JDM Headlights

[Reason01]

I just bought JDM headlights for a 97 Legacy, and on the head lights there is a third light (194). I'm not sure what its for, so I might turn it into strobe lights, any suggestions??

[myles]

When and where are you going to use strobe lights?

[Reason01]

Car shows my friend!

[hklaine]

Which JDM's did you get? Just out of curiosity. Projectors?

 

-Heikki

[Reason01]

I have pics of them up on here http://members.cardomain.com/reason come check them out. Dont forget to vote ;-)

[Legacy777]

that third bulb is a euro style parking lamp light.

 

In japan and europe the turn signals are where the corner lenses (parking lamps) are for the US cars. Since they still need parking lamps, they are integrated into the headlights.

[hklaine]

Nice. Are they RHD/LHD? Are there projectors out there that can be used on on US cars (w/ the proper cutoff)? Anyone know?

 

-Heikki

[Legacy777]

if they're jdm lights the cutoff will be on the wrong side, and really shouldn't be used on US spec cars.

[Hondasucks]

Color me %*%*ing stupid, but what is this "Cutoff" you speak of???

[Reason01]

Color me %*%*ing stupid, but what is this "Cutoff" you speak of???

Do tell I never heard of a cutoff

[applegump]

A cut off acts as a shield to protect oncoming traffic from being blinded. The cut of is always on the drivers side in the headlight, thus crreating a beam that doesn't go over horizontal. On the passenger side, it is not as blinding to have light aimed higher, with the added benefit of seeing the curb and pedestrians on the sidewalk as well as signs better.

I hope that explains it, maybe someone can do it better.

[hklaine]

Cutoff on U.S. (and other LHD countries) cars should look something like this:

 

 

Notice how the beam cuts up on the right side to illuminate road signs, deer, pedestrians, etc...

 

On the JDM headlights this cutoff will be on the left side so you need to be careful to aim this headlight lower so as to avoid blinding oncoming drivers.

 

Here is a picture of an instance where someone did a decent job of this:

(notice the "hotspot" of the driver side lamp is down low, on the sidewalk)

 

You can see how the light pattern loses the "flare" on the right side (since the passenger side lens is designed for a flat cutoff).

 

Here are the two images next to each other:

 

These images are from a thread in another forum but work well here to illustrate the point.

 

You can see detailed instructions on aiming headlights here. I would assume aiming your passenger side light to spec (up/down) and then adjusting the driver side to a reasonable height would work. Aiming l/r may be difficult with the passenger side since you don't have and kink in the pattern to use for reference. Ideas? Trial and error may be the best method for this one.

 

-Heikki

 

BTW: I use driver/passenger side reference points above as they would be on a LHD car.