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Thread: 7" led headlight conversion

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    sunny QLD, australia
    Posts
    1,218
    My Cars
    e21 320i, wide s50 e36

    7" led headlight conversion

    so i decided to switch back to singles instead of the twin e34 projectors i had installed. being im going grp2 kit, the singles look better i think.

    only problem is the 2 old lenses i have are different, and one is a lhd pattern, no good for australia.

    i figured id have a look at some led headlights to modernise it a tad, but dont like the look of most leds, so went with a reflector lens. doesnt look out of place i think, will see what real world lighting is like oneday :p

    now the only problem is the e21 7" arent the same as a standard 7" sealed beam type headlight.

    i like a challenge, havent found anyone else that had done this, so jumped in anyway

    so first things first, the lights. ebay specials, quality looks alright, nice solid alloy heatsinks, decent cable and h4 plug

    20170504_162828 by troy, on Flickr

    brackets i decided on some harley adapters

    20170427_170902 by troy, on Flickr

    only problem is theyre quite bulky and i guess the oem setup was designed the way it was due to clearance issues

    20170427_171724 by troy, on Flickr

    luckily the spacing to bring the headlight out to roughly the right depth was spot on with the base of the harley mount, so chopped the tabs off and flattened them out, ground some clearance notches in the original brackets(pics to come) for the adjuster nuts, and will weld them into place.

    received_10155146914520505 by troy, on Flickr

    the chrome ring mounts and adjuster screw mounts need to be trimmed to clear the grille, but so far so good!

    20170504_174645 by troy, on Flickr

    this next pic is just the light sitting unsecured. will post more as i work on these with more detailed pics on the bracket modifications

    20170504_174252 by troy, on Flickr

    now these lights dont have parklight/citylight/whatever you want to call it in them, so was thinking just throw them in the indicators like the us ones. can i use the us housings with euro lenses? or do i just drill a hole in my euro ones and add a universal t10 socket


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Bayview, WI
    Posts
    2,918
    My Cars
    1983 BMW 320i M20 Turbo
    I did this with some 7" VW smoked crosshairs for my group 2 e21. I chopped up the VW mounts and welded them to the e21 buckets with the help of another member who did the same. Yours look good too.
    1999 Z3 Coupe 2.8L


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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    NC
    Posts
    2,126
    My Cars
    E30M3,318is,318i,E21320
    Quote Originally Posted by bassboy3313 View Post
    I did this with some 7" VW smoked crosshairs for my group 2 e21. I chopped up the VW mounts and welded them to the e21 buckets with the help of another member who did the same. Yours look good too.
    Looked into an all LED setup on the racecar just for simplicity and low power draw. Found Hella makes a housing a lot of E30 guys use, so trying a set. They are smaller 5.315" and fit an H4 bulb. Plenty of H4 led sets to choose from. There have been plenty of leaps in tech on these so have to search. There are plenty of vendors still selling old tech style bulbs that work fine, but the middle road versions have moved up a notch.

    can google 002850001 hella and find plenty of other vendors; these fit H4 bulbs and popular with other 80's cars
    Last edited by autox320; 05-06-2017 at 07:45 AM.
    88 M3
    91 318is
    91 318i
    83 320is
    08 X3 3.0si

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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    sunny QLD, australia
    Posts
    1,218
    My Cars
    e21 320i, wide s50 e36
    spent the afternoon chopping and welding. brackets just need a lick of paint. not really much point touching the welds, will never see them. theyre not great(second bracket was a bit better, its been well over a year since welding anything) but amateur with a gasless mig doesnt help either :p

    mainly just had to trim the outer ring mouting ears down as much as i could(forgot a pic)

    20170510_161049 by troy, on Flickr

    20170510_173304 by troy, on Flickr

    20170510_161834 by troy, on Flickr

    20170510_162446 by troy, on Flickr
    Last edited by hakhawk; 05-10-2017 at 04:09 AM.


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Argentina
    Posts
    1
    My Cars
    1981 BMW 316 Coupe (E21)
    That's nice! More Pics Please!

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