aftermarket headlight idea! check it out! Options

[uberschall]

so, i got to thinking the other day. i'm just as disappointed as everyone else with the aftermarket headlight scene for celicas. everyone has made good points about the cost of production, design, and materials, which are the three biggest barriers to a/m availability. then it hit me. why not do an aftermarket impreza style light? they are nearly the same shape and don't have a fairing, which i think would make them pretty cheap...especially because we'd only need one projector per light, unlike the subie units.


here's an example of some aftermarket subie projectors:



and here's a crappy hand-sketched rendition of what i think they could look like on a celica:


sorry about the doodle, i'm not so handy with photoshop. anyway, one projector per capsule, and the plastic bezels coulg be left black, wrapped in cf, body-color matched, etc.

opinions, suggestions, comments?

edit: i forgot to mention that the impreza headlights shown above sell for about $150 a set on ebay. even if each set of high or low beams cost us the same (which isn't likely given the fewer components necessary for our application, see above), we'd still only be looking at $300 for all four!

This post has been edited by uberschall: Aug 28, 2006 - 9:36 PM

[OntarioCeli]

Im liking it definately, You might be onto something!!!!!

[coldbluesteel]

Looks kinda cool, you would have to fab up some brackets of course. I think the shape is off a little too much though, ours angles along the hood but aims straight. The Scoobies is round yes, but in our car they would aim out in to the trees. Like a big V, definetly blinding oncoming traffic.

[uberschall]

oh, for sure, i wasn't thinking we would actually use the subaru ones...just use them as a model for someone to make something like them for our cars.

there are lights out for 94-99 neons with more similar mounts to ours, too.

i think this design would be the most cost-effective way to make an aftermarket light for our cars.

[j0e_p3t]

can't someone just make a clear lens out of plexiglass or what-not? i don't necessarily need projectors (unless they're significantly cheaper than 500 bucks), just something other than frosted lenses. like clear highs and lows.

This post has been edited by j0e_p3t: Aug 28, 2006 - 9:58 PM

[KB-2]

thats....got potential

[coldbluesteel]

Got ya. In that case yeah that could work. Probably the best thing to do is to use our assembly and remove the glass and inners, then mount a projector inside and reseal the front around it. HMMMM... that could really work! I think i'm gonna give it a go. I've got a smashed passenger low from the drunk hitting me. I could experiment on that. I like it!

[uberschall]

yeah, coldbluesteel, i have an extra d/s hi and lo beam i was thinking of "prototyping" with, too.

j0e, i figure that if they make projectors for grand cherokees, cavaliers (!), neons, and s-10's, there's no reason we can't have them cheaply for ourselves.

i mean, come on...how many jeep grand cherokee owners are really buying aftermarket headlights?

[KB-2]

ya...hes got a point

[j0e_p3t]

hmm, mounting the projectors inside our assembly and a plexiglass lense sounds like a really good idea.

[coldbluesteel]

hmm, mounting the projectors inside our assembly and a plexiglass lense sounds like a really good idea.

Thanks. I think I can "borrow" some Carbon fiber or fiber glass from work and inclose a projector. Mounting the light inside should be easy, it's just picking the right look. Yeah, I think I could make it work.

[Ralph96gt]

wow that looks like a great idea

[coldbluesteel]

yeah I could leave the CF exposed (seal it of course) like the hoods, or do FG and you can do body color or black whatever you like. I think a enclosed driving light or fog would work best (piaa or equal)

[Shigexile]

didn't dustin15brown do something like this?
you should check out his custom projectors.

[coldbluesteel]

didn't dustin15brown do something like this?
you should check out his custom projectors.

Yeah I've seen his before, really nice. I'm not sure if he still has them on the car though? I propose a little different idea though, well really Uber did I kinda just started running with it. I'm thinking that the lens on the projector is showing and is surrounded by FG or CF, maybe a nice plastic, but I don't have access to that.

[slvr_celica_GT_8...]

those lights at the top would look sick in out celicas if someone could fabracate them.

[Chanh55]

I'd hit it.

[CelicaGT04]

I'd hit it.

x2

[hitcachi]

dude, if a member on here, fabed up some cheap ass projectors, holy snakes on a plane, they would make anus loads of money. i would buy them! Real projectors....$750-$800. Im sorry but W T F! No one else has it as bad when it comes to aftermarket as 6th gen owners do.

[uberschall]

i'm def gonna try it on my spare lights. dustin mounted a projector in the stock bucket if i'm not mistaken...but i recall him saying it wasn't nearly as cost effective as he'd hoped.

i'm probably going to try it with a halogen round first.

does anyone think we could pitch this to an a/m headlight manufacturer?

