Corrado E-code question

anyone? surely someone has done this, at least 50% of the C's on the road are running E-codes by now...

nate

In message , Nate Nagel muttered:

Am I stupid? What's an E-code? Has mu corrado got one? How would I know?

I hope not!

A European spec headlight...

If you're living in the US and asking the question, probably not. But the E-codes have an H4 in the outer segment for low/high beam and an H3 in the inner segment for an auxiliary high beam. The US-spec ones have the parking lights in the inner segment. The E-codes also have replaceable glass lenses while the US spec ones are plastic. The E-codes also have the much better euro beam pattern... check it out here

Don't have a pic of the US beam pattern handy, but trust me, it is an amorphous blob without a whole lot of light anywhere useful

If you can see at night, you probably have E-codes. If your headlights are pathetically dim and useless, you probably have the US-spec ones...

nate

In message , Nate Nagel muttered:

Aha! Of course.

I have the worst of both worlds, I live in Europe but have US spec headlights!

Spent 2 years in the US in the early 90's, and bought a brand new G60 Corrado. When I came back, I imported the Corrado to the UK. Headlights are poor, and I've often thought of changing them to UK headlights. Problem is the cost, for what is (now) quite an old car.

Hmm, just checked ebay, not so expensive:

Don't know if you're aware of this, but EU headlights are not all the same. For one thing, the UK lights have the beam "bent" the other way. But secondly, the newer Corrados have better headlights again. UK early Corrados have better lights than the US ones, but more recent UK Corrados have further improved headlights.

Can't answer your original question, but there are several websites that cover the subject - for instance:

So you were able to register the car and it passes MOT with US-spec headlamps? They don't make you swap in UK ones? Weird.

Didn't know that. I believe I knew that G60s and VR6s had something different about the headlamps but didn't know there was an early/late distinction.

"poor" doesn't begin to explain them. I drove the girlie's car for the first time in quite some time a few weeks ago; ever since I've been keeping an eye out for a reasonably priced set of E-codes for the beast because I simply don't want her driving at night with those lights! I think the parking lights on my car throw more useful light on the road, and I am not kidding.

Yup, I picked mine up off eBay.de and they are coming from Germany so I should have the "right" (heh) stuff. I know there's a guy named Niko that sells them but I think he is in Finland so while he could hook me up I don't know if he has any RHD versions.

actually that does answer my question

thanks!

nate

I think the only differences are the lens (sticks out farther on the VR6) and the leveler switch/harness. I think the reflectors and housings are the same.

nate

In message , Matt B. muttered:

The US headlight beam isn't angled in any particular (left or right) direction, they point straight ahead. As such, they're certainly "legal" in the UK (passed many MOT's) - if not very good! Because of this, when I've been to Holland I haven't had to "correct" the beam - which is handy!

I could be wrong on this point. I know that they're not all the same, and the V6's (which are more recent) have slightly different headlights. You might know better than me.

In message , Nate Nagel muttered:

I'd love to hear what you think of them, once fitted. As the prices of used headlights go down (on ebay), I might think about buying some.

Good luck with the conversion!

Well, I can tell you that the Cibie 7" reflectors on my own 944 flat out rock. I installed a relay harness in that car as well and I'm sure that made at least as much difference as the lights. I'm hoping to get similar results from the Corrado. Probably will be at least a month until I actually get around to doing it, as I have to wait for the stuff to get here from Germany, get a relay harness, test everything before taking it over to her, you know the drill. But I hope to be able to post back and report success... might even take "before" and "after" pics if I remember to take a digicam when I go over to her place.

nate

Interesting...yep they're not angled left or right (well, back then generally no but these days many are similar to E-codes and angled for right-side traffic) but they generally are more glaring than e-codes. Intersting they're actually legal though because of that and despite the glare.