Scottish Elises

My headlamps were starting to rust when I last MOT'd the car in 2005 but it passed then and obviously passed for Lee last year, but looking at them now I don't think I'll get away with them again.


MOT is due at beginning of Feb so looking to sort them before then.
I have done a bit of searching and the Elise FAQ reveals that they can be either CIBIE : CBC 067689 or VALEO : 067689. Eliseparts has them for about £50 each . Anyone know of any other suppliers? I haven't tried the local motor factors yet.

Looking at the actual procedure for replacement doesn't look too bad, but not sure if my brackets will need replaced or not.

On a side note I may decide to have a driving holdiay in Norway (subject of another thread at some point in the future) and I see that I will have to apply these little stickers to divert the beem. As I have headlamp covers am I correct in thinking that I will need to remove the headlights again to place the sticker on the lens? Surely these can't be stuck on the lens cover can they?

All thoughts help welcome, thanks.

Slap the stickers on the covers, afterall you can't do that with modern car clusters anyway. Lizzy lights are too low to bother much.

Head lamp brackets: Best bet would be to remove the clam. When I had the clam off it would have been a piece of piss to replace them. Through the wheel arch liner was a royal PITA. I had sicaflex on my arms for days. I replaced the crap plastic wingnuts with some galvanised efforts form B&Q and loads of coppaslip BTW. Elise parts ones are good.

Headlamps: Talk to Stephen!

HTH
Rich

http://www.cars-gb.com/cibie.htm

I think Shug used to buy Maxsports from these guys.

forgive me here Stewart, but I don't see anything wrong with those headlamps at all! In any event, before splashing out, why not go into your local Kwik Fit and say you're concerned about the rusting lights. They'll be so excited to see your car that they're likely to give you their opinion on the MOT-fail probability gratis.

best of luck though,

Greg

Forgive Greg, he's blind Mine did similar and they just get worse and worse. Changed under waranty though.

ooh, I see it!! Thought it was just the reflection of the bulb.

Urm, best of luck!!

Did mine myself without taking the wheels off, fiddly but doable.

Looks like £25 for a Cibie replacement from that site - is that right? Great VFM if so!

As for beam reflectors, I found a simple template online somewhere for reflector masks that fit on the headlamp covers. Think I've got copies in the house somewhere. I just used insulating tape to create the masks, sticking foil on the inside to reflect as much light back into the lamp reflector as poss so that you don't lose too much light and the masks don't heat then dry up and fall off!

Campbell

Guys, thanks for the input. Didn't get a chance to phone motor factors today, but might just go with the site simon mentions.

campbell wrote:Looks like £25 for a Cibie replacement from that site - is that right? Great VFM if so!
Campbell

I think you may have been looking at the driving lamp price, the head lamps appear to be £36 each - still not too bad.

campbell wrote:As for beam reflectors, I found a simple template online somewhere for reflector masks that fit on the headlamp covers. Think I've got copies in the house somewhere. I just used insulating tape to create the masks, sticking foil on the inside to reflect as much light back into the lamp reflector as poss so that you don't lose too much light and the masks don't heat then dry up and fall off!Campbell

I was following you right up until you said you put foil on the inside (of the cover?) perhaps I am reading this wrong, but would I be aswell just putting the mask on the head lamp as I would need to take these out to get to the inside of the cover?
D'oh! Just realised that your covers are probably removable?

I did a wee bit of reading on SELOC and the foreign members seemed to find it really funny that we would bother making the effort. I did wonder about this. As I would intend going in June, it will just about be 24 hour daylight, although I think it may be compulsory to drive with headlights on all year.

Greg
You may need a new monitor

Stewart wrote: As I would intend going in June, it will just about be 24 hour daylight, although I think it may be compulsory to drive with headlights on all year.

Volvos only run perm side lights no ?

Stewart wrote:I was following you right up until you said you put foil on the inside (of the cover?) perhaps I am reading this wrong, but would I be aswell just putting the mask on the head lamp as I would need to take these out to get to the inside of the cover?
D'oh! Just realised that your covers are probably removable?

Meant the inside edge of the mask. I.e., you cut a piece of foil a few mm shy of the edges of the mask, and stick that on to the headlamp cover with tape around the borders, then cover the rest with more tape. No need to remove the covers And mine are deffo not very removeable...on with clear silicone!!

Stewart. I got mine in D&A motor factors in Dundee. I think they were only £24.00 each. Autosave in the Clepington Road can also get them.

I have had a problem sourcing them. I believe renault 4 ones are similar but not the same, one has a sidelight bulb and the other does not.

haggis catcher wrote:Stewart. I got mine in D&A motor factors in Dundee. I think they were only £24.00 each. Autosave in the Clepington Road can also get them.

Stew

Thanks for that, I did ring D & A in Perth but computer said no! I'll try Dundee this week.

Cheers

Stewart

IT PASSED

I decided to take a punt and put it in for an MOT this morning. It passed with no mention at all of the headlamps. He did say that the drivers side handbrake wasn't working and the brake was sticking on a wee bit on that wheel so I will need to investigate that. I had also put the cat back on, boy is it quiet

I decided to buy new lamps anyway and will now fit them at a later date. Thanks to Haggis Catcher for the tip. I bought them form D & A Motor Factors (Dundee) Ltd for £24 + VAT each. Miles cheaper than anywhere I could find on t'internet. They are boxed and sold as Valeo (P.N. 460118) but when I took them out of the box they are branded as Cibie. They look identical to the one that are in at the moment.

Probably a job for a nice warm spring weekend.

Cheers

Stewart