Front light conversion to LHD standard

[ALC_63]

I'm in he process of importing a UK registered Elan in Italy.
I was told that I will have to have the car tested by the local motoring authorities (MTTC) . Among the things they might verify is the compliance of front light to LHD cars.
Nowadays the light beam of RHD cars are angled assimetrically towards left, i.e. to the side of the road. By driving on the Continent they might blind incoming drivers, and in fact British motorists are asked to mask a part of their front lights while on the Continent.
I wonder if anyone of the community has faced this problem while importing Elans into Continental Europe (any help from Italian is greatly welcome!). Any idea of what I shall do to make sure the light are oriented correctly. Shall I change the whole projectors or just part of it? Any ideas welcome.
Cheers
Andrew

[twincamman]

well I think a session with A screw driver and the adjusting screws on the light pods just may solve the problem ---ed

[types26/36]

I think you would have to change the headlight unit, scrool down on this site as they list left and right hand Lucas units.
http://www.s-v-c.co.uk/lights_head.html
Lucas Dip beam

LUCAS EUROPEAN RIGHT HAND DIP
7" Lens
H4 Halogen
With - or without side (parking) light


?17.50

[elanbaby]

Andrew,
7" headlights are available RHD and LHD. Here on the continent we?re supposed to fit LHD ones. They don?t cost much and you may consider halogen H4 lamps which really help driving at night. All 7" headlights are interchangable (as far as I know) and come from various brands: Lucas, Bosch, Hella, Wipac...
Hope this helps,
Juergen

[Vanden Perre]

Andrew,
I am in Belgium and had the same problem.
Don't listen to twincamman. A screw driver will not do the job. It's the reflector which is different. I spent several years in automotive lighting development and know the subject.
Juergen summarized perfectly what I would have said. Therefore I do not add anything else!
Olivier.

[ALC_63]

Indeed I will buy a couple of new light LHD dipped equipped - I buy your suggestion happily - with halogen lights.
Easy, cheap, thank you all very much - what a great community you are!

Andrew

[fasterbyelan]

I used my Elan in Germany for 3 years and purchased a set of Lucas headlights to comply with the local regulation. Bought them from a local Motor Factors prior to leaving the UK. I had no problems fitting them - they are nearly identical to the original UK fitted parts just the lens/reflector is different as mentioned above.

[twincamman]

Vanden ---wait a minute ----do you have a special parabola in your head lights ??? MY super 7 came from over there and is a right hand drive and the head lights are just the same as in my sprite --europa --elan- saturn et al -----adjustment is through the head light screws on the lamp receiver -----left- right- up -down -----how ever did you win the war with thinking like that ----oh yes now I remember - ---ed

[john.p.clegg]

You may be able to alter the direction in which the lights point with the screws,but if you look at the lens you will see a pattern to deflect the light towards the kerb and away from oncoming traffic...

John

P.S.
Are you one of those with dazzling headlights that annoy me sooo much?

[twincamman]

John ---I don theen so ----Lucy you gots som splanin to do -----are you telling me there are left and right lamps for the head light system ????-[ and my head light wont bother you unless your driving the 401 or the New York Through Way ] you may be seeing the Aurora Borealis -ED

[bill308]

twincaman,

The lenses are different for the RHD and LHD cars when used in their proper markets. I have a RHD Elan S2 that I drive in the USA, so both head lamps where changed to those for a LHD Elan and are now proper for the USA markket.

Bill

[twincamman]

no sh88t----My elan has the 'chineese eye' Set up as it is an old racer ---uses the old quad ford lights ------ed

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Twincamman,

Is that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds you're talkin' to.
You must be smokin' somethin' prohibited

(Driving on the Left or Right requires different headlight units which dip their beams accordingly. It's easy to do & cheap)

John[/b]

[Hamish Coutts]

Interesting thread guys.

A little word of caution when replacing headlights. Be careful when changing the bulbs. If you are uprating the wattage to say, 80/100w, be prepared to wire in a relay or two to shield the cut out switch from the extra current that will be consumed.
The additional power consumption is enough to trip the cut out and bingo, no lights! OK if you find this out in your drive. NOT OK (and you will have to do a lot of laundry work to remove the brown skid marks) if, like me, you are approaching a tight corner at 'fun' speed, in the dark. It's a hell of a test of short term memory remembering where the corner is.

For bright lights, you don't really need the higher rated bulbs. The secret is good voltage at the bulb. So by fitting relays and more robust wiring to minimise voltage drop you achieve that anyway. It's amazing the difference it makes.

Hamish.

[Old English White]

... Ed ,-I am still since your post - they're right ; European lights have an asymetrical pattern , and anyway , they need to carry the "E" in circle logo ... I had to change them on "Old English White" too , after an attempt to use your "solution" . So not only for use but for pure reglemetary reasons .
Thanks again for your "historic" contribution !
Christian.