[coldbluesteel]

i'm def gonna try it on my spare lights. dustin mounted a projector in the stock bucket if i'm not mistaken...but i recall him saying it wasn't nearly as cost effective as he'd hoped.

i'm probably going to try it with a halogen round first.

does anyone think we could pitch this to an a/m headlight manufacturer?

You'd have to send off your lights to them, so if you've got spares or another car your ok. R&D is not cheap, so the first pair will probably be expensive. After they have a mold ( if they find it profitable, molds are not cheap to set up on a professional level) then they could mass produce. I think I'll still be going at it myself. I'm pretty confident that I can do it, I mean I do this kinda of stuff on 40 million dollar fighter jets. The shell of my passenger low is pretty much destroyed, so I think that ones out of the question. The hi has cracked glass, so no problem working on that one. I had planned on selling the two driver side lights to recupe some of the money I'm spending on the conversion. If I work on those and they turn out well I could sell them for more, or keep them, but if it doesn't work out I'm out some $. What do you guys, and gals think?

[KB-2]

give it a try. if you suceed you will have a big hit in the celica indusrty

[uberschall]

true, true. but if they did the r&d to make aftermarket lights for jeeps and cavaliers (as i mentioned before), which are surely more complicated internally than ours would have to be, they can do it for these.

for laughs, just go on ebay and search for "projector headlights." browse a couple of pages and see all the wacky cars they make them for, and it becomes more realistic to see some for a celica.

i think that as a community, we could come up with a carset of lights to furnish a manufacturer with for r&d. they wouldn't be passing any inital costs on to us if we organized a group buy or something. if you were to figure that they can make aftermarkets for, say...a 97 200sx, and sell them at $100 online while presumably turning a profit...they could easily make money on a 4-light package that retailed for $250-300.

any thoughts?

edit: i'm still going to pick up some cheap halogen rounds (like 4" diam) and try fabricating a facsimile using the bucket from one of my cracked headlights.

This post has been edited by uberschall: Aug 29, 2006 - 10:28 AM

[celiracer]

Take it to them. Let them know what you want. And see if they would make them. Or talked to Boosted6g and see if VIS would produce them.

[uberschall]

idk any manufacturers, though.

does anyone have info about who makes the aftermarket lights you see for sale online cheap, or how to contact them with a product proposal?

anything would help!!

[WH95TE]

The only thing I want is some clear lenses. I hate the way they look with all those lines and ****.

[coldbluesteel]

I think alot of them are made in China. I do believe that APC makes quite a few aswell. You do have to think that there alot more Cherokees and Cavaliers out there than Celicas. I mean I can get custom lights for my 4runner cause there are a billion of them on the road, but on all the 4runner groups only like two people have them. I think that the company is just playing to better odds with high production cars. I'm just not sure if we have enough backing to get alot of stuff. But thats another reason I love my Celica they are unique. So it's a trade off.

[celiracer]

Contact boosted6g he works with VIS, and would probably help you out on making these.

[uberschall]

thanks celiracer. i'll try that tomorrow.

coldbluesteel, i agree that there are alot of cavaliers and such out there, but you should check out ebay if you didn't. i'm sure there's at least one car that will make you say "wtf?" oh, and i'm stoked that you're going to try to build some too. i'll let you know when i get started so we can share advice/warnings.


anyway, i'm not sure about any of this....but i just think it's crazy that nobody makes anything for celicas. if companies can afford to shoot each other in the foot by offering no less than a dozen aftermarket options for civics (talk about market saturation), there's no reason they can't corner the entire aftermarket for a car that was produced practically unchanged for half a decade and sold worldwide.

[coldbluesteel]

Yeah I just looked on ebay. Astro van WTF? Anyway. I did see some nice lexus ones on there. Those look like the same ones in the jdm lights. about $150. I don't know if I want to use bigger or smaller lights. If I use small lights I'm afraid it will look too much like an Integra.

[uberschall]

haha, astro van. hella makes a set of universal lights that includes 4 units...2 projector low beams and 2 halogen capsule high beams. they're pricey, though....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hella-Unive...sspagenameZWDVW

that would cover all four, though.

edit: i searched for boosted6g and it returned 2 others...is he still a member or did i mess up somehow?

This post has been edited by uberschall: Aug 30, 2006 - 8:15 AM

[joehernandez]

i really don't think they would look good, they are too small for the celica, it would screw up the fron.