Date:         Sat, 9 Jan 2010 23:11:43 -0800
Reply-To:     David Marshall <mailinglist@FASTFORWARD.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Marshall <mailinglist@FASTFORWARD.CA>
Subject:      Re: head light upgrade
Comments: To: Arkady Mirvis <arkadymirvis@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <F6393EA9658E4C35A19E7AF3AD2D9594@Guenther>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

No car should have blinding lights!  But, I think you are talking
about HID or High Intensity Discharge also called Xenon lights by some
which look ultra white straight on and have a hint of blue when looked at
from the side or some kid dropped some FleaBay 10000K retrofit kit into
his Honduh.

I am going to build a prototype HID setup for the
Vanagon here probably in about 6 to 8 weeks from now and see how well I
like it.  Currently I am working on the final design of the BMW
F650GS using dual 60mm projector style D2S HID at 5400K color temp. 
The lights have both high and low beam via a little magnetic shutter that
moves up and down.  Same as what the VW Touareg uses and the Audi
A6.  Verrry nice in the bike... should equally nice on the
Vanagon.

Unfortunately, for it to be legal the setup would
costs thousands of dollars.  In order for HID to be legal, you must
have headlight washers, auto-levelers along with SAE / ECE compliant
lenses.  So to do it for the Vanagon and keep the price in the sub
$1000 range it would have to be an illegal setup without washers and
levelers, but the lenses and the rest of the kit that I have is SAE / ECE
compliant.

David Marshall
VW Adventure Driver and BMW
Adventure Rider
 
HasenWerk 
http://www.hasenwerk.ca

On Sat, January 9, 2010 13:32, Arkady Mirvis wrote:
> In
my 72 I started to feel that night vision to be good I need stronger
> light. One way is to add couple hadlights. I have 2 rectangular
Hella 181
> above the bumper already. I used them since 1987 on
long stretches as high
> beam lights. Can anyone tell me about the
way I can upgrade  lights on my
> 1987 Westy to be on a par with
those blinding lights BMW, INFINITI, LEXUS
> have? What is
involved. Are there any kits to upgrade.
> 
> Ark
>