jes. Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Our 1998 GT wagon is suffering the dreaded yellow headlight haze. I'd like to find new ECE lights, for "drive on right traffic" or left hand drive. I know Depot makes some ECE replacements, so if you have sources for parts, please share them. I'd also like to know what others have done. FYI, I have been using halogen ECE headlights in my cars long before halogen sealed beams were introduced in the US... I've included some links that were discussed in another thread because I didn't want to hijack their thread. I'm not interested in JDM, they are not legal or safe for drive on right traffic. Also not interested in HID or LED bulb conversions, not legal anywhere on the planet, as they result in bad beam patterns, with hot spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jes. Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 JDM headlights are for right hand drive... illegal in left hand drive countries, not to mention unsafe for you & blinding to oncoming traffic If you want better than the plastic headlights, you need to find ECE lights from a left hand drive country. I was under the impression this only applies to projector headlights, as the cutoff is the wrong way. Standard diffuser type headlights can simply be aimed toward the right side of the road. No, aiming doesn't solve the problem... from Daniel Stern Lighting: ECE/EEC Marking: Headlamp Suitability for Traffic Direction This is a very important marking. All low ("passing", "lower", "dipped") beams are an asymmetrical distribution of light to give maximum seeing in the direction of travel while controlling glare light directed towards oncoming traffic. A headlamp intended for use in traffic that flows on the right side of the road must never be used on the left side of the road, nor must a left-traffic headlamp ever be used on the right side of the road. A wrong-side-of-road headlamp does not provide adequate illumination for the driver to see what he needs to see in order to drive safely, and severely blinds oncoming traffic. This cannot be corrected by adjusting the aim of the lamp, because traffic-handedness is intrinsic in the optics of the lamp. This means it is very unsafe to use UK-spec, Australian-spec, or Japanese-spec ("JDM") headlamps in the United States, Canada, Continental Europe or any other location that drives on the right side of the road. Many performance parts dealers are illegally importing and selling JDM or wrong-side-of-road ECE headlamps into North America, and touting them as a "performance improvement". They may or may not have ECE headlamp markings, but they are not a performance improvement -- they are a danger. IMHO this is the best lighting solution for the US: German (or any other drive on right country) ECE lights. I've been looking, but haven't found any that will ship to the US... If they ship to US, they don't charge VAT, which is about 18%. What we need is somebody in Europe willing to buy lights from Subaru & ship to us. Used ECE lights on ebay. Just get brand new depo headlights, then retrofit them with mini h1s. that is the best way to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jes. Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 Just get brand new depo headlights, then retrofit them with mini h1s. that is the best way to do it. I really like the way that turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor294 Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Ill take more pics tonight. I retrofit everything lol. I'll never drive a halogen reflector car again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Are you looking to find mods for reflector housings or looking to retrofit in projector housings into stock housings? Also, are you looking to retain the factory dual filament bulb or do you want to split to having two separate bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jes. Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 That's one of the reasons I was looking for Subaru ECE lamps. They use an H4 bulb, which simplifies or eliminates wiring changes. Makes them pretty much "plug & play". One of these Hella 90mm modules would probably be a good choice for a retrofit into some clean new housings: Bi-Halogen, H7 Bulb, ECE, 12 V, right-hand traffic, 1AL 009 998-001 Bi-LED, ECE, Right-hand traffic: 1AL 012 758-001 or 1AL 010 820-021 Just take a little rewiring for the shutter circuit. I guess the ultimate stretch would be to retrofit some bi-xenon projectors into some clean new housings. I hesitate to go that far, because HIDs really should have an auto level mechanism... you'd also have to add ballasts Hella Bi-xenon low-beam and high-beam headlamp, 12 V, right-hand traffic, D2S: 1AL 009 997-001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor294 Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Thor, your pattern looks pretty good. What are you running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 HIDs complicate things, the wirings pretty easy but then you need HID projectors, not halogen projectors and you need good quality components to get nice OEM results and no issues with inspections and what not. If I were going to create non-HID new headlight housings, I'd find the cheapest dual bulb housings with the nicest lenses I can find and then do halogen projector low beams, reflector high beams and then wire everything myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor294 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Thor, your pattern looks pretty good. What are you running? Morimoto mini h1 All from retrofit source. They never disappoint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jes. Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 Just to clarify... it looks like the BI-XENON: MORIMOTO MINI H1 STAGE III RETROFIT KIT is a real retrofit, ~90 mm Morimoto HID projector w/ballast. The Morimoto is an alternative to Hella or other 90mm projectors. I looked briefly at the kit contents, IMHO looks like a pretty good price... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor294 Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Yup that's exactly what I used Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sorrowfulkiller Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 I've used that kit on my 04 ford ranger and I really like it, However... I really wish I would've done the D2S so I could put OEM bulbs in because they are generally bright and have better color temperature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal71919 Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Ill take more pics tonight. I retrofit everything lol. I'll never drive a halogen reflector car again Are the jdm headlamps the only option for a clear lense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor294 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Are the jdm headlamps the only option for a clear lense? Yeah. But you can see the performance even without the clear lense. Mine are just depo replacements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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