rizio

I hate to ask this, because the answer is prolly already on the forum, but as the search is down....

I am thinking of switching my broken (and useless anyway) fog lights for driving lights, specifically Hella Rally 1000FF.

Did anyone try this before? How much trouble was it installing them?

Maurice

Postman Pat

Maurice

I changed mine for bog std Cibie Oscar +'s. Easily done just a bit of bracketry work and a little bit of bumper cutting (none of which is visible with light fitted). I really pleased with mine.

Pat

rizio

Well this bracketry work and a bumper cutting is what I am looking at: Could you expand a little on that: do I make my own bracket or can I buy this, do I have to cut holes in the bumper to make the deeper? lights fit?

Maurice

Hanslow

Are these the gas discharge ones? If so, PeterPerfect has them fitted on his MY99. They are bright and stick out about as much as PIAAs. Think he may have made his own brackets but I'm not sure on that.

rizio

They are available in gas discharge and normal halogen, and in 'normal' and pencil beam. I was looking at the plain ones, but the mounting issues I am looking at should be similar.

Maurice

Hanslow

I've mailed Pete about this thread so he may respond when he stops with his busy social life

Failing that, I think Scoobysport sell the gas discharge versions so may well be able to provide you with a fitting kit.

PeterPerfect

<<STOP BUSY SOCIAL LIFE>>

Hi Maurice, yep I've been using these lights on my scoob for 1.5 years now
Fitting was just a matter of building two brackets, there was NO cutting of the bumper or light housing !
They are VERY bright and I've just got them wired up to trigger on full beam.
The electric packs are stuffed in the cavity just to the side of each light...facing the front - to the right of the left and the left of the right if you see what I mean
The lamps strike straight away and take a couple of seconds from cold to reach full brightness...there after they strike with full brightness each time
But with power comes responsibility...I drive with a finger hovering over the dipp stalk
I would defo recommend them if you want the best and not have to fart around with blown high wattage halogens and multiple installs of halogen lamps to search for more ommph. Just get these....there is nothing else left to upgrade to
Oh, and the main reason I got these?....I believe the only place to 'enjoy' a scoob is on B roads at night...this requires serious light output which is something I was not prepared to compromise on.......
...and Mr Hanslow also knows the score on Hella gas discharge lights....he is running the Comet 200s (and has some photos?)...way cool
Pete

<<START BUSY SOCIAL LIFE>>

rizio

I was actually thinking of the normal ones, as I haven't seen the price of the Xenon version, and was afraid to ask :-)

Could you tell me a bit more on the bracket? Can I do it myself?

Maurice

Bob.C

These are now available from your dealer supplied from Prodrive complete with brackets etc to fit pre MY01 & MY01. Had them fitted recently and quality of Prodrive supplied parts and also hella lamps far better than previous cibies which rusted in a very short time. Illumination not as good as cibies due to not being pencil beam.

Nick Wadeson

Rizio

YHM.

Pete Croney

Rizio

I have used the gas discharge (xenon) version of the 1000FF for over two years. The light output is staggering.

These are £620+vat, including all wiring. They are mounted on alloy brackets for direct fitting and the whole job takes approx 30 minutes, start to finish.

The bracket design means there is no wobble at all, which can be a problem when using Hella's mounting design.

PeterPerfect

Ahha, at last, my Croney
Pete, do you sell the FF1000 brackets separately ?
Do the brackets support the top of lamp?
Ta.

Pete Croney

The casing for the 1000FF and the 1000FF Xenon is different and the mountings can't be used on both.

We are currently working on the non xenon mounting, but have not been happy with the wobble when using Hella's location point.

Our Xenon kit uses a very solid mounting and the non xenon needs something similar

Job in progress.

nigel s

Sorry to jump in but have been looking at these lamps. Taking Pete's views on wobble, does the kit from prodrive use Hella mounting points or have Prodrive come up with their own design.

