3.5 headlight info please!

[Atlarge]

Does anyone have a handy picture of where the 3.5 style headlights need to be attached to the frame? I bought a set from Ariel but they came with no instructions (is that normal?)......

I heard there is something that needs to be drilled for the fronts but have no idea where. Any tips or pics would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

[AlanP]

Hopefully these will help.
I'm afraid my car needs a clean.

Alan

[Atlarge]

Perfect, thanks a lot [mention]AlanP[/mention] !

[John Scherrer]

This is the only relevant photo I have - not sure it shows anything more than Alan's
- taken at Ariel's stand NEC Autosport Jan 2013.

[John Scherrer]

Here's a link to a previous discussion about fitting the 3.5 projector units :-

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=17398

[Fastlane]

I did mine in March. Here's my attempt at some instructions:

1. Disconnect the battery.
2. Remove the front bonnet and then the black cover that holds the aero screens (can't remember it's name!).
3. Undo the 2 connectors from the headlights, cut any cable ties and then remove the headlights each side. Mark which connector is which.
4. Remove the bonnet, and then the nose cone - 7 Allen headed bolts in total, and remember to unplug the connectors for the indicators.
5. Jack the front of the car up using the lower wishbones as close the the body as possible, and place it on jack stands using the 2 chassis rails and remove the front wheels.
6. Remove the front top wishbone bolt on both sides so you can then remove the existing side/indicator light brackets - cut any cable ties.
7. Push the wishbone down out of the mount and keep it held there - you don't need to undo the other top wishbone mount.
8. Attach the new front light bracket, push the wishbone back in place and push through the bolt through very carefully (don't force it or you'll damage the thread).
9. Loosely attach the wishbone bolt, put some masking tape over the chassis mount so you can mark the new hole.
10. Push the bracket to the wishbone so you can mark the position of the new bolt hole on the chassis - I used a pencil and then a centre punch. Do this on both sides.
11. Remove the brackets again and push the wishbone out of the way, and then remove the masking tape.
12. Using a 6mm metal drill bit, set your drill to a very slow setting and drill out the hole slowly. Repeat on the other side.
13. Deburr the hole with a small file and put some grease on each side to stop it rusting.
14. Now the most difficult bit - keeping the wishbone pushed away from the mount, put the bolt through the new light bracket and push this into the new hole - you may need someone to hold the bracket whilst you do this. You then need to push your fingers up inside the chassis mount whilst holding the nyloc nut until you can screw it on to the bolt. I used a 10mm spanner and some blue tac to hold the nut in place whilst trying to screw the bolt into it. This may well take some time and you will swear a lot....
15. Once the nyloc nut is on the back of the bolt, you can tighten it enough to hold the weight of the bracket.
16. Push the wishbone back into its mount and bolt up the new bracket, but DON'T tighten it fully, as you must only do this when it is sitting back on its wheels, so the metalastic bush is in the correct (fully loaded) position.
17. Attach the new connectors to the old connectors.
18. Re-attach the battery and test the lights are working.
19. Assuming they are, disconnect the battery again and use some cable ties to attach the new wires to the frame at the back of the radiator and around the chassis.
20. Now put the wheels back on and lower the car back onto the ground - don't torque the wheel nuts yet.
21. Tighten the wishbone bolts to 80Nm.
22. Jack the front of the car up again and reattach the nose cone.
23. Drop it down and tighten the wheels nuts to 96Nm.
24. Now jack up the back of the car, place on jack stands and remove the rear wheels. You can do this one at a time if you don't jack the car up too far.
25. Undo the connectors and cut the cable ties.
26. Undo the relevant top back wishbone mount and remove the old light bracket.
27. Attach the new bracket and reattach the connectors and cable ties.
28. Attach the wishbone bolts but again don't tighten them up too much.
29. Put the wheels back on and drop the car to the ground.
30. Now tighten the wishbone bolts up to 80Nm, but you may have to loosen them a few times and fiddle with the brackets to ensure both light brackets are the same level.
31. Put the other body parts back on and reconnect the battery.
32. Switch on the ignition and try out your new lights!
33. Once they are working you will need to then remove the front covers from the front lights and adjust the dipped and main beam. I did this on a flat road in the dark. You'll see the adjustment screws each side and below the side and headlights. This takes some time as it is case of trial and error...

Here are some photos of them. I was also painting my wishbones so I had the car jacked up already.

IMG_20210224_153122.jpg (2.49 MiB) Viewed 868 times

IMG_20210224_153147.jpg (1.38 MiB) Viewed 854 times

I hope this helps. If anybody has any other tips/ideas or if I have missed anything, please feel free to comment.

Good luck.

[John Scherrer]

What a great write-up, thanks for doing this

[AlanP]

I am borderline amazed to see the car looking like that!

Alan

[Fastlane]

I am borderline amazed to see the car looking like that!

Alan

Don't worry Alan, it's back together again!

Sent from my ELE-L09 using Tapatalk

[AlanP]

Tim,

I was meaning the lights and mudguards and fabulous cleanness! Thumbs up emoji.

A

[Atlarge]

Wow [mention]Fastlane[/mention] thanks for the great info. with that in hand, I'll be installing mine like a pro!

Cheers!

[Fastlane]

Tim,

I was meaning the lights and mudguards and fabulous cleanness! Thumbs up emoji.

A

Ah I see, thank you. You'll be pleased to hear thay I have since polished the exhaust, yet again...

Sent from my ELE-L09 using Tapatalk

[Fastlane]

Wow [mention]Fastlane[/mention] thanks for the great info. with that in hand, I'll be installing mine like a pro!

Cheers!

No problem. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Sent from my ELE-L09 using Tapatalk

[Atlarge]

I did mine in March. Here's my attempt at some instructions:

14. Now the most difficult bit - keeping the wishbone pushed away from the mount, put the bolt through the new light bracket and push this into the new hole - you may need someone to hold the bracket whilst you do this. You then need to push your fingers up inside the chassis mount whilst holding the nyloc nut until you can screw it on to the bolt. I used a 10mm spanner and some blue tac to hold the nut in place whilst trying to screw the bolt into it. This may well take some time and you will swear a lot....

Ok [mention]Fastlane[/mention] you’re not kidding! I installed mine solo today and could probably purchase an Atom4 with all the trimmings if I kept a £ for every expletive used whilst playing ‘how to chase the nut in a blind hole’!!

In the end I used some double sided tape and a chunk of packing foam which worked really well. First side approx. 1.5 hours, second side 15 mins.

Thanks again for the pointers! - [mention]Karl V[/mention] how about a DIY section for instructions like this ?

[Karl V]

@Karl V how about a DIY section for instructions like this ?

Could do [mention]Atlarge[/mention]. I ended up doing a write up afterwards and creating a bit of a library - https://www.ariel.club/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=17511

Another option could be to add a bit more detail and feature it as a project on the main website - https://ariel.club/category/projects/

Now that you've stopped swearing , if you did have some form of step by step notes and pics, I'd happily turn it into a project write up for the main website