Bit of a facelift

[thewormman]

Decided to give the old girl a bit of a facelift with some nice angel eye lights front and LED rears in the wings rather than the dummy ones. Still using the originals in the bumper as well. Had to do a bit of wiring but not to bad.

Just got to work on the wife next

 

[Shayne]

Cool i've been wanting to do that for ages but can't justify paying as much for post as the lights themselves cost

 

[Sag]

Decided to give the old girl a bit of a facelift with some nice angel eye lights front and LED rears in the wings rather than the dummy ones. Still using the originals in the bumper as well. Had to do a bit of wiring but not to bad.

Just got to work on the wife next

Looks nice that bud,really sets the motor off, just wondering how much and where you got them from please if you don't mind.

 

[Chas]

Just got to work on the wife next

I'm sure she will look just as good as the truck with the LED's installed.

 

[Beau]

I've always been interested in these. One thing that puts me off is having no idea about the quality. So what's the quality like?

I bought some aftermarket Rear lights for my cruiser and they work and look fine. But I am never happy with the fitment and had to modify the lights to make them fit and they still aren't 100%. Still look great in the dark.

 

[thewormman]

I've always been interested in these. One thing that puts me off is having no idea about the quality. So what's the quality like?

They came from Malaysia via ebay so I took a bit of a chance.
Ebay page here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281366809268

Quality I would give 9/10 the rear lights are LED tail/brake but normal filament bulbs for indicator and reversing light. They fit perfectly. The front lights are an ok fit on bolt positions, not 100%, but they fit the bodywork apertures nicely.

I did have a couple of issues on one side my LC has had a bit of a knock at some time so the bottom bolt holes didnt quite line up had to redrill the light brackets to suit. The biggest problem I had was with the direction the lights dipped. I wrote to the seller before I purchased asking about RHD and were they ok for this, he assured me they were. So bought them and they were LHD and dipped the wrong way, so pretty annoyed. There is though three screws that allow the reflector to be turned for RHD, but they have to be set during assembly as one of the screws is behind the back case and you cant get to it!

So I had to drill the rear case to be able to unscrew them and move it.





I sealed some grommets in afterwards



I left neutral feedback and the seller has offered to compensate me and was all apologies. Just annoying it should have been done at the factory.

With the wiring I added a small loom in the back of the car connected to the trailer plug so I could have a separate fog light and had to run additional wires for indicators as they are not in the wing light plugs for some strange reason. I also put xenon bulbs in the headlights and they are nice and bright.

So even though it was a bit of hassle I think the end result is worth it, it updates it nicely and looks, I think, pretty cool, which is obviously the most important thing

 

[Shayne]

Looks great and definitely worth the aggro but for the same reasons the ones i want are from Oz where rhd is standard but the post iirc correctly is slightly more than the lights which just beggars believe . Correct me if i'm wrong but i am assuming the lights are plastic and weigh very little ?

 

[thewormman]

Yes mate they are quite light, the price on ebay includes post took about 3-4 weeks to get here. I did look at the Aus ones but I think they worked out more expensive. Don't know why they are charging so much for post I got a pump sent from oz which was pretty heavy and it didn't cost that much

I think the Malaysian guy is prepared for RHD now if you contacted him and said about my experience with him it will be clear in his mind . He is meant to be sending me £25 back but I haven't got it yet

Also I had to pay import duty of £30 so not a cheap mod. The wife thinks the whole lot came to £200 and she baulked at that, luckily she doesn't come on here or use ebay

 

[Shayne]

Wow £200 is well worth the aggro the ones i've had on watching in my ebay for over a year are 350+ , i didn't leave them on there in the hope the mrs would think it would make a nice xmas present honest

 

[thewormman]

Wow £200 is well worth the aggro the ones i've had on watching in my ebay for over a year are 350+ , i didn't leave them on there in the hope the mrs would think it would make a nice xmas present honest

Yes mine were £345 it is JUST the wife who thinks they were £200 if she knew the truth AND the cost of the bulbs as well she would have kittens

 

[Shayne]

Landcruiser a truck for REAL men

 

[MODVRS]

Are any of the lamps e-marked?

 

[clivehorridge]

Landcruiser a truck for REAL men

I'm sure most wives get their own back when clothes shopping for "bargains" , they're not so stupid in my experience!

 

[thewormman]

Landcruiser a truck for REAL men

Trouble is they hold all the trump cards, all we can hope for is an occasional small victory...

 

[thewormman]

Are any of the lamps e-marked?

They have the USA SAE markings but not E marks. I have purposely kept the wiring so I can remove them and put the originals back in if I have any trouble at MOT time.

 

[Shayne]

A mate of mine , following a bike accident despite very nearly losing his arm was charged with wearing a helmet that did not have British kite mark . He opposed the charge and went to court armed with all sorts of paperwork , magazine articles and reviews and even letters from USA pro racers proving beyond a doubt the Craft helmet he was wearing at the time of the accident was of a quality way beyond that required by British standards . The judge agreed it was a better helmet than most available in the UK , then fined him £50 for breaking the law as it is written anyway . Stupid judge , laws when they are shown to be wrong can be altered in an ever changing world .

Anyway i reckon it would take a very anally retentive jerk to start looking for kite marks on trucks as old as ours , a Subaru with go faster stripes owned by a 17 year old might get that sort attention but not us surely .

 

[MODVRS]

They have the USA SAE markings but not E marks. I have purposely kept the wiring so I can remove them and put the originals back in if I have any trouble at MOT time.

Thanks for that. I've just had a read of the Road Vehicle Lighting Regs, which are incredibly difficult to understand in my opinion. It seems you are OK to use non e-marked units in addition to the existing ones in the bumper as there is no requirement for additional lamps to be marked and you can have two side/brake/indicators per side, but oddly only two reversing lamps in total.

I want to ditch the ones in the bumper as they have all but disintegrated so would be in a more dubious legal position. I doubt that anyone would be bothered but knowing my luck I'd get caught on my maiden voyage. They do look great though, so I'm tempted.

 

[thewormman]

i reckon it would take a very anally retentive jerk to start looking for kite marks on trucks as old as ours

Round our way Police are more interested in where their next take away is coming from, unless you are speeding then they manage to get out of the car. MOT station though I thought I had better prepare for.

I put some of that fly eye mesh sticky stuff on the original rear light lenses to darken them a bit so they dont stand out so much. Its meant to be ok for MOT but again it just peels off if need be.

Thanks for that. I've just had a read of the Road Vehicle Lighting Regs, which are incredibly difficult to understand in my opinion. It seems you are OK to use non e-marked units in addition to the existing ones in the bumper as there is no requirement for additional lamps to be marked and you can have two side/brake/indicators per side, but oddly only two reversing lamps in total.

That was part of the reason for keeping the bumper ones so the rears were classed as additional and I can just unplug them if need be. As far as rev lights go, with black windows I need as much light back there as possible, I think they wont be a problem.

Thanks all for the nice comments BTW

 

[Beau]

They do look good quality, thick plastic by the look of it, sturdy stuff.

Did the rear lights have a rubber seal around the edge?

 

[thewormman]

Yes they had a rubber edging then a foam seal. Plastic is reasonable thickness, fine on back as they are curved, front headlights would probably crack if you thumped the middle.