Electric headlamp kit from Matty

[bluesbrother30]

Does anyone have any experience with the electric headlamp kit sold by Paul Matty. Shows what appears to be a Miata headlamp motor, brackets, linkages and a electronic box. Good?? Bad?? Comments appreciated.

Mike Summers

[DavidLB]

I imagine that it the same as the Spyder unit. It’s fine and easy to fit. David

[Spyder fan]

Spyder supply their kit to Matty. It’s a good well engineered solution and extremely well designed (by myself )

[HCA]

+1

A very good addition with the bonus it gets rid of a lot of vac pipe clutter and shuts down the induction issue when these pipes give trouble...

Mine slotted in exactly as it 'said on the tin' (the fact that some asshxxx po decided to force metrc bolts into the bobbin hinges of the pods cannot be blamed on Spyder )

[Foxie]

Spyder supply their kit to Matty. It’s a good well engineered solution and extremely well designed (by myself )

Agreed, and well done !

I have mine, waiting to get the time to fit it

[tonyabacus]

Alan
If you are still reading this, did you not write an article on this conversion somewhere in the Forums ?

[Spyder fan]

I can’t remember doing an article but I did contribute and took note of a lot of other ideas before settling on the design. Early issues I had included the headlight pods flopping around on their downward travel causing them to come down too quickly with a bit of a thump and a bounce, another member (Dougal) utilised one of the existing pod springs to provide damping, this was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me and with the addition of a motor speed controller I had a reliable system that worked well. One of my regular trips to Spyder resulted in them refabricating the failsafe balance bars to suit the MX5/Miata motors along with the brackets and linkage needed to form the kit they sell these days as a full package, they also made a variation to suit the Elan as well as the +2.

[andyj007]

timely post for me this..
i have me engine out which has been rebuilt.. so i have a nice empty engine bay right now..
how long would it take to bolt the conversion in..
im also looking to tidy up masses or wireing in there at same time.. any inspirational pics are very welcome

[The Veg]

Is this the same kit that Kelvedon sell too? Got one of theirs a couple of years ago but never completed the install due to other things going on but will before too much longer.

[Spyder fan]

Yes it’s the same kit, they even use the same photo of the components.

As for ease of fitting or time taken to fit, all I would say is that it’s “straightforward” and that the instructions supplied are easy to follow. Allow a good morning or afternoon and it should be job done.

[The Veg]

Yeah, I’m not worried about it. Just need to get off my lazy bum and do some GRP-repairs inside the nose before resuming the installation. There’s a big crack near where the motor is to mount, so I’d like to get the floor back to full strength first.

One question- is the spring supposed to be included? My kit didn’t have one and nobody at Kelvedon could answer that question.

[Spyder fan]

It’s assumed that you are replacing an existing vacuum pod system with the electric system, therefore you will already have springs, one of which can be re-used. They state that you can order a spring separately if you don’t have one.

Spydercars have developed a electric headlamp conversion for both Elan S3-Sprint models and also Elan +2 this conversion means no more troublesome vacuum pods and no more lights creeping up in the garage.

With our electric system the lights move smoothly so as not to damage the fibreglass.The kit comes complete with everything required for a going electric. Note we use second hand tested motors to keep cost down, these come with a 10 year guarantee. If a new motor is preferred this will add £150.00 + vat to cost of kits. We retain one of the original tension springs from the vacuum system if you do not have one they can be ordered separately.

[The Veg]

Thanks. My Plus 2 springs are different, hence the question.

[Frazer Douglas]

This electric headlamp kit is the next on my list for my new (to me) Zetec-engined Plus 2 and I'll likely take it to Spydercars for the install...

[bobchaplin]

I used the Spyder kit as I was missing one vacuum unit from the boxes the car was in and the one I did have was rusted badly,plus being an early car with the non fail-safe hadlights it was a no-brainer to go electric. The Spyder kit is comprehensive and works extremly well, cannot recommend enough. It also means I can simplify the wiring. When I installed it I drilled out all the bobbins and used 6mm shanked bolts. These are much more robust and are coated in grease to act as bearings. This provides much better pod action and reduces the amount of power the motor needs to activate the lift. The spring is essential, you only need one, I fitted mine the opposite end of the shaft from the motor. I found it was essential to get the pods syncronised and operating smoothly before starting to fit the motor, also keep your fingers out of the way when testing it! You need to set the speed controller to the slowest setting you can without stalling, This stops the pods slamming into the bodywork, I also added extra GRP across the edge of the body at the top of the headlight opening, the GRP is very thin here and I found lots of stress cracks when the pods under vacuum had slammed up. This was before the shell went for painting, the painter dug all these out and tissued them so hopefully this will not re-occur. Bob