das76 Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 (edited) has anyone had any issues using the newer design Caterham headlight brackets? Personally I think the cars look much better with the 5-3/4” headlights and having them further forward and lower Vs the higher 7-1/2”. I’m a bit surprised I see so many older cars with the larger and higher lights so that’s why I figured I’d ask. From what I can tell it will just leave the small cutout in the nose cone empty where the current bracket goes through. https://caterhamparts.co.uk/brackets/7049-headlamp-bracket-rh-metric.html?search_query=Headlight+bracket&results=235 Car is 2005 Imperial chassis. even though these brackets say ‘metric’ will they fit ? photos for reference Edited April 8, 2023 by das76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovchandr Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 I've had the conversion pending for some time. Caterham actually went through multiple configurations. I don't remember if smaller lights came first or lower mounts but they did not both switch at same time. I think it was lights first. Short gap solution is the 5 3/4 headlights on old mounts and that's what I've been running. Drilling a new hold in the lower wishbone mount is required for swap. You also have to rerun the wires. Most cars came hard wired so setting up some econoseal plug is a good idea. Yes you're right you will leave a hole without having another nose cone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
das76 Posted April 9, 2023 Author Share Posted April 9, 2023 Thanks @Vovchandr. Can you elaborate on drilling a new hole (sp?) in the lower wishbone. Is that to run the wires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovchandr Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 (edited) 14 hours ago, das76 said: Thanks @Vovchandr. Can you elaborate on drilling a new hole (sp?) in the lower wishbone. Is that to run the wires? I had to look back to see my text. I mispoke. It's a hole in one of the mounts for the upper wishbones and yes to run wires. I'll get some pics in the future Edited April 9, 2023 by Vovchandr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
das76 Posted April 9, 2023 Author Share Posted April 9, 2023 Thanks. I thought that it would be odd in the lower wb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamScotticus Posted April 17, 2023 Share Posted April 17, 2023 (edited) On 4/8/2023 at 7:57 PM, Vovchandr said: Most cars came hard wired so setting up some econoseal plug is a good idea. Im not liking the old bullet type connections of the older cars (mine). Which connector are you using? Edited February 10 by IamScotticus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovchandr Posted April 17, 2023 Share Posted April 17, 2023 I ordered a 6 pin generic econoseal from Amazon. Have been fighting with them here and there ever since. It's somewhat of an art form to make them work right in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnifeySpoony Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 Do you have a source for econoseal pins? I've had a heck of time finding them in quantities of less than 1000, or without also having to buy a bunch of connectors I don't need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MV8 Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 https://www.mouser.com/c/connectors/?tradename=Econoseal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnifeySpoony Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 At first i only saw the listing for 6000 minimum, but now i see the single orders one. Thx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlB Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 I have gotten a lot of things from this Company Del City - Electrical Supplies & Professional Grade Wiring Products. They have AMP connectors and a number of other popular brands. You might want to look at the Deutsch connectors. They are very popular or race cars. Del City also has knock off Deutsch connectors and I have had good luck with them. The real Deutsch connectors use a pin that requires a specific tool. They are very easy to use, but you have to have the tool. The Del City ones can use the Deutsch pins or the pins that crimp similar to AMP or Delphi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tajordan Posted May 4, 2023 Share Posted May 4, 2023 Your second photo is my car! It's in the process of being almost completely refurbished, and I have a set of the newer low-profile brackets and headlights going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
das76 Posted May 4, 2023 Author Share Posted May 4, 2023 14 minutes ago, tajordan said: Your second photo is my car! It's in the process of being almost completely refurbished, and I have a set of the newer low-profile brackets and headlights going on. haha. Too funny. I just stole it online and it was a fluke that both good photos had the same colour car I'm going to put my lights in next week or maybe on the weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
