Volkswagen Multivan Camper

Hallo, een heel deel van wat hieronder te lezen was heeft op een Amerikaans forum gestaan waar ik het een en ander gepost had, dus vandaar dat dit artikel in het (eenvoudig) Engels is.
Plaatjes zelf verklaren ook een hoop. Let op: dit artikel beschrijft 2 verschillende projecten!
Even een extra aanvulling: de scherpte en een beetje de kleur kan beïnvloed worden door de shutter in het midden wat meer richting de lichtbron the buigen(0,5-1 mm),
de lichtbundel wordt dan scherper en de kleur gaat ietsje richting blauw.
Helemaal onderaan staan wat reacties van forumgebruikers die ik heb gekregen
voor het werk wat ik er in had gestoken, ook leuk om te lezen ;-)

Geniet van dit nieuwe artikel, en wellicht wilt u een berichtje achterlaten in ons gastenboek?

Hello,
as a newbie I try to make an interesting topic.
I live in the Netherlands and drive a Volkswagen van.
That van we converted to a multivan 2 interior and provided it with a westfalia popup roof..
From stock the headlights are like:

It's an eighties design which came on the market early nineties.
So xenon or even bixenon weren't very common those days..
I drove around with rallye bulps 100/90 watts but wasn't very satisfied with that.

As soon as the angeleyes for my type of model came out, I had them and the light output was much better with the clear glasses..

For some pictures of our car:





The angel eyes looked damn good.. in our car




Very soon more pics from the project I started to retrofit the angelyes with bixenon units from BMW and Volkswagen Passat with adaptive cornering lights ;-)

First I bought myself a set of BMW Xenon..
I use the ballasts and the D1s bulps from that set.

Is cost me only 68 Euro on eBay..



Then bought some VW Passat bixenon headlights with adaptive cornerings lights too, for 25 euro's each..



I will use the lenses and the shrouds of the passat set, and will put the burners and bulps from the BMW set.



The Passat lenses (Valeo) with the OEM shrouds



The angeleyes victims ;-)
First I dismounted the current aftermarket HID set, and the T5 leds in the angeleyes rings.



Headlamp unit out of the oven and separating the glass.



The insides which will be retrofitted.

First i made some threading in the holes of the angel eyes bulps.

Then I took some M10 bolts, deheaded them and made M5 threading in them.

I used some overlenght to make the further steps more easy. And the bolts were secured using some Loctite.




Eventually I used normal bolts instead of Allen screws:

You

You won't see much of it though ;-)

A friend of me waterplasma cutted stainlais steel rings in 1.5 mm thickness.

some fitting and adaptation...

Cutting the reflector with a dremel..

the result of two cuttings ;-) with a lot of sweatdrops...

Almost finished for the nuts and bolts to fix the lenses.

The 68 SMD LED's H7 which I intend to use as day running lights

Just put 10 Volts on them for a quick test.

A bit fitting to seek for the ideal depth.

About this should do the job

A quick glance from behind.. just looking after the depth.



On the inside the DRL's and on the outside the Bixenon units.

Just to be sure that it's placed level for adjusting and rotating the beam on the wall..



A quick comparison between the Fresnel type Passat lenses and the more clear lenses from the BMW.



Another photo from the comparison. The BMW-lenses are much more flatter shaped.. I tried them in the Passat lens holders but the beam was gone at projecting on the wall !!



Some adjusting on the wall, my test power supply for laboratory purposes didn't handle the amount of current needed

Made a slideshow of the retrofit ;-)
http://www.eldiape.com/downloadmap/koplampen.htm

So the lenses on both units were fitted and secured:

And the shrouds can be adapted:

A nice view from the technique behind the lenses

 

to this:

Have the glass covers been sandblasted, to get the appropriate codes

How to make that DRL and D1S signs?

It's done by tiny particle sandblasting ;-)
It might be risky, but with that details it stands out of the obvious. Its on the outside, and my brother did it at his work

Glasscovers been mounted on the housings.

And now the work at the rear side..:

This has to be covered

So I took an old bottle of Isostar en cut it to the right dimensions.

Then heated the old bottle at precise places for a nice fitting.

Looks nice, isn’t it? So afterwards i decided to spraypaint it matt black.

