Okay, so I have a love / hate thing about people that drive with fog lights on. Yes, it can look good and looks more complete with them on. But some of them cause immense glare and I even see some idiots drive in total darkness with fog lights on, but dipped beams off! Anyway. rant over, I wanted fogs and I wanted them to be purely aesthetic so they didn't cause glare and Plod wouldn't be able to tell me off.

I could have just bought H3 LED bulbs, but that would have cost me 12quid for UK ones and then if the colour temperature wasn't to my liking, I would be a bit stuffed.

I had a spare set of 501 bulb holders from the normal BA sidelights, so I made them fit, and its quite easy and works very well.

1. This is the normal 501 holder, we need to cut a few bits off and make some cut outs so it fits into the H3 holder properly.

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TVxnS18VADI/AAAAAAAAA2o/rrXLOoOpQBg/s720/2%20the%20501%20holder%20from%20sidelight.JPG[/img]

2. This is the H3 holder

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TVxnTA1UunI/AAAAAAAAA2s/nDspFygxvHY/s720/1%20how%20the%20H3%20socket%20looks.JPG[/img]

3. This is what I did. Cut the side notch things off, and make a cut out on equal sides of the disk shaped bit. Also, pretty obvious but remove the sealing ring, it isn't needed and will get in the way.

[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TVxnR38qJhI/AAAAAAAAA2c/TQ3yfpzo9QU/s720/4%20what%20the%20501%20holder%20looks%20like%20now.JPG[/img]

4. Snug And it sits down perfectly level. I forgot to put the clip over when I took the pic - it DOES fit over perfectly just like a normal H3 bulb. You may need to fiddle with the clip to get it properly secure but it works.

[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TVxnSTk51uI/AAAAAAAAA2g/7w9Nq0Zbqyo/s512/3%20modded%20501%20holder%20in%20h3%20socket.jpg[/img]

5. Here you can see the bulb and holder clear the casing perfectly, so no light output is lost. Only had a normal bulb to hand when doing this, but see my car's thread for pics with a 5 SMD LED in place (the type with LEDs on all sides, not just forward facing).

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TVxreRP3LAI/AAAAAAAAA3o/DF94PfD7Np0/s720/6%20modded%20501%20clearance%20inside.jpg[/img]

Result!

[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TVxnSqpkzfI/AAAAAAAAA2k/NeQ-RKb5J-4/s720/5%20result.JPG[/img]

Now you can fit whatever 501 bulb you like, although some of the longer LED bulbs may require you to take the glass off and remove the reflective thing.

You might also want to remove the tell tale bulb from your instrument cluster so you don't have a bright green light inside the car glaring at you. If plod does stop you - ask them to turn the fog lights on on there car to compare brightness. No way in hell you could cause glare with a standard kind of size 501.

great!

Nice wee guide sloth

looks good
might want some white led ones though so they dont look like theyre dull due to fault :P

[quote="lewp91"]looks good
might want some white led ones though so they dont look like theyre dull due to fault :P[/quote]

Got LEDs in them now

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TV7NnDylT4I/AAAAAAAAA6o/qNhD-slbtxk/s720/colour_difference_hids_leds.JPG[/img]

[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_kmwYjBvt_Ac/TV7Nq0v0ftI/AAAAAAAAA6s/RgXXwG-PNZM/s720/hello.JPG[/img]

Also! I have found a supplier for what claim to be ACTUAL WHITE LEDs, not horrible blue tinge ones. If anyone tells me they can't see the colour difference I am on about in those pictures, I will begin to think they are colour blind

If you get any joy with white LEDs, let me know

looks good mate

Thanks

[quote="Marc S"]If you get any joy with white LEDs, let me know [/quote]

Will do. Now got some JDM sidelight units on the way from Si too, so thats one set of lights dealt with in a way.

I emailed UltraLEDs about a set they are selling, but no response yet. Found the same thing on eBay at half the price, so going to give them a go and I'll get back to you

They do look really good Nick

some idiots drive in total darkness with fog lights on, but dipped beams off!


you are right I think this assholes believe the cars look more "sport" with the fog lights only , maybe they think the car looks lower or something.

Great work with the lights

I must admit that since having hids the fog lights are pretty redundant, not that ive ever really used the fogs. Maybe once or twice on dark country lanes but thats it.


Great work Nicolas

[quote="Marc S"]If you get any joy with white LEDs, let me know [/quote]

Received some of these 'warm white' things and they are far too yellow Look almost like filament bulbs, but I couldn't compare with the HIDs cos the battery on the car is dead again and they won't ignite and stay lit. Bloody thing!

So the hunt continues (or I'll look into either a new set of 6000k HIDs, or 8000k. Would prefer to stay with 6, hoping mine have just lost colour, don't know how old the bulbs are).

[quote="DMS"]I must admit that since having hids the fog lights are pretty redundant, not that ive ever really used the fogs. Maybe once or twice on dark country lanes but thats it.


Great work Nicolas [/quote]

Cheers

That was my thinking. I've done fine without fogs until now too anyway, and we rarely get any down here at least. But the car does look better with them, either off during the day, and at night. But I don't want to dazzle other drivers. JDM sidelights are going on this weekend

copied with my usual sticking to the original idea