das76 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 (edited) Hi folks, well, I've been MIA for a while, but back now. I decided last spring/summer just to enjoy the car for the first season and tackle my to do list over the winter. Well, now with winter almost done it's time to get a move on!!! I had assumed that swapping these was pretty simple, but it's left me with some questions. Maybe it's still simple. So here are my questions. 1. My current headlights have 5 wires as shown below 2. The new headlights have 4. Just not the green one. Is this a problem? What is the green wire? 3. The turn signal wires go into the headlight bowl. Do they connect to other wires in the headlights? I'm assuming so. I haven't yet removed/opened the existing lights. I'll do that shortly. 4. The new headlights didn't come with the plastic connector plug (annoying!) Will I be able to salvage/re-use the existing plastic plug or is that the econoseal item you guys were writing about above. @Vovchandr @tajordan did you guys complete this project yet? Any pics? Where did you run the headlight wire? Any pics of the hole that @Vovchandr you mentioned? Thanks in advance guys! EDIT: looking at a blog post about headlights it looks like the green is possibly the turn signal wire - which would make sense! And it mentions how to get the pins out of the connector https://www.caterhamr500.co.uk/2015/03/westermann-motorsport-carbon-headlights.html Edited February 8 by das76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovchandr Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 That blog post is extremely useful and what I used. I do remember some finagling with the wires to figure out what's what. 3 to the beam. 1 if extra if it had a parking lamp. Struggle I had was having blinker pods on as day lights without main headlight being on. On top of that since headlights have a DRL beam that also had to be connected to same power source. I did utilize the headlight as part of blinker where DRL turns amber, I left that feature off. Seemed redundant with pods. If I wanted to not use pods, it's a perfect feature I have some pictures but it's hard to tell at what part of the process they were taken. Power probe made things ALOT easier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
das76 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 Great thanks @Vovchandr I noticed that my pods have 2 wires plus the black, whereas the pods in the blog post have 1. I'm guessing one is for turn signal and one for DRL or the parking lamp (which i don't care about)? I'm going to tackle this, but electrical stuff isn't my strength. Hopefully I don't get stuck! Any pics would be helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
das76 Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Well, I've made some good progress, I figured out the electrical parts without any issues, I did a test fit and all the lights work properly (DRL in the headlight and the indicator pod). However, now I have 2 fitment issues and since this is my first Caterham project I guess I'm running into some of the same frustrations I've read on many other posts!!! 1. There is a sort of tab on the back side of the bracket (see below). If I open the tab to actually get this piece to fit I can get it to slide onto the suspension arm bracket, but then the bolt holes don't align properly!! I'm guessing this tab is there to prevent the arm from tiping down. So I guess I need to enlargement the bolt holes, unless anyone has any other ideas? Or ignore the tab and find another way to prevent the bracket from tiping down? 2. The indicator pod completely interferes with the bracket. When everything is tightened up, the back of the indicator pod plastic is flexing a bit and the indicator pod points down too much. When I disassembled it all, in order to get the indicator pod to just touch the bracket (and not be forced) there is about a 1/4" gap that would need to be filled with some washers. Alternatively I can trim the back of the indicator pod. Again any ideas? It's crazy that there are so many 7's and yet these seemingly basic issues are present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovchandr Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) Blinker pods need to be cut at the back to adjust for these mounts. Some OEM comes with the cutout. Some aftermarket don't. I cut my CF ones. Edited February 10 by Vovchandr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
das76 Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 OK, thanks @Vovchandr - that's helpful to know. Time to bust out the Dremel! How did you deal with the actual bracket mounting to the chassis. In hindsight I realize that the brackets are a newer design and are meant to fit the newer metric chassis vs my 2005 imperial chassis - so I'll cut Caterham some slack on it. I think i'll just enlarge the bolt hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vovchandr Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 On 2/8/2024 at 1:02 PM, das76 said: Great thanks @Vovchandr I noticed that my pods have 2 wires plus the black, whereas the pods in the blog post have 1. I'm guessing one is for turn signal and one for DRL or the parking lamp (which i don't care about)? I'm going to tackle this, but electrical stuff isn't my strength. Hopefully I don't get stuck! Any pics would be helpful! My pods due to being LED were just two wire. Don't remember what this all involved but I remember it being annoying. I think one ground was to ground and other power was going into headlight bucket to meet other wires there. Don't remember having any issues with the metal tab. Definitely didn't enlarge any holes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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