than my high and low halogen sealed beam conversions with H7 bulbs together. You don't even realize the head lights aren't on.
Ed
They cost about 140.00 or something like that.

They are very wide but they have the shield in them that prevents them from blinding oncoming traffic. See the last picture.

Dirty Dog · 06-26-2009, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4WOFURY

How hard will it be to change the lights out once they blow?

Well, I had never been able to change the factory bulbs in the car either. I have always had to pull the bracket out, so this will be the same. Couple more things to unscrew, but still no big deal.

VIP1 · 06-27-2009, 04:14 PM

Good work.

I've added this to the Lighting FAQ:
Lighting FAQ