PeterPerfect

Pete, I was asking about the FF1000 Xenon mounting brackets

Nick Wadeson

Nigel

Just to let you know that the Prodrive kits come with with our own design of bracket. This bracket has been designed in such a way to completely elimate wobble, whilst making adjustment straight forward without the need to use packing washers etc to align the lights correctly.

Pete Croney

Sorry Peter, my mistake.

Give me a call to discuss. 01268 590085.

Nick, any method of alignment that beats the "fit, check, remove, re-align, fit, check, remove, re-align, fit... (repeat until happy, then drive at night and repeat process)" is a welcome improvement

We chose a mounting system that involves jig assembly. As such no adjustment is necessary as they are preset to the optimum alignment and this keeps fitting costs down to around £20.

MikeWood

So every car is the same is it Pete?

Some cars have different springs fitted which change the rake of the car, 5door cars are differnt to 4dr cars, some people carry full size spare wheels and a tool kit as well as a big hairy dog in the boot.....

The Hella lamps that we use, particularly the GD, have a fairly well defined beam pattern for mid to long distance illumination beyond the range of the std headlights and therefore may need optimising on some cars that do not have std suspension (I can do it by eye now as I've set up so many of our cars with them on!)

There are other beam patterns that produce a very wide spread of light that is much less sensitive to being aligned perfectly but these gave a little too much spread than we felt was good at the expense of range. In some cases this extra spread is a little distracting as things close to the car like the grass verge become too bright and you can't see down the road properly. This pattern is OK with a fixed bracket as it doesn't matter where they are pointing within reason so long as it's forward!


Peter

Come round to see me at Fen End if you need to see how we did our bracket. Did I see your DBM 99MY at Carsins with the GD lamps fitted?

Regards

Pete Croney

Hi Mike

Look, I am NOT criticising your lights

The fitting thing was a reference to the old PIAA kits. Customers kept falling over when you told them it was 1.5-2.0 hours to fit. Most of this was messing about with alignment. and as you know, there is no such thing as perfect alignement.

As for range, there are 2 versions of the FF that are worth having. One is a very thin pencil beam and the other is a driving light beam. I guess if you drive a lot of main roads, a pencil beam is better. If its B roads, then I think flood into corners is as important as distance. And lets be realistic... 1 lux (enough light to read a newspaper) at 560m equates to 22 seconds driving at 60mph.

I took the Hellas off my 99 before it was sold as £700 of lights weren't going to affect the sale price.

Tried to call you a couple of times, but you aren't at your desk much these days. Too busy getting it sideways out on track, I hear

Springs?

Give me a call when you get a chance

nigel s

Nick / Mike
I feel like having a go at fitting a set of your lamps myself, will this require drilling or cutting the standard my01 bumper?.Also after reading aboot beam pattern spread I take the lamps are only available in 1 pattern (Which one) or am i wrong on this.
Nigel

MikeWood

Nigel

Fitting the lamps is very easy, particularly as there are comprehensive instructions in the kit. The bumper is not modified in any way, but there are some wiring changes to the car.

The beam patterns are the drive in the halogen and what Hella call pencil beam in Gas Discharge but as this gives more light to the sides than the halogen light it's not a problem.

Regards

Mike

Dave T-S

Mike/Pete

You should challenge each other to a duel - full beam at 20 paces opposite each other and see who looks away first.....

MikeWood

Dave

I've got six and the longest ones are over 1000m. With my driving that takes several minutes

Is that enough?

Mike

PeterPerfect

LOL Mike...Prodrive spies at work
"Did I see your DBM 99MY at Carsins with the GD lamps fitted?"
Yep thats the one, when did you see it?
Did you notice my 'quality' top stabilisers i.e. foam packing ?

"Come round to see me at Fen End if you need to see how we did our bracket."
I'd love to check out the Prodrive bracket Mike, where is Fen End ?
Ta Pete

Dave T-S

Mike

Several minutes? What, you going there sideways or something

What you need is a PPP and you'd get there quicker LOL

MikeWood

Peter

I saw your car there some time ago when I visited and I did like your stabiliser system

Fen End is very near Balsall Common. I assume that you are somewhere close if you take the car to Carstins.

Mike