All technical equipment is placed inside this old bottle/ new cover (before the bottle fitting)

Placed an OEM decal for the right look:

And afterwards in the car:

Part 2

And here is another project with a different approach. The carmodel is the same and so are the stock headlights. My friend wanted a more modern look .

I did this project in the basement, so a very good place for output tests against the wall. The workmate is already placed, and so is the battery for test purposes

Battery for enough current and some leads.

Just be sure that the workmate is levelled.

The OEM stock headlights which will be converted.

First we fired up the stock headlamps for the reference line at the wall

Made the reference line at the wall with tape

Then removed the glass from the stock headlights

We will re-use the OEM rubber seal from the stock headlights

This anti-glare ring will be removed to make space for the Bi-xenon lens

Just used a Dremel to cut the reflectors

Than used long bolts, which I mounted at the lenshousings. At the tips of the bolts, where they will hit the reflector, I put some marking paint on them, so after the have hit the reflector, you'll know exactely the spots where you'll have to drill.

Just a quick first test. I will use washers and nuts to "fixate" the lenses.

Premounted the shroud for alignment purpose.

Another photo from the same headlamp.

These are the washers and nuts I mentioned before for fixating the lenses to the reflectors.

Oops, a crack in the reflector, I should have seen this BEFORE instead of afterwards! Had to throw this reflector away and so went the work at this reflector.

A first test with a set-up

some possibilities for setting up a good balanced shutter-lens combination.

Look at the shape of the metal plate(the shutter), it's responsible for the light image at the wall ,and off course, out there on the roads.

Strange flare in the light output, after cleaning the lens it was still there--> cause was probably the shutter.

Please compare shutter shape A to shutter shape B and notice the differences and so is the output.

I used metal epoxy bond for fixating the lenses (bolts) to the reflectors.

A first "action" picture bus some work to do...

A quick test to see, if we're still in the OEM margins

A different approach for day running lights(DRL's) mounting in headlights. We cut some small stainless steel strips and mounted them underneath the reflectors. With tiny bolts from die cast model cars..

A function test for the DRL's ledstrip.

DRL's ledstrip mounted

Shroud from theretrofitsource.com and a polished stainless steel ring, made by a friend to get rid of the disturbance light.

Adapted anti-glare ring to fit neatly against the reflector.

Still looks shiny :-)

Put a nice metal bixenon decal to add some style.

Put clear glass from a pair of donor lights and sealed the headlights with very few silicone and by using the old OEM rubber seal. That OEM seal is a little cut with a knife for better fitting.

Put a power led behind the lens for parking light which is still needed in our country

Test of the DRL's led-strip

Comparison between the old headlight to the left and the new converted one to the right.

All technical parts mounted underneath the unit for a clean look from the top.

It looks the same from the top compared to the OEM headlights.

OEM old headlights with OEM indicators

Parking light in lens and DRL light in indicator.

DRL ledstrip in the car. Color of the led's is 6000K, the same as for the HID set I've used.

First photo from warming up xenon bulp

A spread-shot from the total front, with DRL's on.

With the xenon bulps warming up.. A nice and decent make-over...

We hope you've enjoyed this article and we'll love to receive a message in our guestbook

 

Reactions from forum members:

"wow amazing job so far!! "

"very nice! i cant wait to see the rest "

"This is a very quality work, detail and clean. If I need someone to do my retro, I would have you do it. Good job. "

"Damn that looks incredible. NICE! You should enter Novembers retrofit of the month "

"Thanks for updating! Aside from the fact that they are aftermarket halo lights, they do look very good (OEM). I don't like the inner LED bulbs though, but who cares lol. "

"omg ! Absolutely perfect ! Result is better than OEM i think ! "

"wow, i missed this update..."

"very nice work. Liked how you made the shroud, that back for your light out of that plastic bottle, and overall craftsmanship."

"Couple months old but great job! "

"Very nice.
I thought of a similar mounting method for the minis in FK headlights. And now I found your thread. I really like how you threaded the holes of the angel eyes bulbs. I might copy that. "

"That looks fantastic! Great job! That method for mounting the projector is very creative. "

"That looks amazing. "

"Better than oem
Do you have any wall shoots? "

"I meant to comment on this a while ago looks like a top job. Really like the mounting method you used for the projectors. "

"Beautiful job. How to make that DRL and D1S signs? "