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  1. rich_e777

    rich_e777

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  2. Quaraxkad

    Quaraxkad

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  3. 94 olds vert

    94 olds vert

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  4. 89-W-Body-Regal

    89-W-Body-Regal

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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/27/2022 in all areas

  1. Quaraxkad

    Projectors in Cutlass Sealed Beams

    I've wanted to put projectors with HIDs on my Cutlass for a long time. I finally decided to try it. As far as I know, it's not been done before, if you know otherwise please tell me where I can see the results! There is a company that makes a whole new lamp assembly for the Camaro but it's a solid block of black plastic that I think looks hideous. I've found a bunch of threads about HIDs and projectors in other w-bodies, but nothing specifically for the Cutlass coupes which have unique problems to work around. The original OEM headlamps are two-piece glass assembles, the body and lens are both glass. Those are obviously not candidates for cutting open to install a projector. Newer replacements though have the same glass lens with a metal body, and these are what I'm working with. I bought a pair of 1.8" H1 projectors from eBay. They are the smallest I could find, I knew it was going to be a tight fit in the 2"x5" housing, but it turned out to be almost perfect. I'm still in the experimenting phase but 100% confident I can make it work. Here's a mock-up of the somewhat complete lamp. It's only held together with sticky-tack at this point, I did this to hold it together and test that there's enough space behind the lamps for the extra depth. I'm pretty sure they will fit without modifications to the car, at least on the drivers side. OEM glass assembly next to metal body with projector. Taking apart the lamp housing was not simple... Heat seems to have no effect on the adhesive used to hold these together. It's very soft and rubbery, heat did not soften it *or* make it tacky. Prying at the edges only resulted in chipping the glass. I ended up cutting a small slot in the metal with a Dremel that I could stick a screwdriver in and apply just enough pressure to slide in some plastic tools and work my way around until the glue peeled away. You can see that small cutout on the far left of the second image above. This projector has a high-low switch that opens the lowbeam cutoff flap. There's no room for that mechanism once mounted to the housing, so I'm going to permanently affix the cutoff flap in place for lowbeams, and either keep the stock highbeams or do the same retrofit for the highbeams but leave the flap out. I'm not sure how the stock glass lens will affect the light output. If neccessary, there are aftermarket lamp housings with less patterned glass. The lamp holder assembly with the built in left/right/up/down adjustment screws can be reused, a portion of it will need to be cut out pass the reflector body through. I need to get another set from the junkyard to experiment with but there hasn't been a Cutlass coupe there in years. There is a 1994 Camaro which has the same lamps, but do they also have the same mounting assembly? I've ordered a set of bulbs and ballasts to test these out, they won't be here until Friday. I still need to figure out the best method to mount the projector to the housing. I think the common method is just clumps of JB-Weld. I feel like I must be missing something, if it was this easy why hasn't it been done many times before?
    2 points
  2. 89-W-Body-Regal

    Does anyone have any vacuum harness from any 2.8 V-6 or 3.1 V6?

    Yeah I need the Tbi connector really bad or it's gonna start leaking. The hard lines I am not using anymore. I am going to use rubber hose line. Someone on facebook in the fwd group we are in said auto parts stores used to sell them. But they are so hard to find. I wish dorman would make them. They make the elbows. I got two packs.
    1 point
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