I think I killed two birds with one stone on this solution to headlamp location. Problem 1 was that I want to make the car street legal even when the bodywork is removed. Problem two is headlamps located in the bonnet (front of the wheels) are almost too low to comply with the 24" height regulation. Moving them up and back places them dangerously close to the wheel rubber.

Solution: Place the headlamps behind the windshield above the dashboard. Here they sit at 25" above floor, there is a natural cover, wipers will keep the glass clean, and best of all the bonnet is greatly simplified without the need to develop headlight buckets, covers, gaskets, wiring, etc.



In the photo I am just starting to assemble. Missing still is the bottom and sides to seal the light from the cockpit area. I have already tested with the lights on in the dark and with the bucket blocked off from the cockpit there is no light reflection to impair vision. Cool huh?

two observations, you'd need some sort of cover to stop reflections from the windscreen and you'd need to be careful about where windscreen wipers parked. apart from that I can't see a reason why it wouldn't work though it might look odd without headlights in the bonnet?!

Ned.

Steve
Try the lights first "power to them at nite" before making mounts for the headlights. I had a friend try to add a 2nd lite behind a motorcycle fairing. A lot glare bouncing back off the surface.

"I quote from first post"

I have already tested the lights at night with a blockoff to the cockpit and there is no glare in the cabin. The key is to seal the sides and back of the bucket to prevent light leaking out. A rubber gasket against the glass works great.

The wipers park below the lights.

Anything else? Legal issues? Heat issues? Hey! they will work as defrosters too! LOL

how much do they obscure your vision, just thinking in a seven that would take out a fair chunk of the road and mean you miss one of the best bits - watching the wheels move!

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Originally posted by MikeR
how much do they obscure your vision, just thinking in a seven that would take out a fair chunk of the road and mean you miss one of the best bits - watching the wheels move!

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The only UK regulation wrt lamp position/visibility, with a lamp set well back from the front of the vehicle, seems to refer to vertical angles of visibility, ie the apparent lamp surface must be visible from 5 deg below the lamp if the lamp is less than 750mm abobe the ground, and 15 degrees if the lamp is above 750mm.

I guess the front of your car is short, but taken to an extreme, a dragster shaped vehicle would be a liability at night with headlights way back with the driver

If you have a steeply raking bonnet (hood??) you probably would be OK, are there any US regs??

[Edited on 27/6/06 by JohnN]

[Edited on 27/6/06 by JohnN]

Steve,

I think it's a good idea. My check list would include pointing it at a standard headlight aiming board WITH the bodywork in place to make sure the lights have a clean shot at the road etc. From memory of the layout of your front panels you should be fine but I'd check it before welding anything

Problem with that is you don't actually have any panels yet do you

Dominic

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Originally posted by TheGecko
Steve,

Problem with that is you don't actually have any panels yet do you

Dominic

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Is the beam pattern affected by the light being refracted through the windscreen?

Is refraction what I mean?

New I had seen this idea somewhere before...

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Originally posted by sgraber
"I quote from first post"

I have already tested the lights at night with a blockoff to the cockpit and there is no glare in the cabin. The key is to seal the sides and back of the bucket to prevent light leaking out. A rubber gasket against the glass works great.

The wipers park below the lights.

Anything else? Legal issues? Heat issues? Hey! they will work as defrosters too! LOL

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Hey! somebody copied my bodywork!

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Originally posted by DaveFJ
New I had seen this idea somewhere before...

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Not convinced by the headlight position.

Whatabout manual pop-up lights? When not required they can be folded down and sit below the minimum height. When needed, just whiz round and pull them up and into position.

This way you can gain clearance wrt wheel arch ...

Could electrify it all if you're feeling fancy...

PS My personal preference would be faired in headlights as you originally seemed to be heading.

PPS IMHO You've spent so long developing this car, don't rush the details.

I have to agree with stevebubs you've put in a lot of work so far don't take the easy route just because its easy.

You say that if you put them in the bonnet they are "almost too low" then they aren't actually too low so where's the problem?

Not sure what happens for and SVA equivalent over there but plenty of people put longer dampers on the front of their cars for SVA over here.

Chris

what about using ultra small projection headlights.
you could mount them in the body (or behind the windshield if you want)
and won't affect body lines too much, mounting them as high as possible on the fenders, you should have plenty of height.

Correct. No reason to rush the details. In reality the location inside the windshield will not work for when the bodywork is installed. The trailing edge of the bonnet is too high on the glass to allow the lamps to be used there. If I raise them up enough to clear the bonnet line, they are way up in the line of sight. So the original plan of placing them in the standard location still holds. And as suggested if I need more height, I simply shorten the pull-rods and that raises the suspension! Solved.

In the meantime I do plan on titleing the car sans bodywork. It's just too tempting to terrorize the streets with the tube-frame exposed! So the current headlamp installation continues, but it will be removeable.

Hey Steve

How about retractible lamps that flip forward like the Miura's.



If you needed some extra height you could probably work out some sort of linkage that rises as it pivots forward. Something along the lines of the AMP suspension fork with parallel links and what-not.



Cheers, Ted