Hi All, I have just finished the prototypes for the latest project for the 348. This may also work on the F355, not sure yet. These brackets replace the OEM lights with 90mm Hella projectors and should be a direct plug in when finished. I still have a couple weeks of tinkering, but they look good so far. I am going to store my undamaged OEM lights and use these in the mean time. They should provide much better lighting. They reuse the stock adjustment holes for mounting and there is no drilling required. I have test fit them behind the light shrouds and they look great. I will have light mounted pictures in a few days and I will post them here. The brackets are produced by the same aircraft company that makes my replacement lenses and are excellent quality. I know this is not the purist route to take but I believe they look great There are three different versions of the 90mm lights produced by Hella so that also gives us options on the lighting, not to mention cost which is under $300.00 for the set of lights that I purchased online. I have included one set of high and low beams in the picture so you can check them out. Any thoughts? --Mike Image Unavailable, Please Login
I likey very mucho. Thinking of offering the conversion? Methinks if the number produced is more than 1, then the piece price per set is less. AS far as deviation from stock?... doesn't bother me. Most of the viewing of the car is during daylight with the lights in the down position and not seen. In the night when they are up, the increased lighting is definatly a good thing. Sign me up for a set. JD
Why yes I am . Price for the brackets is not decided yet. I don't get breaks on numbers produced as they are made by hand one at a time. Figure around $300-400.00 for the set, painted and delivered with mounting hardware. The price might get lower after we work out the materials we are using. Right now its a higher grade aluminum. --Mike
Hello Mike, Looks good, Are you looking to replace the pop-up to a flush mounted like the challenge cars?
Lets just say the lexan is cut and fitted and the tubs are under development. Not much room in the headlight area to work with. I can tell you the tubs will allow the mounting of the same 90mm Hella's do to their flexibility, cost and size. I don't have a time table on these yet, hopefully by mid-fall. There are concerns with the high speed air that passes over the cover. I want to make 100% sure these are solid units of excellent quality when done. --Mike
contact someone with a laser once the machining file is wrote (and paid for) these pieces could be cut in multiples from a single sheet and the price would be very inexpensive 20 - 30 per set
Being discussed actually. Problem is demand, I would need to produce a lot! The other is material cost, I only want to use high quality aluminum. The price for that is climbing. I also want to keep this side projects thing small. We'll see. Great idea though. --Mike
when you say high quality alum. most all alum is high quality if it is US made....but there is a varing aray of chemical makeup from soft to very hard (most armour plate) to salt water resistant. most alum body panels are made from alcoa. it would appear that you would need 3003 wich is very formable but has good strength and form retention
I told the company I wanted the same aluminum used for weather exposed parts on cars and aircraft and paint that would have the same scratch and chip resistance that the auto industry uses for trim parts (PPG DP90). They gave me different choices as far as the aluminum based on the properties I asked for, workability and the thickness I was using (0.80). We went with 3003 (excellent category) as you had mentioned. --Mike
Sure. PM me for the link to the lights supplier. Let me get these fit, tested and take pictures. After I'm sure they are set to go I guess I will be doing a run of these brackets. I'll post pictures in the next two days. --Mike
I have been looking at doing a similar project. Have you looked at using an Aluminium plate at the back to mount the lights and a fiberglass (or carbon fiber) tub. I was also thinking of using a darker shade of Lexan, it would look good with my black 348. Where did you get the HID projector lights for your project? marco
PM me for the light supplier. As for the lexan I am using a light smoked version for the prototype, but it is available in a lot of colors as well as clear. Its front edge is molded downward and follows the shape of the top of the OEM pop-up light exactly. The tubs will be aluminum, however we are looking into CF. Mounting is the hard part for the LM style lighting tub. We have designed a bracing that should be able to use the OEM light assembly mounting holes, but we need to test our front mount as well. I really do not want to design a part that requires drilling if possible. The lights themselves are easy to mount on our tub design. I also have a good aircraft adhesive for the lexan mounting so we do not need screws. I'll show you what we have in a few weeks. I need to get this current project completed in the next week or two. --Mike
Instead of Laser cutting, look into waterjet cutting. Less expensive and probably setup time (the biggest cost factor) is less also. Many prototype/ modelmaking houses will do small (cost effective) runs, what with all the rapid prototyping machines out there. Were not talking rocket science either. JD
+1, I always spec out waterjet over laser, mostly to avoid the re-hardened edge (for fatigue prone parts, not necessarily an issue with brackets)
I snapped a few pictures of the lights in place tonight to give you an idea of how they sit in the light buckets. They are not plugged in yet as I have not changed my OEM female connectors over to the H9 variety. They are also not adjusted yet for aiming. Please forgive the dirty 348, wife and I took it out most of last week due to the kids being at grandma's . I am very happy with the fit so I will have everything sorted by next week I think. --Mike Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
How many brackets need to be made in order to get a good price? While I may not make the switch right away, I would be open to going ahead to buy the brackets.
About 10 sets would knock it down to about $300.00 even I figure, maybe a little less. Keep in mind I have tooling cost to pick-up not just materials. The prototypes are hand made, but the production run will need tooling. There is also painting and attachment hardware to include. If we had much greater numbers, say 25 or more I am sure we could go to the mid-$250.00 range. Even at $300.00 this is a fairly inexpensive mod though. The 90mm H9 lights are about $280.00 a set, connectors another $40.00, after you add in the brackets its around $620.00 to do both sides. --Mike
Can we get a picture from about 10" away? This way we can see how it looks from a distance for aesthetic point of view.
